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Jack Harvel

Jack is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and has been making his way west since graduating from the University of Missouri, working a year and a half in Northeast Colorado before moving to Bend in the Spring of 2021. When not reporting he’s either playing folk songs (poorly) or grand strategy video games, and checking out the different hiking trails in Central Oregon.

jharvel@gannett.com
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Activists Call for Breese-Iverson’s Resignation

The Oregon representative’s son was photographed doing a Nazi salute in front of a replica Nazi plane
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Activists demanded House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson’s (R-Prineville) resignation on Friday, June 2, after a photograph of her teenage son and another person doing Nazi salutes in front of a replica German aircraft with a swastika spread on social media. The Central Oregon Diversity Project also demanded the high school student be removed from school […]

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Fifty Years of Unique Land Use

Oregon’s land-use laws are one of a kind in the U.S. They’re both beloved and reviled, 50 years after Senate Bill 100 was signed into law
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In 1973 Oregon Gov. Tom McCall signed Senate Bills 100 and 101, creating the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and 14 statewide planning goals and protections to farmland. It was the most ambitious and powerful statewide land-use decision any state undertook before or since. No other state regulates land use to the extent […]

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ONA Issues Strike Notice

St. Charles could be down hundreds of workers next week if a compromise isn’t reached
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Update: St. Charles narrowly avoided a strike on June 8 after both parties reached a tentative agreement. Oregon Nurses Association members at the St. Charles campus in Bend will vote to ratify the contract within the next few days. St. Charles nursing staff gave notice that they’ll start striking on June 12 if a contract […]

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Intimidating Note, Dead Raccoon Left at Redmond Mayor’s Law Office

Police are investigating the incident as a potential bias crime
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An unknown suspect placed a menacing note and a dead racoon at the door to Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch’s law firm offices on Monday morning, and the Redmond Police Department is investigating it as a potential bias crime. The sign referenced both Fitch and Redmond City Councilor Clifford Evelyn with what police say is intimidating […]

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Uncoordinated Houseless Response Office

The pilot program’s executive director is leaving amid systemic challenges and questions about her background
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On May 23 Cheyenne Purrington announced her resignation as the executive director of Deschutes County’s Coordinated Houseless Response Office, after about nine months into her tenure. Deschutes County’s CHRO is one of eight offices formed under House Bill 4123, which sent $1 million to eight Oregon counties to form an office that strengthens partnerships between […]

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Nurses Authorize a Strike

Nearly 1,000 registered nurses at St. Charles are poised to strike if a deal is not reached
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Nearly 1,000 nurses at St. Charles Bend voted to authorize a strike after more than five months negotiating with the hospital system. The Oregon Nurses Association collected votes between May 16 and May 21, claiming the vote was “all but unanimous” but didn’t provide an exact tally by press time. Throughout the bargaining process, nurses […]

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Federal Funding for Landfill Cleanup

The EPA is giving OSU-Cascades $2 million for its expansion efforts
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OSU-Cascades is one of seven recipients of an Environmental Protection Agency grant to expedite restoration of “brownfield sites,” which are properties that are underutilized due to pollution. The university bought the former Bend Demolition Landfill from Deschutes County in 2018 for $1. Though it mostly contained wood waste from Bend’s mills when bought, it’s slated […]

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Future Plans and Past Divisions for the Deschutes Public Library

The Deschutes Public Library’s bond has faced hurdles since passing in 2020, fueled by fundamental disagreements and influential critics
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Since about 2014, the Deschutes Public Library has investigated how it could improve services, after more than two decades with the Downtown Bend Library as its largest facility. Almost three times as many people live in Bend as there were when the downtown library was built in 1998, and Bend’s growth isn’t stopping. DPL’s plans […]

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May Election Results

Bend’s Fire Department is getting some new funds, and voters chose representatives on school boards, parks districts and more
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Results are in for the 2023 May elections. Over 45,000 Central Oregonians, about 30% of voters, cast their ballots for candidates on local school boards, park districts, library districts and bonds. Results are preliminary and the county will still be counting mail-in ballots in the following weeks. We’ll update the story as more votes are […]

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State of the Industry in 2023

Restaurants rebound, but growth in employment, number of restaurants remain stagnant in Central Oregon
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The COVID-19 pandemic slashed the restaurant workforce in half overnight in April 2020, when indoor dining closed. The leisure and hospitality industry employed over 13,200 people in the Bend-Redmond metro in March 2020, plummeting to just over 6,000 the next month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry quickly regained some of […]

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