In the Swirl of the Week, Your Ballot Arrived
See the videos of our interviews with the candidates on our Elections page at bendsource.com. City Elections Redmond City Council Our picks: Tobias Colvin, Kathryn Osborne, Barbara Tate Five people are in the running for three seats on the Redmond City Council, including Tobias Colvin, the manager of the SCP Redmond Hotel and a former…
Letters to the Editor, Week of Oct. 22, 2026
Guest Opinion: When trauma hits close, everyone feels it by Edie Jones All of us in Central Oregon have felt the impact of the terrible shooting that took place at the Silver Rail Elementary School. When trauma hits close, everyone feels it. The classmates of the victims and the teachers who shielded kids, risking their…
We Are Bend Strong
This column is usually about real estate. This week, it isn’t. Like everyone in Bend, we have been heartbroken since learning of the tragic event at Silver Rail Elementary School. We don’t have the right words for what the children, teachers, families, first responders and community members are going through, and we won’t pretend to.…
Free Will Astrology, Week of October 22, 2026
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I admire your ability to stay outside the conflict and offer detached, incisive commentary. I respect your preference for avoiding small-minded camps and partisan skirmishes. But in the coming days, I hope you’ll step directly into the muck and bring the passionate contributions of a devotee who’s invested in the outcome.…
The Kids We Tuck Away
This week I’m putting my regular content down to talk about something close to my heart, and close to this community. My heart is with those affected by the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary school last Thursday. I knew Griffin J. John II, the shooter, although only a little. My kid was in a special…
A Little Comfort, Shared Around the Table
Comfort food is a real thing. Look at any culture, anywhere in the world, and it won’t take long to find stories about food and the ways gathering around a table builds community. Sharing a meal can offer comfort in hard times, in moments of stress and in the face of loss. Our community is…
On Tragedy and the Interconnectedness of Community
Since the horrific shootings at Silver Rail Elementary on October 15, I have written various versions of this Editor’s Note in my head. One lamented the mental exercises in futility we as Americans engage in, every time one of our babies dies in a school shooting. Another was an attempt to examine the yawning social…
What We Know Now: Uncovering Details About the Shooter’s Family
The mass shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School happened less than a week from the date of this writing. Amid the maelstrom through which rumors swirled, verifiable facts, often confirmed by local law enforcement authorities and eyewitnesses, have been laid bare alongside anonymously sourced information. National news outlets, including The New York Times, have identified…
Injured Silver Rail Shooting Victims Continue Recovery, Family Remembers Slain Child
Six days after the shooting inside a special needs classroom at Silver Rail Elementary, recovery continued for the seven-year-old girl and 54-year-old staffer wounded in the tragedy. Meanwhile, the community and families continued to mourn the dead, including a teacher working her “dream job” and a “vivacious” five-year-old — the youngest person ever killed…
A Show of Support from Central Oregon Media
Media outlets in Central Oregon, including Central Oregon Daily, KTVZ, Bend Radio Group, KPOV, Horizon Communications, Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Source are banding together this week to share a message of support for the people affected by the tragedy at Silver Rail Elementary School Oct. 15. We created this poster and social media images…
Handmade Magic
It feels reductive to spend this space writing about movies after the nightmare that children, teachers and their families went through last week at Silver Rail Elementary here in Bend. So then I thought I should make a list of comforting movies that parents can watch with their kids to help block out some of…
As Bend Families Brace for Daunting Return to School, District Promises Close Look at Safety Measures
Skyler Laughlin’s daughter’s desk sits next to a window near the front of the school at Lava Ridge Elementary in northeast Bend. When he toured the classroom earlier this year, he was excited about the prospect of his daughter getting more natural light to help her learning. Now — days after a 16-year-old gunman…
Free Emotional-Support Sessions Offered at Central Library Tuesday and Wednesday
Deschutes County Health Services, St. Charles Health System and Bend-La Pine Schools are once again teaming up to provide people with a safe space to seek crisis stabilization and emotional support in the aftermath of the shootings at Silver Rail Elementary School. That event resulted in the death of a teacher, Megan Lambert, 25, and…
Too Soon to Say Whether Criminal Charges Will be Filed in Silver Rail Aftermath
National news outlets, including The New York Times, have identified the Silver Rail Elementary School shooter’s mother as Shauntai May Nickerson. Citing anonymous law enforcement officials not authorized to speak on the matter, outlets also say the shotgun the 16-year-old used to kill three children and a teacher, and critically injure another student and a…
Tears Keep Coming: Silver Rail Parents, Children, Community Process Shooting as Memorial Grows Saturday
In the second full day since a 16-year-old gunman shot and killed three children and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, dozens of people visited a memorial to pay their respects, piling flowers, stuffed animals, candles, posters and balloons near a sign at the entrance to the school’s parking lot. Blue paper hearts…
Hundreds Seek Emotional Support After School Shooting as Bend Community Grapples with Fear, Grief
A mother’s eyes welled up as she watched her young daughter pet a golden retriever outside of the Bend Central Library Friday afternoon — about 24 hours after three children and an educator were shot and killed in an elementary school classroom in southeast Bend. As details emerged — and questions remained — about the…
Silver Rail Elementary School Shooter Identified as Griffin John; Father Who Intervened is Kaylub Giamanco
Authorities have identified Griffin J. John II as the suspect in the Oct. 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School that resulted in the deaths of three children and a teacher, and the critical injuries of another teacher and student. Speaking at a press conference Friday afternoon at Bend Municipal Court, Bend Police Chief Mike…
School Lunches Made Easier
As a pediatric dietitian, one of the most common questions parents ask this time of year is how to pack a balanced school lunch their child will actually eat. Planning school lunches can be time-consuming and discouraging, especially when they come home mostly untouched. A few simple strategies can take some of the stress out…
City, State, Faith Leaders Speak at Vigil for Shooting Victims
A Redmond teacher held a candle near the front of the stage at Bend’s Drake Park Thursday night, scrawling “Please protect our children” onto the pavers with sidewalk chalk. “This could have been us,” the teacher cried out, in between speakers on the stage. She declined to provide her name. Hundreds of people descended on…
Leaders Call for Action in Wake of Silver Rail Shooting
Details about the shooting that included at least two victims at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend are still emerging, renewing calls from state, local and national leaders for an end to gun violence. Bend Police responded to the school just after 1pm Oct. 15. The assailant was dead, police said. Two others, an adult…
Children’s Museum to Open in Bend Central District
A non-profit plans to open the doors of a new children’s museum in the Bend Central District in 2027, after two years running mobile pop-up events. With its new brick-and-mortar location, the Children’s Museum of Central Oregon is also rebranding itself as Ruckus: A Children’s Science Museum. The new name is a nod to…
