Local News

Redmond High School senior Arianna Morris just returned from the state finals for the 2026 Poetry Out Loud contest. She’s the only student from Central Oregon to make it that far. Eleven high schoolers from around the state competed on Saturday, March 7. Morris read two poems: “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne […]

Southern Deschutes County has a lot going for it: postage-stamp lots tucked into expanses of Lodgepole pine, lesser-glimpsed views of the Cascades and backroads to many lakes and access points along the Deschutes River. Its unincorporated areas, where about 18,000 people live, have also long suffered high levels of nitrate in the groundwater. The shallowness […]

Get smashed by a snowmobile driven by ski hill employee? That’s gross negligence — you’d have a liability lawsuit on your hands. Break your foot because a kettle bell slipped from your grip? That’s ordinary negligence — maybe the gym owner should have a glove policy — and you’re outta luck.  Outdoor recreation and fitness providers, along with volunteer organizations, will enjoy a heightened protection against liability lawsuits, once Gov. Tina Kotek signs Senate Bill 1517 into law.  Oregon lawmakers passed […]

A national report released Wednesday gives Oregon an F for how well it protects its residents from online gambling addiction. The nonprofit Center for Addiction Science, Policy, and Research, or CASPR, gave the state a score of 43 on a scale of 100, placing it in the bottom 10 of 50 states. OJP has previously […]

Officials from Mt. Bachelor and the Central Oregon Avalanche Center are giving insight on avalanche mitigation efforts at the resort and the backcountry.   Because of the inherent fatality risk present in snow sports, the last known local and fatal accident being Feb. 2025 near Broken Top Mountain, COAC and Mt. Bachelor take extensive measures to prevent avalanche accidents.   “Avalanches are pretty common, even in Central Oregon. It’s definitely something that’s going to be happening frequently,” Bryce Kellogg, president of COAC, says. The […]

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has reversed an earlier finding that the Port of Newport should pay prevailing wages for the removal and disposal of derelict boats from port waters. “On December 11, 2025, BOLI issued a determination that the prevailing wage rate (PWR) laws would apply to the project. The purpose of […]

In addition to a host of other legal challenges, Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr. now faces a demand from the Oregon Department of State Lands to pay $13.9 million for his neglect of one of Oregon’s iconic rivers. The state notified Pamplin of that hefty tab in an 18-page letter on Feb. 19. It described a […]

The first thing you notice when walking into the Cascade School of Music at the corner of NE Third Street and Franklin Avenue in Bend is a symphony of sounds you don’t usually hear at once. Strings, piano, vocals and a hint of drums float overhead in an odd swirl of music as dozens of […]

Maddie Palombo started acting and performing in plays as a youngster but says she didn’t start taking it seriously until high school and definitely never thought she’d pursue a career as a drama teacher. But two years of studying with local theatre power couple, Kisky and Dash Holwerda, gave her a glimpse into a future […]

The boutique store, Clementine Urban Mercantile, on NW Wall Street in downtown Bend, held its grand opening on the First Friday of November 2015. “We have been open for all of them since. That is 122 First Fridays!” owner Gwen Whitten told the Source. First Friday in downtown Bend started more than 20 years ago […]