The Source Editorial Board

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 – a strange marriage of rural, urban and suburban voters stretching across one great divide […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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, […]

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 – 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 […]

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 […]

In July, the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon and other individual farmers set out to end a new rule that was causing concern in the industry. An Oregon Health Authority rule that began in March required testing of the marijuana flower for aspergillus, a common fungus — and to either toss that flower out or […]