Laurel Brauns
Posted inCulture

Shifting Gender Bias

Women in STEAM helps women in the math and sciences overcome common hurdles
Laurel Brauns

As the gender pay gap widens, one women-led group in Bend offers support to woman advancing in competitive fields like tech, engineering and the arts. According to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report, the gender pay gap is getting worse. Women often work in roles most vulnerable to automation like retail and white-collar clerical […]

Posted inNews

The Year of the Midwife

Home births attended by midwives could save health systems money, as well as offer a more personalized experience for some mothers
Laurel Brauns

The World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, in hopes of advancing nurses’ and midwives’ position in health care. Giving birth to a child in the U.S. is expensive. Even with insurance, hospital delivery alone averages $4,500 in out-of-pocket […]

Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

Where Do Marijuana Taxes Go?

The State has pumped millions into extra funding for schools, mental health and cops
Laurel Brauns

Oregon state cannabis tax revenue continues to grow, with no ceiling in sight: the State brought in $102 million during the 2019 fiscal year (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019), according to the Oregon Department of Revenue. This is a 24.2% increase over the $82.2 million collected in 2018. The state taxes retail sales […]

Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

Plants Over Pills

A growing body of scientific research demonstrates the antidepressant qualities of CBD
Laurel Brauns

A new study of British Millennials found that 50% of them would rather use CBD to manage their mental health over prescription drugs, according to Eos Scientific. But are the headlines about CBD’s uplifting effects just a bunch of hype? We dove into the scientific literature to find out. Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is a […]

Posted inNews

Mirror of Sand

As Bend Park and Recreation District and the City of Bend move forward with plans for a fish passage committee for Newport Dam and Mirror Pond, the age-old debate about dredging resurfaces once again.
Laurel Brauns

Bend has been talking about Mirror Pond since the last time it was dredged in 1984. Yes, you read that right. The cover of the Source this week shows the debate was in full swing 20 years ago, and while the stars of this never-ending story change as the decades go by, the same debates […]

Posted inNews

Room Tax Rift

The City of Bend may be losing out on hundreds of thousands of room tax dollars from unreported vacation rentals
Laurel Brauns

Data from market research firm AirDNA reveals that the City of Bend may not be getting all the tax dollars it’s entitled to from vacation rental operators. AirDNA listed 1,411 active rentals on Airbnb or VRBO within Bend city limits as of last month. Eighty-five percent, or 1,200, are reported as whole-house rentals. City of […]

Posted inNews

Big Town, Small City

The vision for the Bend Central District may get support through code changes and urban renewal revenues
Laurel Brauns

Today the industrial neighborhoods east of the train tracks, just four or five blocks from downtown Bend, are largely run down and neglected. Few people live there, and most of the buildings were built in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, with function, not aesthetics, in mind. But now the City, environmental groups, developers and citizen […]

Posted inNews

The Artist Behind the Mural

The BCD’s Franklin Avenue underpass project serves as a signal of hope; a bridge between two parts of Bend
Laurel Brauns

Kaycee Anseth has worked as an artist in Bend since she moved to the city 15 years ago. In that time, she’s contributed her time and talent to the city’s growing artistic community: The Franklin Avenue underpass mural, located in the Bend Central District, is just one of many places to see her work. Dozens […]

Posted inNews

Solutions to the Housing Crisis

If the market won’t fix this mess, is it time for the state and local governments to step in?
Laurel Brauns

The year 2019 was a successful year for advocates of more affordable and equitable housing policies in Oregon. Oregon legislators passed the first state-wide rent control bill in the nation. They also put an end to single-family zoning throughout the state. Bend took the lead on this policy by allowing du-, tri- and four-plexes throughout […]

Posted inNews

Homeless Camp Evictions

The City of Bend plans to remove the people who live on Juniper Ridge, but where will they go?
Laurel Brauns

Eviction is sometimes caricatured as a cruel act by fat-cat landlords, pushing low-income families out into the bitter cold in the dead of winter. But what happens when the landlord is the public itself, in the form of the City of Bend, and the people being forced out already live outside? During the Feb. 5 […]

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