LISTEN: Bend Don’t Break with Jeff Knapp 🎧
In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, Aaron Switzer sits down with Jeff Knapp, the newly appointed CEO of Visit Bend, to delve into his journey from a humble start in hospitality to leading one of Oregon’s most celebrated visitor bureaus. Jeff shares stories of his early days in the industry, moving from bussing tables…
Bend City Council sees returning council members, with some newcomers
Four positions were up for grabs on the Bend City Council in the November 2024 election, with eight candidates vying for a chance to serve the city of Bend. In early returns, incumbents Megan Norris and Megan Perkins appeared to keep their seats, with newcomers Gina Franzosa and Steve Platt appearing ready to join the…
Kent Vander Kamp is the Projected Winner in Deschutes County Sheriff’s Race
The acrimonious race for Deschutes County Sheriff is nearly at an end with Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp leading Capt. William Bailey with 59.32% of the vote, compared to Bailey’s 40.06%, according to the county clerk’s update early Wednesday morning. Vander Kamp joined the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office in 2006 as a reserve deputy and was…
Anthony Broadman Takes Lead For Senate Seat
In the race for the seat to be vacated by Sen. Tim Knopp, the Republican disqualified from running again due to repeated walkouts, a clear winner has emerged. Anthony Broadman beat out opponent Michael Summers in early results with about 59.11% percent of the votes, as of early Wednesday. Broadman joined the Bend City Council…
Janelle Bynum Leading in Congressional District 5
A race that could tip the balance of power in the U.S. House is happening right here in Oregon’s Congressional District 5, which includes Bend, Sisters, parts of Redmond and suburban areas of the Portland metro. Janelle Bynum (D) leads incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) with 47.62% to 45.28% of the vote, according to the most recent…
Jason Kropf Reelected In House District 54
Representative Jason Kropf was reelected in Oregon’s 54th House District with 95.75 percent of the votes as of early Wednesday. Kropf was a public defender and currently serves as a Deputy District Attorney in Deschutes County and served on a number of local boards. He won his first election to the House in 2022, and ran…
Incumbent Ed Fitch Leads in Redmond Mayor Race
Redmond’s mayoral race included three candidates in 2024, with current Mayor Ed Fitch, sitting City Councilor Cat Zwicker and “depopulationist” Charles Baer vying for the seat. Incumbent Ed Fitch beat out Charles Baer and Redmond City Councilor Cat Zwicker in early results of the Redmond Mayoral race, with nearly 58% percent of the votes as…
Emerson Levy Holds Onto Her Seat In 53rd House District, In Early Returns
Emerson Levy (D) looks to maintain her seat in Oregon’s House District 53, leading with 54.19% of the vote in early returns Wednesday morning. Levy, a renewable energy attorney who lives in Bend, narrowly flipped the seat in 2022 by just over 500 votes, a fact that fellow Democratic House Representative Jason Kropf (D-OR54) reminded her…
Central Oregon Election Results
It’s been a tense election. In Central Oregon, we’ve contended with a highly contentious race for Deschutes County Sheriff, a tight race between three candidates for Bend City Council’s Position 4, an Oregon Senate 27 race that replaces a longtime Republican who was disqualified for repeated walkouts, and like the rest of the country, a…
Redmond Art Show Boosts Cultural and Educational Opportunities
A free art show in Redmond will offer a wide variety of local art for folks to view and purchase, with a chance to help fund art education for Redmond elementary school students. The free Fall Art Show and Sale, organized by Dry Canyon Arts Association, will showcase art and one – of – a -…
Bend-La Pine Schools Announces Administrator of the Year
Bend-La Pine Schools presented its Administrator of the Year award Friday evening to Scott Olszewski, Principal of La Pine High School. Superintendent Steven Cook and other district officials made the surprise presentation during halftime of the La Pine High Hawks home football game. Olszewski has been with Bend-La Pine Schools for 19 years and is…
More Snow at Mt. Bachelor
Snow has been coming down hard all morning and is expected to continue through the night and into the weekend. As of this morning, the resort’s base area is sitting under 2 feet of snow. With nearly a foot of snow accumulation over the last 24 hours and 20 inches in the last seven days,…
Empowering Families Luncheon
Immigrant families in Central Oregon will benefit directly from the Empowering Families Luncheon 2024, a fundraising event sponsored by the Latino Community Association. LCA invites the public to join them from 11:30 am-1 pm on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 61980 Skyline Ranch Road in Bend. In the current political climate, many immigrants…
Proactive Parenting Around Addictive Technology: An Evening with Emily Cherkin
Emily Cherkin, MEd., aka The Screentime Consultant, combines the unparalleled expertise of a well-known screentime expert with the compassionate and accessible voice of someone who understands the struggles of becoming more tech-intentional — both as a teacher and parent. Emily will lead a presentation on how to support children in developing balanced screen habits. Parents…
Women’s History Study Kicks Off Effort to Recognize Related Historic Places
The Oregon State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has released Oregon Women’s Labor History: A Historic Context Statement 1903-1990. The document, which can be found at www.oregonheritage.org , is the initial product of a larger effort to prepare and submit a Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) for listing in the National Register of Historic Places to…
City of Bend Hosting Open House to Plan for People Streets
Community members are invited to attend an open house on Planning for People Streets. Bend has great people-centered streets — like Brooks Street Alley and is expecting more in the future. This study will help the City plan for where and how Bend could have more of these kinds of vibrant People Streets in Bend.…
A Rise in Mailbox Break-Ins Around Bend and Redmond
Reports of people breaking into mailboxes in and around Deschutes County have spiked this fall season, according to officials, leading to an ongoing investigation. Since Oct. 15, the Bend Police Department has seen an increase in reports of community mailboxes being forced open, or attempts to do so. Bend PD also noted reports of some…
Breaking Down the Song, “Lucky” with Blind Pilot
It’s been eight years since Blind Pilot has released new music. Primary songwriter Israel Nebeker was facing a serious writer’s block. Meanwhile, bandmates and couple Luke Ydstie and Kati Claborn poured their energies into songwriting for their own project, releasing a slew of recordings as The Hackles. Even drummer Ryan Dobrowski joined the pair and…
Sheriff Shane Nelson Makes Public Statement About Political Candidate, Fueling Election Tension
On Tuesday evening, Sheriff Shane Nelson posted a public statement on the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office’s official Facebook page that Nelson described as a response to “numerous emails and phone calls” he received in the last week requesting a formal statement about Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp’s current status at DCSO. Vander Kamp is a longtime…
Redmond Chamber, City of Redmond Spar Over Tourism Tax Dollars
The Redmond Chamber of Commerce, which operates Visit Redmond, is pushing for a new collaborative partnership with the City of Redmond to continue offering destination services to both visitors and residents. In June, City of Redmond officials decided to redirect tourism tax dollars to a Portland-based agency to develop a more robust marketing effort. This…
Bend Earns Reputation as Beer Mecca
Each year, confident American craft brewers send their beers to Denver, Colorado, to be judged at the most prestigious competition in the country, if not the world: the Great American Beer Festival, produced by the Brewers Association. For this year’s 38th annual competition, 8,836 beers were submitted covering all 50 states. As always, California came…
“How To” Ideas for Authentic, Sustainable, Civic Engagement
One of the questions I always get asked as a bookstore owner is some version of, “What surprises you about running a bookstore?” I’m continually surprised by the connections we form as a third place – a place to spend time beyond home and work. Sharing a bookstore space with our community means we talk…
Creepshows
A majority of the movies that get made are horror movies for two main reasons: 1) With some imagination and a solid team you can make one on a very limited budget and 2) There’s such a large built-in fanbase starving for new horror that even hot garbage usually makes a little money. They’re the safest…
The Spiritual Intervention That Ended Blind Pilot’s Eight-Year Drought
Talk to enough songwriters and you’ll hear a common refrain: They’re not quite sure where their songs come from. Call it divine inspiration, putting in your 10,000 hours or just being in the right place at the right time. The point is: These songs come from someplace beyond them. Blind Pilot’s Israel Nebeker counts himself…
Woman’s suicide after repeated 911 calls reveals gaps in Bend’s lauded crisis response system
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of suicide. At first, the police officer stepping into Pamela Antoni’s empty one-bedroom apartment observed nothing out of the ordinary. The air was cool and smelled fresh. Clothes hung in the shower and a packed bag sat on the floor by the bed. But Officer Jonathon Fetherolf, an officer…
Halloween Mailbag
I got a couple of questions that I could loosely relate to Halloween, and it’s been a while since I responded to your real estate questions. Q: Has anything scary or even supernatural ever happened to you being a real estate broker? A: I got a few questions that were in this vein, asking about scary…
‘Cheers to the Land’ Beer Dinner Celebrates Oregon’s Bounty
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, The Cheers to the Land Dinner has been cancelled. Cheers to the Land, a program by the statewide nonprofit Oregon Agricultural Trust, has teamed up with Deschutes Brewery to host an evening celebrating sustainable dining. The Cheers to the Land Beer Dinner, held at Deschutes Brewery & Public House in downtown Bend,…
NeighborImpact informa de cientos de nuevas plazas en guarderías
Una actualización de la organización local sin ánimo de lucro NeighborImpact informó de mejoras en la industria local de cuidado de niños. La organización sin fines de lucro compartió sus logros en una reunión de la Junta de Comisionados del Condado de Deschutes el 21 de octubre, destacando cómo la financiación ayudó a crear 224…
Trivia Nights Wait for Craft Beers Lovers and Quiz Masters
With fall in full swing, cozy indoor activities are calling – and there’s no better way to spend an evening than teaming up with friends over craft brews and trivia. Across Bend and Redmond, breweries are bringing people together to test their wits, share a laugh and vie for prizes (or just bragging rights). From…
The Beer Issue
Bend Earns Reputation as Beer Mecca: More Great American Beer Fest medals return to Central Oregon than Portland Bend, By Way of Belgium: Monkless Brasserie is a singular experience Homebrewers Team Up with Breweries for People’s Choice Event: Boneyard hosts tasting event for homebrewers to show off their goods ‘Cheers to the Land’ Beer Dinner…
Horoscope Week of October 31, 2024
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio painter Pablo Picasso has been described as a “masterfully erratic pioneer.” He influenced every art movement of the 20th century. His painting *Guernica* is a renowned anti-war statement. Though he was a Communist, he amassed great wealth and owned five homes. Today, his collected work is valued at over $800…
Letters to the Editor 10/31/2024
Correction: In last week’s “Back to the Ballot Box: Election 2024” feature, we gave cumulative totals of the cash contributions for each city council candidate, which included the cash candidates had contributed to their own campaigns. We have corrected the numbers in the online version of the story to reflect the total amount of cash…
Homebrewers Team Up with Breweries for People’s Choice Event
Breweries get a lot of attention around these parts — but out of a basic Bend love for beer also comes a bevy of home brewers, eager to see whether their goods are as good as the pros. That’s where the Central Oregon Pro-Am Brewing Challenge — a relatively new event — comes in. The…
Savage in Bend: Exposing the Quirks that Make Central Oregon Unique
Hello readers! Let’s dive right into our question. Sherri, a longtime local resident, asks, “When I was a kid, it was illegal to swim in the Deschutes River in Bend. Yet now, thousands of people float the river and swim all summer long. What makes it safer today?” What good is such a beautiful river…
Operation Lava Island Falls Fish Rescue
Volunteers conducted a fish rescue operation over several days in mid-October, after reduced flows stranded fish in a mile-long side channel at Lava Island Falls along the Upper Deschutes River. The event was organized by the Deschutes River Conservancy, with help from volunteers and staff from fisheries and environmental consulting firm Mount Hood Environmental. Several…
The Bulletin Bought by Mississippi-Based Media Group
Colossal media company, Carpenter Media Group, announced an agreement to acquire EO Media Group and its portfolio of over two dozen newspaper across Oregon and Washington, including local papers “The Bulletin” and “Redmond Spokesman.” Since 2019, The Bulletin has been owned and operated by EO Media Group – an Oregon-based publisher that operated numerous newspapers…
A Dirge for a Big Part of the Local Journalism Ecosystem
It was only five short years ago that an Oregon media company rolled into town, trumpeting its efforts to “save local journalism” in Central Oregon by purchasing the then-daily newspaper, The Bulletin. The company was convincing enough that it got a group of local investors with the best intentions to aid in the acquisition. Unfortunately,…
Bend, By Way of Belgium
I feel like I’m always sleeping on Monkless. From the panoramic view to the consistently fantastic beer and the deep bench of flavors on a food menu filled with dishes that are rare to find in Bend, Monkless has always followed its own muse, still innovating at a time when a lot of breweries are content…
