Editorial

Plenty of people have plenty to say about the extreme swings of Oregon’s politics. While the state maintains a Democratic majority in the legislature, most of the state east of the Cascades tends to vote Republican. When the two sides meet in Salem, sometimes those differences of opinion can lead to clashes, or even outright […]

This week, fire crews were able to get a quick handle on a fire that started at a City of Bend facility that pumps sewer waste from much of the west side of Bend. Quick work on the fire meant that the damage was limited to $20,000—not so much when you consider that instead, the […]

In the past week or so, voters around the state have received a little card in the mail—typically an innocuous reminder of one’s political party affiliation and a confirmation of the voting districts in which one resides. Simple enough, but this time around, following the most recent U.S. Census and the subsequent redistricting process, those […]

Locals hear it all the time: We’re living in one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. What that often means is, in more than one facet of life, the speed of growth outpaces what one person, company, entity or government can get a handle on. It also means we watch the difference between […]

The pain at the pump is real. With gas prices skyrocketing amid war in Ukraine, people are rightly concerned. Most of us have been raised in a society designed around cars. Where you once could walk to the garden or the corner store for obtaining the groceries you need for tonight’s dinner, our car-centric society […]

Not many people like camp removals such as the one we saw happen this week in Bend. Not the service providers who have been on site for weeks at the 2nd Street encampment working to help people relocate; not the cops or the cleaners who handle physical removal of people and stuff; not the people […]

If there’s one topic of frequent conversation in Bend these days, it’s houselessness. A brief primer: -The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Bend nearly doubled from March 2016 to March 2021, going from $995 to $1,800, according to Zumper. -Since 2015, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Central Oregon has nearly doubled, […]

If there’s one story thread that we can follow throughout this current moment in history, it’s perhaps that things we thought were relatively unshakeable truths may not be so true after all. From the pandemic to politics to climate change to the advent of war, this time in history is no benign one. And in […]

This weekend, a member of the Bend City Council will once again meet a group of concerned citizens in Drake Park to answer questions about the City of Bend’s proposed shelter code changes, its approach to managed camps and more topics concerning homelessness in the city. The meeting was brought on by a group of […]