Children’s Literacy Nonprofit Seeks Community Volunteers
Reading is an essential skill for kids, helping them start and stay on a path to success in school and beyond. Since 1992, children’s literacy nonprofit SMART Reading has been committed to providing students with two critical components of reading success: regular practice time with an adult and access to books. Now entering its 33rd…
LISTEN: Bend Don’t Break with Zak Boone 🎧
In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, Zak Boone, VP For College Advancement & Executive Director, COCC Foundation, discusses his extensive journey in nonprofit leadership, including roles at the Bend Ronald McDonald House and Deschutes Land Trust.
Vote Yes on Measure 117
Vote Yes on Measure 117 The case for ranked-choice voting may be most easily understood when looking at recent presidential elections, where “splitting the vote” has had some very real consequences. Maybe you were a Bernie Sanders supporter, but you felt the need to vote for Hillary Clinton so as not to by consequence throw…
Vote Yes on Measure 116
Vote Yes on Measure 116 Voting yes on this measure will create an Independent Public Service Commission to set salaries for the governor, state legislators, the secretary of state, state treasurer, BOLI commissioner, supreme court judges, district attorneys and the attorney general. Compared to other states, some of the salaries of these public officials are…
New Youth Housing to Open in East Bend
Several months after Deschutes County decided to shut down a housing program for clients of Adult Parole and Probation on SE Wilson Avenue, youth services nonprofit J Bar J will acquire the property to operate a youth housing program. The eastside triplex will become a long-term housing program for young people and families, helping provide…
Rent Can Go Up a Max of 10% in 2025
The Oregon Department of Administrative Services announced on Sept. 23 that the maximum allowable rent increase percentage for 2025 will be 10%, according to a press release. This allowable increase applies to residential rental units 15 years and older. A law in 2019 began requiring DAS to calculate and publish the maximum rent increase for…
OHA Urges Stronger Vaccine Uptakes Ahead of Unpredictable Respiratory Season
Fall is nearly here, bringing pumpkin spice everything, and newly formulated respiratory vaccines. With cooling temperatures and the return to school, Melissa Sutton, Oregon Health Authority’s medical director for respiratory viral pathogens, warns that there will soon be an increase in typical respiratory viruses like flu, RSV and COVID-19. But, she said, vaccines can help…
LISTEN: Bend Don’t Break with John Kish 🎧
In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, John Kish, founder of “Somewhere That’s Green” and “The Greenhouse Cabaret,” discusses his journey from small-town Oregon to Bend, where he’s merged his passions for plants and theater into two unique businesses. John also shares insights on Bend’s growing theater scene and his role in fostering creativity and…
The Medicine Cabinet Within: Back to School!
With the end of summer and the arrival of cooler temperatures, the kids have returned to school and are settling back into their school year routines. This means more time indoors with less sunshine and for many, the added stress of studies and classes. All these factors typically mean more colds and illnesses than we…
A Dose of Wellness at NW Raw
It’s that sneaky time of year — not quite hot-hot summer, not quite chilly fall, and for whatever reason, the sniffles and sneezes seem to be popping up all over the place. Maybe it’s the lingering smoke, or the waning levels of vitamin D from a sun starting to hide earlier and earlier in the…
Fall into your new home
Tis the season for cool mornings, 30-degree fluctuations in temperature and overall, less hustle and bustle as we approach fall in Bend. The typical real estate busy season has come and gone, but I expect a busier fall and winter than we have seen in the last couple of years. A couple big factors are…
Amid Record Fires and A Worker Shortage, Forest Service Looks To Fill Hundreds Of Openings
Last Thursday, as nearly 1,000 firefighters and support staff battled the Bachelor Complex and Flat Top and Firestone fires surrounding Bend, dozens of people filled a room at the Deschutes County Road department office building to learn more about what it takes to join the U.S. Forest Service as a wildland firefighter. The in-person recruitment…
Source Warmup
Evacuation Notices Dropped for Nearby Fires The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Sunriver Police department, lowered all evacuation levels to normal status Tuesday for areas around the Bachelor Complex and Little Lava Fires. With improved conditions and successful fire operations, evacuation notices on the Firestone and Flat Top Fires, in southern Deschutes…
A Community Initiative to Buy Mt. Bachelor Grows
An effort to bring Mt. Bachelor back into the hands of the Bend community is growing, some three weeks after two locals launched an initiative to purchase the resort. The group, Mt. Bachelor Community Inc., officially launched its website and reported a growing community team, among increasing interest in collaborations, according to a press release.…
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Vote Kent Vander Kamp for Deschutes County Sheriff ▶ [With Video]
Like it or not, the present election for the next Deschutes County Sheriff plays as a referendum on current Sheriff Shane Nelson. Under his leadership, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office has been plagued with lawsuits and personnel complaints that have not only put a stain on the office, but cost county taxpayers plenty, to boot.…
¡De Regreso a Clases! Consejos para mantenerse saludable
Con el fin de verano y la llegada de temperaturas más bajas, los niños regresaron a la escuela y se están adaptando a la rutina escolar. Esto quiere decir que es hora de pasar más tiempo en ambientes cerrados, con menos luz solar y para muchas personas con más estrés proveniente de los estudios y…
Letters to the Editor 09/18/24
Just another parking lot rage story On a nice smokey Sunday morning, after returning extra supplies at Lowe’s with the very helpful, friendly lady there, I contentedly sauntered back to my car having successfully finished my project. As I was about to get in my car, I heard some angry muttering but didn’t think anything…
A New Sandwich Concept for Crosscut
A new sandwich truck has opened at Crosscut Warming Hut, taking the place of the Gyro Power cart that served customers for the past four years. Cliff Abrahams is the chef behind Eight Hands Hospitality, the company operating all of the trucks at Crosscut, including the pizza cart Abe Capanna’s, Bluma’s Chicken and Waffles and now…
Love and Other World Wars
One thing that’s always been a bit difficult about the theater scene in Bend: it can sometimes be hard to find the audience for certain kinds of shows. If it’s a musical, a Neil Simon comedy or something extremely well known, Bend turns up for it most of the time. If it’s lesser known, new…
On The Outskirts
Blackened trees and pink-hued brush and rocks – stained from fire retardant dropped last month – line the dirt road that leads into Juniper Ridge. The sprawling, undeveloped land on the outskirts of town functions as a campground for hundreds of houseless people, some who stay for a season and others who make it a…
Sing, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Sing
My dream format for writing about movies would be to write about one big and one little movie every week. That way I can be a part of the conversation connected to the newest blockbuster everyone is watching while also trying to bring attention to a smaller movie that deserves more eyeballs aimed at it.…
Vote No on Measure 118
Vote No on Measure 118 The notion of turning corporate profits, from a new corporate sales tax, into checks paid out to needy Oregonians sounds good, but it’s a bit too socialist for our taste. It’s a bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul; it puts a few-thousand-dollar check into the hands of a working…
Qualifying for the Odonata Olympics
Last week, I participated in the Olympics…the Odolympics, that is — better known as the “Odonata Olympics.” Sponsored by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, Sociedad de Odonatalogiá Latinamericana and Odonata Central, this week-long Olympian citizen science effort focused on recording dragonflies and damselflies, members of the Odonata order, to provide a snapshot of distribution…
Sisters Folk Festival: All Grown Up
Back in 1995, Sisters was sleepy. That’s exactly what drew Brad Tisdel to this Central Oregon outpost located in the shadows of its namesake trio of mountains. “It was a pretty quiet place when I arrived in ’95, and I took that as a place of solitude, where I cross-country skied and tried to write…
Central Oregon’s Oktoberfest Events with Steins, Pretzels and Good Times
Oktoberfest is back, and it’s time to celebrate! Whether you’re donning lederhosen or a dirndl, Central Oregon offers plenty of ways to get into the festive spirit. From savoring pretzels at Prost! to sipping pints of Oktoberfest lager at McMenamins, here’s how to join the fun during Oktoberfest 2024. Best of all, these events are…
A Night of Joyous Music with The Mavericks
Show update: It was announced that sadly The Mavericks had to step away from tour with Dwight Yoakam. Los Lonely Boys will now be joining him and special guest Drayton Farley in Bend on Sat., Sep. 28. The Mavericks, a band known for its unique fusion of country, rock and Latin sounds, is getting set…
End-of-Summer Cannabis Update
Cannabis Rescheduling Delayed Until Post Election Despite the hopes of many, including our own soon-retiring Cannabis Crusader, Rep. Earl Bluenenhauer, cannabis will not see a rescheduling prior to the election. The Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it would be holding a hearing on December 2 of this year. This comes after a public comment period…
Horoscope Week of September 18, 2024
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You have probably heard the platitude, “Be cautious about what you wish for. You might get it.” The implied warning is that if your big desires are fulfilled, your life may change in unpredictable ways that require major adjustments. That’s useful advice. However, I have often found that the “major adjustments”…
Manzanita Grill Competes in Chicken Sando Challenge
Manzanita Grill, a local favorite that was a winner of Best Food Cart in the Source Weekly’s annual Restaurant Guide, is competing for a national award and a cash prize. Manzanita Grill is now in the semi-finals of the Artesano Official Chicken Sandwich Challenge, put on by the baker Artesano. “Through this exciting competition, local…
