LISTEN: Bend Don’t Break with Rep. Jack Zika 🎧
In this week’s Bend Don’t Break: As Jack Zika finishes up his last legislative session, we talk about some of his biggest accomplishments during his time in office. He tells us about dollars brought back to Central Oregon from Salem, the controversial changes of the boundaries of House District 53 and his hopes for the…
Bird Walks at the Crooked River Wetlands
“If you build it, they will come,” is one of the themes that highlight the City of Prineville’s Crooked River Wetlands Complex on the west edge of town. In this case, the “it” is the secondary wastewater ponds, and the “they” are a wide diversity of wildlife species, including humans bearing binoculars, or riding bicycles…
Sky Hunters
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Oh, wait, it’s actually some huge birds! From March 19-26 the High Desert Museum will return with a slate of spring programming that includes Sky Hunters, back after a two-year hiatus. The museum will showcase its various raptors on a rotating display. “The team practices with numerous birds and…
Nostalgia Buttons
It feels like a lot of the movies I’ve been writing about lately have been really heavy. Not necessarily depressing, but intense enough to feel like a mix between homework and heavy lifting. So this week I decided I was going to try to watch something that pressed all of my nostalgia buttons; something that…
Soak Up The Jams
Eugene’s Spunj describe themselves as a “high energy jam band” in a Facebook bio. Having caught their set at an Après Ski Bash in January, that phrase is the perfect two words to describe the four-piece set of rockers. Spunj delivers one groovy anthem after another, keeping the night moving along as one big dance…
Buying a New Construction Home
When it comes to looking for a place to call home, some buyers prefer a “blank slate” with a new construction home. Like purchasing a new vehicle, a home that has just been completed will be yours from the start. While news the past few years has focused on slower building starts and increased costs…
Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Carib people from Surinam quote their mysterious Snake Spirit as follows: “I am the force of the spirit of the lightning eel, the thunder ax, the stone. I am the force of the firefly; thunder and lightning have I created.” I realize that what I’m about to say may sound…
Coast to Coast
If there’s anything I miss from my childhood (other than my sweet, sweet innocence), it’s the crushing weight of choosing which place to eat at the mall food court after playing video games at the arcade but before heading to the movies. I obviously want an Orange Julius, but Sbarro and Hot Dog on a…
Bend’s Avid Cider Levels Up
When Samantha Roberts and her then-husband Dan McCoy attended Bend Brewfest in 2011, something eyebrow-raising struck them: the longest line for samples didn’t belong to a single brewery, but rather to the lone cidery in attendance. Roberts was no stranger to hard cider. She’d gotten hooked on the stuff in her mother’s native England, where…
All Good in Your Hood
With gas prices and fussy weather, not everyone is going to be ready for an all-out, day-long bike session to hit all the cultural events around Bend. But each quadrant of the city does have something fun waiting around the corner, if you’re ready to go find it. Below are some hangout suggestions for close…
Fight Against Light
Amid a shield of darkness, under a sea of glittering stars at Sunriver’s observatory, children gaze at Saturn for the first time. Visitors peer through telescopes at the moon’s miles-long craters and marvel at the wonders of the Milky Way. But, as visitors look to the north, a cloud of orange sky glows over Bend,…
Letters to the Editor 03/17/2022
Corrections: The 3/10 story, “Who’s Running,” listed Vikki Iverson as a Republican running in the House 55 race in the 2022 May primary, and stated that Tim Knopp was running in 2022; those details were both incorrect. The 3/10 story, “Tots! Moves into 9th Street Village,” incorrectly stated that the business’ new pizza cart would…
Housing, Workforce and Education Bills
Oregon’s 2022 legislative session wrapped up with over 60 bills crammed into the final two days of the 31-day short session. Lawmakers added $2.7 billion in spending to a budget passed the year before as the state took in $2.5 billion more in revenue than expected. Short sessions usually focus on budget adjustments and technical…
Pray for Rain
The last two years represents the third-driest two-year period in the state’s history, mostly driven by Central and Southern Oregon that’ve experienced the driest period in recorded history. Seven Oregon counties, including Deschutes and Crook, experienced worse drought than ever, and surrounding counties are much drier than usual. With two years straining reservoirs and with…
Proyectos de Ley para la Vivienda
La sesión legislativa de Oregon 2022 culminó con más de 60 proyectos de ley atestados en los últimos dos días de la sesión de 31 días. Los legisladores agregaron $2.7 billones a un presupuesto aprobado el año anterior, ya que el estado recibió $2.5 billones más en ingresos. Vivienda y Desamparo Oregon tiene el 4to…
Better Outcomes for Those Experiencing Homelessness Could Be Ahead
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…
Death Meddle
I knew my girlfriend wasn’t right for me, and I was super unhappy. Friends I confided in kept saying “Relationships take work” and “Take the good with the bad.” I listened to them and stayed in the relationship, which led to an ugly breakup. When evaluating a relationship, how much should you take advice and…
