Coronevents: Are You Canceling?
With the announcement today that Deschutes County has seen its first “presumed positive” case of COVID-19, we know a lot of people are making plans—or in some cases, canceling plans. And as you know, a lot of those people share their events on our website and in the print edition—which is pretty smart on your…
BCD Online Open House Needs Your Input
The City of Bend plans to create an urban renewal district which includes the Bend Central District and nearby areas as soon as August. The City has posted on online Open House with a survey that is open until Thursday evening and takes about five minutes to fill out. The survey provides an overview of the…
New Bend High School Named
New Bend high school officially named.
Coronavirus in Deschutes County
This story has been updated. 3/11 8:18 pm: Updated below to reflect the discovery of two new cases at a veterans’ home in Linn County. Officials from Deschutes County Public Health announced Wednesday that it has seen its first presumed case of COVID-19. The patient is being hospitalized at a St. Charles facility, officials said.…
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man!
Get ready, Central Oregon: A legend is headed our way this summer. Bob Dylan has announced a summer 2020 tour across the U.S., starting at the Les Schwab Amphitheater June 4. Dylan will be joined by special guests Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats as well as the Hot Club of Cowtown. The last time Dylan,…
New Adventures for Julie Winter
Local artist and printmaker Julie Winter is constantly alive with new work that’s refreshing and exciting. Recently, she finished up her second group exhibition of “Winter X Winter,” a group show she curates annually around a theme. Coming up for this next First Friday, she’ll showcase a series of new mixed media monotype prints at…
Free Will Astrology—Week of March 5
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1637, renowned English poet John Milton wrote “Lycidas,” a poetic elegy in honor of a friend. Reading it today, almost four centuries later, we are struck by how archaic and obscure the language is, with phrases like “O ye laurels” and “Ah! who hath reft my dearest pledge?” A famous…
Letters to the Editor
Editor’s note: Late last year, the folks at the Bend Chamber, along with myself and our publisher, Aaron Switzer, sat down for a meeting of the minds. We both had Women of the Year awards—so we wanted to explore merging our efforts into one. The Chamber has the backing and the name recognition in the…
Cutting Waste in Deschutes County
Know Future: The Future of Waste in Deschutes County Learn what we can do to reduce waste in our community. As more people move to Deschutes County, more and more trash is being created for drop-off at the nearly full Knott Landfill. Ani Kasch, the Rethink Waste program manager at the Environmental Center, will share…
Putting Porcupines on a Pedestal
In our part of the country, where trees were once thought of as a cash crop, porcupines were not thought of as heroes, or worthy of a pedestal. I can recall back in the ’50s, when signs nailed to trees and poles all over the forest around Bend read, “Please Kill Porcupines!” Porcupine poison stations…
Passion is Key Ingredient in Culinary Careers
The most recent Data USA report shows 77.6% of chefs and head cooks are men—but it appears this traditionally male-dominated field is evolving. More than half the students at the Culinary Institute of America are now women. Central Oregon Community College’s Cascade Culinary Institute reports in the school year 2017-18, the program’s females made up…
The Year of the Midwife
The World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, in hopes of advancing nurses’ and midwives’ position in health care. Giving birth to a child in the U.S. is expensive. Even with insurance, hospital delivery alone averages $4,500 in out-of-pocket…
She Can Brew It
The craft beer industry has evolved over the years, and imagining it as a male-only trade would be silly. Plenty of women brew beer, and Central Oregon is lucky to host a lot of that talent right here. Tonya Cornett, 10 Barrel’s brewmaster of research and development, has been a part of Bend’s brewing scene…
Coronavirus Comes to Oregon
This story has been updated from the print version. It’s not lost on me that as I write this, the information contained herein could be outdated by the time the press delivers the print version to our newsroom. As representatives from the Deschutes County public health team said Monday, the situation is “changing hourly.” So…
Shifting Gender Bias
As the gender pay gap widens, one women-led group in Bend offers support to woman advancing in competitive fields like tech, engineering and the arts. According to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report, the gender pay gap is getting worse. Women often work in roles most vulnerable to automation like retail and white-collar clerical…
Don’t Go to Work When You’re Sick. Oregon Law Says You Can Stay Home.
Maybe it’s our Wild West mentality. Maybe it’s our sense of individuality and our can-do attitudes. Or maybe we’re just stuck in a system that has most of us on the hamster wheel, working to pay for housing that is more expensive than the wages our region currently supports. But whatever its origins, now is…
Powered by Women
Muse Women’s Conference Four days of art installations, films, interactive panel discussions, keynote talks, live performances, breakout workshops and a special youth summit designed to inspire us to reflect, heal, hope, dream, create and liberate. Thu., March 5, 4-8pm, Wed., May 6, 8:30am-7:30pm, Thu., May 7, 9:30am-9pm and Fri., May 8, 9:30am-5pm. Various Locations –…
The Sporting Life
After living in the flat, humid wasteland that is Florida for three years, I was excited to get on the mountain and try my hand at winter sports upon moving to Bend. My then-boyfriend, a long-time gnar-shredder, was so excited to get me on a board that he took off work to teach me almost…
Source Suggests These Books
“To Shake The Sleeping Self” by Jedidiah Jenkins On the eve of turning 30, Jenkins left a dream job and spent the next 16 months cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. Not just a narrative of his adventures along the way, this unflinching memoir dives deep into what it means to transition into adulthood, his struggles…
She Moves Mountains
“Our mission is to create an educational space for women (cis, trans, femme) to realize their strength through rock climbing.” Every professional female athlete I’ve recently spoken to has agreed vehemently on one point: women are harshly underrepresented in the world of outdoor sports. Lizzy VanPatten, the co-founder and owner of She Moves Mountains, quickly…
Woman of the Year
Jesse Durham is a co-owner of Sisters Coffee Company—a brand started by her parents, Winfield and Joy Durham, in Sisters in 1989. Today, Jesse and her two brothers are at the helm of the company, which operates cafes in Sisters and Portland, as well as a wholesale business roasting and packaging 300,000 pounds of coffee…
Invisible Monsters
Horror films help my anxiety. Not in a “Boy, at least I’m not getting chased through the woods by a madman with an axe,” kind of way, but by inverting my existential dread into something I can see and point a finger at. Some people throw on episodes of “The Office” or “Friends,” but my…
Young Hero
Last spring, Angie Acevedo gave the senior speech in front of her graduating class at Bend Senior High School—the first person from a Hispanic background to do so in the 110+ years of commencement ceremonies at the school. Born in Los Angeles, Acevedo and her family moved to Bend when she was two years old.…
Women CEOs in Cannabis
That Fortune 500 companies tend not to be led by women isn’t exactly news. Only 33 of the businesses on the famed Forbes list are helmed by women—still, I held out more hope for the burgeoning marijuana industry. Spawned in a sort of egalitarian lawlessness, and without the constraints of traditional regulation and business structure,…
Advancing Women
A new category in the Bend Chamber’s awards this year, the Advancing Women category is intended to highlight the work of a person of any gender, working to advance the role of women in the community. The winner is Karina Smith, an educator working to promote equity through her role as Director of Regional Migrant Education…
Two-Thirds Joseph
Portland’s Joseph is a powerhouse trio of sisters, tackling a range of rock, pop, folk, R&B and everything in between. Natalie, Allison and Meegan Closner are currently in full-swing tour mode, celebrating the release of the group’s third studio album, “Good Luck, Kid.” As Natalie and Allison were getting out of a Lyft, we hopped…
Community Hero
Ruth Jones works for Oregon State University’s Open Campus as a Latino Program Coordinator for an underserved population, in addition to serving on numerous nonprofit boards. She describes her job as one that “is truly rewarding.” The program she works for, “JUNTOS,” means “Together” in English, and is in every middle and high school in…
These Ladies Rock
An incredible showing of women in music is coming to Central Oregon this year—so much so that you could be out supporting these artists basically every week over the next few months. Alongside Joseph (see our other Sound story this week), here’s a roundup of some shows to get on your radar—but be sure to…
Lifetime Achievement
Lifetime Achievement winner Lawnae Hunter has had a successful career in real estate-related activities. The real estate company she led in California had five offices and 300 sales people before she sold it in 2003. Today, she’s the owner of PLUS Property Management and the chair of the Oregon Real Estate Agency—a governor’s appointment—but more…
Mortgage Rates, The Tumble of Bond Yields and the Coronavirus
In recent weeks, news of the rapid global spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has dominated conversations, news cycles, social media and global economic markets. But what does COVID-19 have to do with real estate? Well, considering that mortgage rates fell last week to the lowest rates we’ve seen since 2012, it’s clear that fears…
Bored Walk Empire & Wane’s World
Bored Walk Empire Why am I only attracted to unattainable guys? As soon as men express interest in me, I lose interest in them. How do I break this cycle?! —Frustrated At the moment, the perfect love poem for you would come from a clerk at the court: “Roses are red, violets are blue; stay…
