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Peter Madsen

Peter is a feature & investigative reporter supported by the Lay It Out Foundation. His work regularly appears in the Source. Peter's writing has appeared in Vice, Thrasher and The New York Times. Recently, Peter worked on the Canadian Screen Award-winning film “It’s Not Funny Anymore: From Vice Magazine to Proud Boys." He's also the author of Dealers, published by powerHouse Books.

peter@layitoutfoundation.org
Posted inNews

Interim Sheriff Candidates Speak of the Future of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office

Union-approved candidates shared their visions at a July 7 public forum
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Integrity. Transparency. Accountability.  Five candidates recommended by the union representing the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office employees spoke about their qualifications for the interim sheriff position at the Elks Lodge in Bend on July 7.   The mood was anything but contentious as the five candidates, selected by the Deschutes County Sheriff Employee’s Association, touched on themes […]

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These are the Union-Recommended Applicants for Deschutes County Interim Sheriff

While these five short-listers haven’t officially applied, they’ll debate their merits at a July 7 public forum
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The short list is in.  The Deschutes County Sheriff Employee’s Association has recommended five applicants for Interim Sheriff.  Those listed are Deschutes County Undersheriff Aaron Wells; DCSO Detective and Special Services Commander Ty Rupert; DCSO Detective Lt. James McLaughlin; former DCSO Captain Deron McMaster; and COCC Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Management, Cory Darling. […]

Posted inNews

Oregon Ski Resort Operations Hang in the Balance

The withdrawal of a liability insurance company leaves a single provider, MountainGuard, in charge of insuring Oregon’s ski resorts
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Oregon ski mountains, recreational companies and nonprofits, are on the verge of an operational crisis involving the difficulty of getting, and retaining, affordable liability insurance — or any at all. As of May 29, ski resorts including Mt. Hood Meadows, Timberline and Willamette Pass became uninsured, or stand to become so by sometime this summer […]

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Deschutes County Wants You for Interim Sheriff

En lieu of Sheriff Kent van der Kamp’s July 31 resignation, county officials are soliciting Interim Sheriff applications by July 11
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A re you still looking for a summer job? Do you have either four years of full-time law enforcement experience, or two years of law enforcement experience and two years of post-high school education? Are you looking to meet lots of people in a role where every day is different — something temporary, but public-facing […]

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Clearing Up a Misattributed Quote About President Trump in ‘The Bulletin’

A June 20 misattribution to Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair stoked the online theory that A.I. had hallucinated the politician’s ‘anti-Trump’ sea change
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T o read it on its face, The Bulletin’s June 20 article, “Plan to sell public lands sparks backlash in Central Oregon,” read like another fairly reported story that localizes the latest repercussions of the Trump Administration here in Central Oregon.  The piece covers the U.S. National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands that […]

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Turning a Corner — Cascade East Transit Expands Central Oregon Services

Transit Agency hopes to make expanded hours, and new fares, a regular thing
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The Cascade East Transit bus trundled along Route 2 past downtown Bend during the evening rush hour on June 12. Finished with work, Jill Hanson boarded the bus at Hawthorne Station, choosing a window seat among four other passengers. Hanson has ridden the bus since her car broke down in February. She tried bike commuting […]

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Teen Gets His Two Billboards Moment

Redmond high schooler Gavin McConnell won an ODOT billboard design contest dedicated to road worker safety
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“Their job is risky. Don’t make it deadly.”  It’s a straightforward concept. The language is concise. Combined with clear illustration, the message packs a punch.  And now it’s one of ODOT’s newest billboards — one that might save road workers’ lives.  The billboard is the work of Gavin McConnell, a recent graduate of Ridgeview High […]

Posted inCulture

Shred Lightly: ‘A Field Guide to the Subterranean’

In a new memoir, Portland author Justin Hocking dismantles his outdoorsy machismo to discover a more sustainable modus operandi
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From the kaleidoscopic pages of “A Field Guide to the Subterranean: Reclaiming the Deep Earth and our Deepest Selves,” a new memoir by Justin Hocking, tumbles the author’s ambition, as a young man, to be hard. He cultivated a stiff upper lip in his late teens by training to become a mountaineering guide in his […]

Posted inNews

Shouldering the Load — and Setting a World Junior Record

Bend’s Campbell McKean notches two wins at the 2025 USA Swimming Nationals, breaks the 1-minute barrier in the 100-meter breaststroke
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One of Bend’s fastest-rising, world-caliber athletes only recently graduated from high school. On June 5, while his friends and classmates at Caldera High School threw their graduation caps into the air, McKean was at the 2025 USA Swimming National Championship in Indianapolis, competing neck-to-neck with an Olympian in the Men’s 50 Meter Breaststroke race. In […]

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Bye-bye Plastic Bags

Oregon restaurants, supermarkets and other retailers will no longer provide plastic bags
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Wait — wasn’t there already a plastic bag ban?  There was, in 2020, on single-use plastic bags. This time, the thicker, 4-millimeter-thick bags meant to be reused several times — you know the ones — have also been nixed.  Gov. Tina Kotek signed Senate Bill 551 into law on June 5, mandating that retailers, grocers and […]

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