Posted inOpinion

The Audacity of the Oregon GOP Calling Out Teacher Walkouts

Members of the Oregon GOP are calling it a โ€œdangerous precedentโ€ โ€” this notion of teachers, paid to do a job, walking out in protest

Members of the Oregon GOP are calling it a “dangerous precedent” โ€” this notion of teachers, paid to do a job, walking out in protest. Considering this talk of a “dangerous precedent” is coming from the members of the party that this year convened the longest-ever legislative walkout in Oregon history, we are amused. Some […]

Posted inOpinion

After His Bluster About the Owyhee, Rep. Bentz Should Probably Talk to His Compatriots in the Senate More Often

A host of ranchers, environmentalists and others worked on a compromise for the Owyhee. Now Bentz needs to get on board.

In early November, Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR2) took to the floor of U.S. House of Representatives to deliver a 4-minute speech opposing a Senate bill that would turn about 1.1 million acres of the Owyhee Canyonlands in southeastern Oregon into wilderness. Over the past several years, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), along with Sen. Jeff Merkley […]

Posted inOpinion

The King of “Poverty Porn” Hits a Snag

The notion of using public funds to help the sheriff craft a narrative about homelessness was bad enough. Then the situation got worse.

In late summer and early fall, when “homeless consultant” Kevin Dahlgren submitted his purported “Point in Time” count, local service providers and some members of the public were already concerned. Not only did the report skew widely from the counts and reports compiled by a host of service providers and volunteers during the more formal […]

Posted inOpinion

The Democratic Party Machine Should Take Congressional District 5 Seriously This Time

Things have been interesting since the last U.S. Census

Things have been interesting since the last U.S. Census, after which, Oregon got a new seat in Congress. Bend, Redmond and a good portion of the southeast Portland suburbs got lumped together as the newly drawn Oregon Congressional District 5 โ€“ a strange marriage of rural, urban and suburban voters stretching across one great divide […]

Posted inOpinion

A Citizen Initiative, Doomed Before it Started

In November 2020, a citizen initiative in Oregon got the whole country talking

In November 2020, a citizen initiative in Oregon got the whole country talking. Oregon voters, determined to champion a more compassionate version of addressing the drug crisis, voted in favor of Measure 110, the landmark drug decriminalization and treatment bill. It passed with 58% of the vote. What followed could be described as nothing short […]

Posted inOpinion

Heaven Help the Agency That Eschews Winter Plowing

Damned if you do tax and damned if you donโ€™t

Take to social media to get your news and you’re sure to find any number of inane or oddball views of any situation in Central Oregon. This week, after the Oregon Department of Transportation announced that it would operate on a reduced snow-plowing schedule this winter due to budget shortfalls, the internet erupted in a […]

Posted inOpinion

In Redmond, Action on Managed Camps. In Bend, More Meetings

Redmond is getting it done; letโ€™s hope Bend can, too

It’s not uncommon for people to balk at the notion of siting services for the unhoused near their homes. If anything is going to bring out the NIMBYs in a community, it’s the prospect of having shelters, RV sites or other services for a city’s most vulnerable placed in the vicinity of someone’s dwelling, office, […]

Posted inOpinion

School Sports and the Altruism of Advertising

After the districtโ€™s decision to maintain the status quo for the time being, a sign promoting the company will once again go up on the scoreboard of the schoolโ€™s stadium

Last month, several community members reached out to the Source Weekly and to representatives of the Bend-La Pine Schools district to share concerns around a local ammunition manufacturer’s very visible sponsorship of the football and soccer programs at Mountain View High School. After the district’s decision to maintain the status quo for the time being, […]

Posted inOpinion

Woeful Waters: Federal Leaders Shed Light on What Oregon Already Knows

While itโ€™s encouraging to see that someone is sounding the alarm, it strikes us how late we are to the game

Earlier this year, a report from the Oregon Secretary of State’s office highlighted the fact that Oregonians around the state are dealing with water insecurity โ€“ described as the inability to “reliably and routinely access adequate, safe, and clean water to meet their needs.” The report detailed how state and local agencies and water regulators […]

Posted inOpinion

Amid Rising Costs of Living, Should We Spread Transportation Fees Around?

The City of Bend is pondering a solution to help pay for the costs of maintaining and fixing roads

In a city where a burger without fries is around $18 and costs seem to be rising for residents every day, it’s tough to go whole-hog on the notion of a transportation fee being tacked on to Bend residents’ water and sewer bills, to the tune of around $180 per year. The City of Bend […]

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