Local News

A new analysis shows property near Pilot Butte may be the most feasible for a new Bend City Hall project, but city councilors are holding on to the vision that the future headquarters will anchor a planned urban core closer to the Bend Parkway, the Bend Central District. The Bend City Council backed a staff […]

It goes by many names: Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, but Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June 19, is its best-known name. A celebrated date since 1865, which initially marked the liberation for those still enslaved. The Confederacy surrendered to the Union in the spring of that year, ending the Civil War, but they still controlled […]

“Did you call the sheriff’s office on me?”  The public had just been let into the Alfalfa Fire District special meeting on May 22 when Justin Alderman, the co-founder and managing editor of the Prineville Review, fired off questions. They came rat-a-tat-style at AFD board member Mark Laucks.  “Mr. Laucks, is it true you contacted the sheriff?”  Laucks shuffled freshly printed meeting agendas to pass out to the […]

Sharlene Wills ran her fingers over the small arrow on the crosswalk button for her first hint. She squared up to the crosswalk, stepping out slowly until she felt the bumpy surface under her feet. She heard the cars to her left roll to a stop and the chime of a robotic voice in the air.   “Walk sign is on to cross Division Street.”  “Forward,” Wills told her yellow lab guide […]

A proposal to create a new service “hub” in east Redmond for homeless people to connect with housing resources, mental health programs, food and other services is gaining support from the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners.   The service center would be part of a burgeoning campus of homeless assistance projects in east Redmond, close to where hundreds of people are living in RVs, tents and trailers on government-owned lands slated for future industrial development.   Deschutes County commissioners on June 3 approved a letter […]

The commission conducts random checks as well as targeted operations prompted by community complaints. So far in 2026, the agency has made 125 decoy visits, down from 845 over the same period in 2025. It says it is rebuilding its undercover program, and by 2027 plans to have the same number of minor decoy operations […]

James “Mac” McLaughlin outed himself as one of three Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office employees Interim Sheriff Ty Rupert placed on paid administrative on June 5, stemming from allegations of misconduct. He calls it “political theatre.” A DCSO Lieutenant and the SWAT commander, McLaughlin published a social media post on the subsequent evening of June 6, […]

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office has placed three employees on paid administrative, stemming from allegations of misconduct, as of June 5. According to a press release similar to the email Interim Sheriff Ty Rupert sent to DCSO staffers earlier in the day, the allegations stem from two formal citizen complaints related to the same incident. […]

A planned $15.4 million project will bring two new roundabouts and two new traffic lights to Olney Avenue and Revere Avenue in midtown Bend, with an estimated completion date in 2028.  The project includes swapping a pair of four-way-stop intersections for traffic signals along Fourth Street, and another at Eighth Street and Revere. At Eighth and Olney Avenue, the City tentatively plans to replace a stoplight with a roundabout. Those […]