Local News

When Keith Rockow moved to Deschutes County in 2003, one of the first ways he got involved in local politics was by planting a yard sign in his front lawn for Gene Whisnant, a Republican who represented part of the county in the Oregon Legislature for 16 years.   “We were a good, strong Republican force then,” said Rockow, who is now […]

Christine Drazan finished her quest to become the Republican nominee for governor amid towering stacks of wine barrels in rural Clackamas County on election night. Turns out she barely had to break a sweat after launching her campaign last October at a barge manufacturing operation in Northwest Portland. In front of a crowd full of […]

High water users in Redmond might pay more in the future as the City looks to incentivize conservation amid declining groundwater levels and rapid population growth.   The Redmond City Council began a discussion Monday about adopting a tiered water rate structure, which would apply increasingly higher rates to each portion of water used beyond a certain threshold.   Those exact thresholds still need to be hashed out […]

When the Bend City Council voted to turn off its four Flock Safety stationary Automated License Plate Readers on Jan. 7, Bend Police Capt. Brian Beekman said the department would look for an alternate vendor that could provide similar technology in fighting crime. Several months later, the department is eyeing cameras from Axon, the same […]

Two Democrats are in position to win seats for the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners after an initial tally of ballots Tuesday evening, while two other races appear to be headed to the general election in November.   Should those results hold, it could mark the dismantling of the board’s longtime Republican majority as it expands from three members to five in November.   That includes the likely upset of incumbent Deschutes County […]

After dozens of people packed La Pine City Hall on May 13 in an uproar against a proposed data center, it’s unclear where City leaders and developers stand on the project.   The public comment period at the meeting took nearly three hours, with most people in opposition, citing fears the facility would guzzle water, push up power costs, hurt wildlife habitat and […]