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 […]
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.
Deschutes County Wants You for Interim Sheriff
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 […]
Clearing Up a Misattributed Quote About President Trump in ‘The Bulletin’
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 […]
Turning a Corner — Cascade East Transit Expands Central Oregon Services
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 […]
Teen Gets His Two Billboards Moment
“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 […]
Shred Lightly: ‘A Field Guide to the Subterranean’
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 […]
Shouldering the Load — and Setting a World Junior Record
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 […]
Bye-bye Plastic Bags
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 […]
The Dust is Settling on a More-Supportive Juniper Ridge
Tim Cheney took a morning walk where he lives in Juniper Ridge on June 2. Neighbors took a break from home-improvement projects to greet him and chat. Dogs, some fenced and others loose, barked and played while their owners swapped notes about the area’s influx of new residents. Monday morning, Juniper Ridge, better known as […]
Have You Been Following The Embezzlement Scandal At The ‘Eugene Weekly’ — As Reported By The ‘Eugene Weekly’?
If we tracked watercooler topics here in the Source newsroom, the story of the “Eugene Weekly” embezzlement would certainly be topping the chart. A certain reporter — when informed by an editor that the “Eugene Weekly” bookkeeper accused of embezzling more than $100,000 (closer to $300,000, considering unpaid debts) was released from an Ohio jail […]

