Letters to the Editor, Week of Aug. 6
Energize Bendโs Future with Your Expertise as a Bendite If we are going to keep growing, we should all have a say. When I returned to Central Oregon after graduating from college, I could not believe how many new neighborhoods had popped up. It made me wonder where all the water, electricity, and energy toโฆ
Little Bites From the Local Food Scene
On the move Ponchโs Place is undergoing a transformation. The brick-and-mortar beverage pavilion at the food truck lot is closing Aug. 7 due to ongoing staffing shortages. A note online says food trucks remain open; however, some have relocated. The Tin Pig is now at Ballers & Brews. The cart, open for nearly a decade,โฆ
The Millennium Approaches
Countless words have been written about what constitutes the โGreat American Novelโ and what that phrase even means given the vast breadth of literature published in the United States over the last few centuries. My own rubric has always been that the work must capture something quintessentialโnot just about life in America, but something profoundโฆ
Waiting Out the Fires to Determine the Damageย
Itโs a challenging time to be a grape grower. Dave Maragas of Margaras Winery has been watching the fires and waiting to learn just how deep the impact will be. The Bench Fire, which is 67,238 acres and 84% contained as of Tuesday, burned up to the edge of one of the vineyards on land heโs leasing near the Pelton Dam. The grapes need to be tested to determine if theyโve been affected by theโฆ
Cowboys in the Cockpit: Planes, Helicoptersย Helpย Battle Central Oregon Blazes
A former British airliner once suited to carry 100 passengers now skims the Central Oregon High Desert carrying only two people: a pilot and an officer trying to decide where to send 27,000 pounds of reddish-pink slurry tumbling to the ground. They are among the first to reach the fanning flames of the Bench Fire burning on the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springsโฆ
Free Will Astrology, Week of August 6, 2026
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Within most galaxies are dense clouds of gas and dust that astronomers call โstar factories.โ Here and there, the magic of gravity gradually gathers together diffuse material into concentrated clusters until nuclear fusion ignites, creating brilliant new suns. I suspect you will be operating a metaphorical star factory in the comingโฆ
Bend City Council to Consider Ways to Spur Housing
A committee appointed to help spur Bendโs housing production has come up with a set of policy recommendations the Bend City Council will discuss this month โ including whether to ask voters to help subsidize affordable housing through a tax measure. The recommendations are intended to propel Bend toward lofty home building targets established by the state. That could mean expanding property tax and infrastructure fee exemptions for affordableโฆ
Julyโs Cyberattacks Accessed an Oregon Drinking-Water Providerโs Operating Technology; Bend, Redmond OK
Throughout the country, the costs of the conflict in Iran have had wide-ranging effects, and weโre not just talking about gas prices. Dozens of municipalities across at least seven states, including Minnesota and Michigan, have reported that their water and wastewater systems were hit with cyberattacks in the last week of July. Now we know Oregon was also hit. While federal and state officials said a preliminary investigation hasnโt confirmed Iranโs involvement, the attacks mirror those the country has waged against U.S. water systems inโฆ
Beware the Election Misinformation Complex
When the pandemic worsened our housing crisis, national and local governments, and nonprofits, began to address the tent cities that were popping up. At that time, a term began to be thrown about: โthe homeless industrial complex.โ Using words borrowed from a critique of American military spending, it was meant to indicate that people wereโฆ
Celebrating the New Library & Where to Get Broken Stuff Fixed
Party at the Central Library! Just over two months after opening, the public is invited to a Grand Opening party lasting two days at the Central Library in Bend. The celebration will begin at noon Saturday, Aug. 15, with remarks from members of Indigenous Neighbor Nations, U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze and Oregon Poet Laureateโฆ
The Way West: A Destination
Thereโs something appealing about a place where you can order a craft cocktail, grab a sliced brisket sandwich, pick up bone-in chops or ribeyes for the grill and leave with provisions for your next mountain adventure. That is exactly the niche The Way West hopes to fill. The new collaboration between Bend Brewing Company andโฆ
Election-Integrityย Punditย Says Oregon is โCommunistโย
A smoky haze enveloped the grounds of the Lone Pine Events Center last week, pushed Terrebonneโs way from the wildfires surrounding Central Oregon. Inside the meeting space, Dr. Douglas Frank, a notorious election-integrity pundit, was stoking flames of another kind. Talking before a crowd of approximately 40 people, as part of his โWho Is Controlling Our Elections?โ tour, the physicist, who has become well-known with his message that election fraudโฆ
Mt. Joy: Creating on the Road
โYou canโt have one without the other,โ sang Frank Sinatra on โLove and Marriage.โ For Mt. Joy, the groupโs musical matrimony comes in the form of touring the world and playing for crowds of rapturous fans before settling down in a recording studio. Life on the road inspires those studio recordings, and by the endโฆ
Why is Central Oregon So Biodiverse?
As gardeners, landscapers and owners of a native plant nursery for over 30 years, weโve had our fair share of interesting, sometime humorous, but never stupid questions. One common theme is the difficulty of growing ANYTHING in our challenging area, but more specifically, what CAN we grow in our wonderful soils and climate. Our answer is alwaysโฆ
The Psychology Behind Home Prices
If you’ve spent any time browsing homes in Central Oregon, you’ve probably noticed something strange. A surprising number of listings stop just short of the next major price pointโ$599,000, $799,000, $999,000. It’s almost as if every Realtor collectively agreed that round numbers are off-limits. Of course, that’s not actually what’s happening. The truth is thatโฆ
DEA Hearings on Cannabis Rescheduling Conclude
Last month, the Drug Enforcement Agency concluded its hearings related to the reclassification of Cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III. Analysis as to how it went is limited by restrictions that prohibited live streaming, cell phones, recording devices, or cameras in the hearing room gallery, which only had 20 seats. Hearing transcripts and audioโฆ
The Intersection of Climate Change, Wildfire and Art
A touring exhibit, currently at Scalehouse Collaborative for the Arts in downtown Bend, creates a ghost forest filled with images of wildfire scars through which visitors can wander. โItโs digital photography and these are all forests along the west coast from northern Washington to southern California,โ Jocelyn Church, a Scalehouse intern, explains while looking atโฆ
I Want You…To Be Happy
We cannot fix every problem in the world,but we can choose how we treat the people around us. โAuthor unknownThe older I get, the less I knowโฆ and the more I know. Go figure. All I know for sure is, itโs true. โBurt Gershater And I truly do want us all to be happy. Beingโฆ
