Local News

The plane crash west of Tumalo on Aug. 4 appears to have been a suicide, according to law enforcement officials. Authorities have identified Bend resident Steven Nicholas Charlton, 48, as the pilot of the 2025 Cirrus SR22T, with which he took airborne at 1:34 pm from the Bend Municipal Airport, five hours before the crash law […]

It’s a challenging time to be a grape grower. Dave Maragas of Margaras Winery has been watching the fires and waiting to learn just how deep the impact will be. The Bench Fire, which is 67,238 acres and 84% contained as of Tuesday, burned up to the edge of one of the vineyards on land he’s leasing near the Pelton Dam. The grapes need to be tested to determine if they’ve been affected by the […]

A former British airliner once suited to carry 100 passengers now skims the Central Oregon High Desert carrying only two people: a pilot and an officer trying to decide where to send 27,000 pounds of reddish-pink slurry tumbling to the ground.  They are among the first to reach the fanning flames of the Bench Fire burning on the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs […]

A committee appointed to help spur Bend’s housing production has come up with a set of policy recommendations the Bend City Council will discuss this month — including whether to ask voters to help subsidize affordable housing through a tax measure.  The recommendations are intended to propel Bend toward lofty home building targets established by the state. That could mean expanding property tax and infrastructure fee exemptions for affordable […]

Throughout the country, the costs of the conflict in Iran have had wide-ranging effects, and we’re not just talking about gas prices.  Dozens of municipalities across at least seven states, including Minnesota and Michigan, have reported that their water and wastewater systems were hit with cyberattacks in the last week of July. Now we know Oregon was also hit. While federal and state officials said a preliminary investigation hasn’t confirmed Iran’s involvement, the attacks mirror those the country has waged against U.S. water systems in […]

Party at the Central Library! Just over two months after opening, the public is invited to a Grand Opening party lasting two days at the Central Library in Bend. The celebration will begin at noon Saturday, Aug. 15, with remarks from members of Indigenous Neighbor Nations, U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze and Oregon Poet Laureate […]

Oregon has the highest rate in the country of babies who are given breast milk or colostrum in the first hours after birth, according to a new study.  The national average is 85.1%, according to America’s Health Rankings, based on 2023 data. Oregon’s average is 94%. The study looks at breastfeeding initiation rates, defined as […]

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is urging federal officials to help Oregon farmers and ranchers respond to, and rebound from, wildfires at the same scale and speed those officials delivered in Republican-controlled states hit by natural disasters this year. In a letter requesting aid that Kotek sent Thursday to Brooke Rollins, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, […]

It may seem counterintuitive, but local therapist Dasha Gousseva says the best way to manage stress levels heightened by Central Oregon’s wildfires is to focus on the things we can control. Fair-weather activities that ground us, such as socializing in person or devoting a few hours to hobbies, can help tamp down the adrenaline and […]