Peter Madsen

The year was 1999. Books, magazines and newspapers still ruled the Earth. The internet, barely existent, wriggled in a puddle somewhere. Todd Dunkelberg had already earned a master’s in library and information science from the University of Texas-Austin. He’d been working as a children’s librarian when he was tapped to relocate to Central Oregon to […]

The honking from passing drivers was incessant during the afternoon of July 11 at the downtown Bend Peace Corner. For the roughly 50 protesters mingling at the corner of NW Portland and Wall, those honks of solidarity was a good thing, if the two recent local arrests and Houston shooting death by U.S. Immigration and […]

Since the shooting deaths in Minneapolis in January, federal immigration authorities, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have kept a lower profile despite clocking record arrests throughout the country.   That changed when an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7. Araujo was not wanted by immigration authorities in the lead-up to the vehicle stop that resulted in an agent shooting […]

It’s a perennial question among Central Oregonians each Fourth of July: Less if errant fireworks will spark Central Oregon’s next blaze than — how big will it be?  This year’s Fourth saw numerous fires, most predictably on Pilot Butte, on top of which commissioned pyrotechnics set off the City of Bend’s firework display while firefighters stood at the ready to douse sections that inevitably catch fire.  Consider as a sideshow attraction: The patch of Deschutes County Fairgrounds that also caught fire during the Redmond fireworks show.  Yet […]

Deschutes County Interim Sheriff Rupert says he’s projected to save taxpayers $1 million in the coming fiscal year. Yet some of these cost-cutting measures run the risk of financial pitfalls down the road. Deschutes County Commissioners approved the $72.16 million budget for the Sheriff’s Office on June 17, which is about 16% of the County’s […]

The Bend Police Department has made good on its intention to shore up its internal policy on automated license plate reader technology with Senate Bill 1516. As more law enforcement agencies adopt surveillance technologies, both government leaders and the public are calling for more scrutiny and oversight. Part of that scrutiny involves who gets access […]

As some recent university graduates expressed with loud boos during the commencement speeches of pro-AI speakers, artificial intelligence is cause for concern, not excitement, as they enter an increasingly automated workforce.  For starters, studies have shown that AI has already — or stands to — replace millions of entry-level and mid-level positions throughout myriad industries. Think computer programmers, commercial jingle writers and — gulp — some types of journalists. If […]

Internal memos shed new light on the numerous instances of alleged misconduct by a candidate for Deschutes County Sheriff and two other department employees. The instances are related to events surrounding the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office SWAT apprehension of Paul Akehurst in Sunriver on Feb. 25. On June 6, Det. Lt. James “Mac” McLaughlin announced […]

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most hot-button topics of our time. For some technology optimists, AI will be a crucial piece of a near-future resembling that of The Jetsons — our daily mundanity is outsourced to helpful robots who wear cute aprons and anticipate our every need. For pessimists, that future horizon is a […]

On Feb 25, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Lt. James “Mac” McLaughlin stood outside a home in Sunriver. The DCSO SWAT commander, McLaughlin was leading a team in delivering an arrest warrant to Paul Akehurst, who was wanted for allegedly making $700 in purchases with a stolen gasoline card he’d bought and eluding officers several times […]