Month: August 2013

A new state foreclosure prevention program aimed at helping homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments will be available starting at noon Wednesday. The “Home Rescue Program” provides up to a year of monthly mortgage assistance with a maximum benefit of $20,000. Program participants are also eligible for up to $10,000 to bring their mortgage

“It was horrible — horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible,” Keri Martin, a concerned mother, said Monday. She’s describing her daughter’s experience with bullying. Keri’s daughter is a 3.8 student and varsity volleyball athlete. She even has colleges interested in her. “It started with the cyber bullying,” Martin said. “You know — the tweets, the Facebook.” She

Central Oregon fire crews have responded to about 70 smoke reports since thunderstorms raked the region with about 6,500 lightning strikes Sunday, finding most to be very small and quickly extinguished, officials said. Firefighters are still responding to all the reports, the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center said. In general, they have been single-tree lightning

With an anticipated increase in holiday travelers on the road, according to AAA, Oregon State Police and many law enforcement agencies in Oregon are continuing a nationwide effort to prevent traffic crashes while targeting impaired drivers during the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend. The nationwide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign targets impaired driving

Do you or someone you know, live with a health condition that affects daily life? Workshops to achieve a healthier way of living for people living with ongoing health conditions begin as early September 17. Workshops are now being held in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties. A chronic health problem is one that you must

The community is invited to dedicate Miller’s Landing Park, the Bend Park & Recreation District’s newest riverfront park, on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Situated across the Deschutes River from McKay Park, the 4.7-acre park is located at 80 NW Riverside Boulevard. Event parking is limited. Attendees are encouraged to use alternative transportation or park across

The Center Foundation is in need of volunteers to assist with the Saturday, Sept. 14 Festival of Cars, which has designated TCF as its beneficiary for this year’s event. The very high-end car show is being held at Broken Top from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. and will feature rare, European automobiles as well as vendor booths

High Desert Chamber Music announces auditions for Spotlight Chamber Players will be held on September 20-21, 2013. This program was developed to provide a high level of chamber music instruction and is offered at no cost to the students selected. This program is devoted exclusively to the study and performance of chamber music skills and

About 4,900 Pacific Power customers in southern Bend will experience an outage between 11 p.m. Wednesday and 5 a.m. Thursday while overhead wires are moved to make way for a joint state and city road project involving Highway 97, Third Street and Murphy Road. Pacific Power customers who will be affected have been individually notified

Two adults and an 8-year-old girl were taken to Madras and Bend hospitals Sunday afternoon after a three-car crash on Highway 97 north of Madras in which mud and debris on the highway during an intense storm was a factor, Oregon State Police said. Around 4 p.m., a 1994 Chevrolet Corsica driven by Alejandro Magana,

Sisters took a trip back in time on Sunday. It was the first annual ‘Sisters Wild West Show’ and craft fair at Creekside Park. The event drew thousands of people over the weekend to about 50 vendors, selling Western-themed crafts, antiques and other goods. The Pine Mountain Posse held shoot-out skits in front of a

After more than a month of care, Chance, Central Oregon’s famous pit bull mix, is well on his way to recovery. Chance was severely injured after investigators said he fell out of a moving vehicle on Smith Rock Way in July. Officials with BrightSide Animal Center said at the time that they didn’t know if

When Tom Wright moved into his home four years ago on Southwest 24th Street in Redmond, he had no idea he’d soon be feeding about 30 homeless cats. “In no time at all, it overwhelmed us,” Wright said on Saturday. “I was just at the point where I was ready to panic, because each one

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation announced Friday it is acquiring a 277-acre Yamhill County property known as the Red Hills Conservation area through the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program. The Bonneville Power Administration provides funds for the purchase and protection of land for wildlife habitat as mitigation for the loss of wildlife habitat

The thunderstorms of late summer continued to roll north through the High Desert Saturday afternoon and evening, bringing heavy rain in spots, dramatic sunset views — and a return of new wildfires. Despite significant rain accompanying the storms, crews were working on five lightning-related fires around the area Saturday evening, according to the Central Oregon

A fire in a southwest Redmond detached garage-wood shop Saturday afternoon was caused by spontaneous combustion of oily rags improperly disposed of in a garbage can, investigators said. Redmond firefighters were called around 3:20 p.m. to the garage fire at a home at 1040 SW 15 th Street, said Fire Marshal Traci Cooper. They arrived

An apparent lightning strike knocked out power to nearly 11,000 Pacific Power customers on Bend’s north side and west to Tumalo for 2 1/2 hours Friday evening, but it took another hour for the last 2,700 residents to see the lights come back on. The lights blinked off around 7:10 p.m. and, for most residents

Whole Foods in Bend on Friday hosted its third annual Meet The Maker event, where they host local food vendors to meet the customers for their goods. The event was held in the Whole Foods parking lot. “We do this every year in order to highlight the local vendors we have in the store that

With the school year coming up fast, there’s a lot of big decisions to be making. One of them is how to keep your kids busy with positive activities — and safe — after they leave school for the day. A report from ChildAction.org say about two-thirds of American families have single or dual working

Ask the residents at Aspen Ridge Retirement Home in Bend, and they’ll tell you 73-year-old Joe Reeves is the real brewmaster. “I’m not sure how that happened, but they’ve labeled me that way,” Reeves said Friday, with a laugh. It’s a label that’s stuck with him since he helped start the community’s resident-led home-brewing program