Opinion
Posted inOpinion

When It Comes to Power, Taxes and Jobs, Data Centers are Not Winners for Oregonians

State regulators just announced a one-dollar reduction in power bills for Pacific Power customers. That is not enough to win over the public about the problems data centers present.
by The Source Editorial Board

On the last day of 2025, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission sent out a press release announcing a welcome event: Customers of Pacific Power would see their power bills reduced in the new year. With recent rate increases making our power bills 50% more now than they were in 2020, hearing about a rate decrease […]

Posted inLetters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor, Week of Jan. 8

Topics include homes for teachers, Flock cameras, bicyclists and finding your joy in 2026
by The Source Staff

Re: Habitat for Humanity Purchases Surplus School District Land (12/24/25) Kudos to Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity for planning 18 townhomes for teachers (maybe). Not sure how much their mortgage payments will be, but sorry to say that it’s not going to move the needle much for affordability for most of the district’s employees. I have another […]

Posted inLetters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor, Week of Jan. 1

Topics include reaction to an article about an investigation into discrimination allegations against the City of Bend and more warnings about wildlife crossings
by The Source Staff

Re: “Implausible, Inconsistent and Unsubstantiated by Evidence” (Dec. 16, 2025) This Source news article provides Andres Portela the opportunity he wasn’t given by consultant Amy Ahrendt in her $18,685 investigation. Source reporter Peter Madsen and editors provided the balance and gave Mr. Portela the ink to personally address some of the accusations lodged against him […]

Posted inOpinion

What We Learned from Oregon’s New Audit of Measure 110

After three successive audits, health officials still don’t know whether the drug treatment program is working. Officials at OHA say they’re working on it.
by The Source Editorial Board

In 2020, Oregon voters put a lot of stock in Measure 110 — the groundbreaking citizen initiative that made the state the first in the nation to decriminalize user amounts of drugs. The decriminalization portion of Measure 110 was rolled back by the legislature in 2024 — but the part of Measure 110 that took […]

Posted inLetters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor, Week of Dec. 25

Topics include a nonpartisan approach to local governance and the review of Bend’s equity director’s departure
Avatar photo by Nic Moye

Re: Beyond the Banner: Why a Non-Partisan Approach is Essential for Deschutes County (Dec. 11, 2025) Chris Piper published a letter to the editor on Dec. 11 calling for a nonpartisan approach to local governance. We already have such a candidate in this race: Maddie McKinney.   Maddie has been quietly working in this community for […]

Posted inOpinion

The Year’s Winners and Losers

A far-from-exhaustive reflection on the good, bad and ugly of 2025
by The Source Editorial Board

The end of a year is an ideal time to look back, reassess and think about what we could do better in the new year. With that, we present some of the winners and losers of the year 2025. Let’s start with the Losers. Losing locally –Oregon’s budget. Federal decisions and executive orders are bringing […]

Posted inOpinion

E-Bikes are Coming to Bend Area Trails. It Seemed Only a Matter of Time.

With a new user group comes a new opportunity to support local trail maintenance and education
by The Source Editorial Board

When e-bikes began to enter the mountain bike scene, trail users were concerned. Getting out into the forest in this way was inherently an activity that required committment — and anyway, wouldn’t those fast new bikes ruin the trails, and add more congestion in our already crowded network? Those were just some of the assumptions […]

Posted inLetters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor, Week Dec. 18

Topics include county commissioners, political endorsements and electrifying homes
by The Source Staff

Deschutes County Commission’s Not So Funny Comedy of Errors Oh, the irony! Last Wednesday [Dec. 3], I watched with incredulity as Patti Adair and Tony Debone called for public comment in a room full of interested citizens they themselves had silenced. Per The Source, “Adair requested that a public hearing be held [emphasis added] before any decision-making by […]

Posted inOpinion

Creative Options for Reducing Parking, Traffic Welcome

Pray for snow, because the ways to get to the mountain are growing
by The Source Editorial Board

If you recall last year’s snow-riding season, you might remember it as a time of icy roads and traffic headaches. During the pandemic, more people began to recreate in the area west of Bend. The pace continued long after the quarantine period ended. That’s good for people’s well-being, but it’s been not so great for […]

Posted inLetters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor, Week of Dec. 11

Topics include green energy policy, the non-partisan approach and a reaction to pushback on a tax hike
by The Source Staff

Bend’s green energy policy Recently, the Source printed a letter arguing that Bend City Council’s measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are not worthwhile because “the world has seen the realities and moved on” from combating climate change. To support its thesis, the letter observed that China is building new coal plants. However, China has […]

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