Local News

The Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners voted to place a divisive districting proposal on November’s general election ballot.  After hearing heated commentary from the public during the July 15 meeting, county commissioners voted 2 to 1, approving edited language for the ballot measure. Commissioner Phil Chang was the sole opponent.  To the satisfaction of word nerds and legal beagles in attendance, commissioners took pains over the meanings of “mode” versus “method,” “elector” and “voter.” With a limit of 175 words, […]

Oregonians kept more than 130,000 mattresses and box springs from landfills during 2025, the first full year of a new statewide recycling program with free collection points in nearly all of the state’s 36 counties. The Mattress Stewardship Program went into full swing in January 2025, three years after the state Legislature passed a law to make […]

The fifth pharmaceutical company sued by Oregon’s attorney general and dozens of other state attorneys general for violating federal antitrust laws in the last decade agreed to settle, this time for nearly $30 million. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Wednesday that generic drug manufacturer Glenmark, accused of participating in an elaborate price fixing scheme […]

A large number of storm cells passed through Central Oregon July 15th 2026. Overall, the area covered by Central Oregon Fire Management Service and the Oregon Department of Forestry received more than 2000 lightning strikes, starting more than 50 fires. Since this morning (Friday, July 17), an additional 20+ starts have been engaged across the […]

The filing deadline may be Aug. 25, but numerous candidates for Redmond City Council have signaled their interest by filing paperwork early. The mayoral seat is open, along with three seats on the Redmond City Council. These are four-year terms. Interested parties can pick up a campaign packet from the city’s Recorder’s Office send an […]

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 riverways around Central Oregon were filled with more people than usual Saturday morning. However, this time around, it wasn’t for recreation. Equipped with plant guidebooks, 289 volunteers gathered in six different locations, from Tumalo State Park to Farewell Bend Park to Sunriver to pick up trash and pull invasive weeds along the riverbank. About 2,100 pounds of garbage […]

Last month, Gov. Tina Kotek’s Prosperity Council recommended scrapping the state’s controversial Climate Protection Program—commonly called the CPP— a recommendation the governor provisionally endorsed. But the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is nonetheless moving full speed ahead with the implementation of the program. On July 9, the agency identified the nonprofit it has chosen 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 […]