Month: December 2013

St. Charles Health System and Bend Memorial Clinic said Monday they are together offering a new smoking cessation program to patients admitted to the hospital. Patients who have reported smoking within the last year will be visited by a team of providers who will discuss withdrawal and nicotine replacement therapy to make them more comfortable

Tuesday night’s $344 million Mega Millions is the fourth-largest in the game’s history, Oregon Lottery officials said. The largest Mega Millions jackpot, and world record, is $656 million won in March 2012. The $344 million jackpot is the eighth largest in the world. Players have two choices on how to take the Mega Millions jackpot

The Bethlehem Inn is in need of items to keep the homeless warm. When the shelter is at capacity and cannot accept residents due to fire code regulations, they try to provide sleeping bags and warm coats so they can survive the night. No matter the season, the Bethlehem Inn does not stop giving. They

Jefferson County School District 509-J closed all schools for a second day Tuesday “due to continued problems with frozen water lines and bus issues.” The Madras-based school district had planned a two-hour delay, in an announcement Monday evening, but updated it Tuesday morning with the cancellation as the thaw from Central Oregon’s frigid temperatures began

Failed or overheated heat tape used to thaw water lines sparked a fire that caused $32,000 damage to a shed and home north of Bend Monday morning, leaving the home uninhabitable, officials said. Bend Fire was dispatched to the structure fire around 6:40 a.m. at 20710 Bowery Lane, said Deputy Fire Marshal Cindy Kettering. They

The arctic blast that hit Central Oregon this weekend set records causing school closures, and pipes to burst across the High Desert. Water and heating systems malfunctioned all weekend because of the cold, and with the temperature warming up, we aren’t necessarily out of the woods, according to an area plumber. “Now that today has

Doug Maragas describes the past few frigid nights in a single word. “This is devastating,” he said Monday morning. In Maragas Winery’s 10 years, he’s never seen it this cold — or this early. “The problem is the extreme cold when the plants are that young,” Maragas said. Nineteen acres of vines planted this spring

This month, dance companies all over Oregon are staging the one ballet most everyone knows, even if they’re not particular fans of dance: Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Take the students at the Redmond School of Dance. They don’t make a radical departure from Tchaikovsky’s story and choreography — they just tell the story with cowgirls. And

A public open house to discuss the future of the Old Redmond Schoolhouse is scheduled for Wednesday from 4 – 6 pm, at Redmond City Hall, 716 SW Evergreen Avenue. The Redmond City Council is seeking public input on whether or not to retain the structure in public ownership or to offer it to a

About 35 Central Electric Cooperative members at a southeast Bend mobile home park lost power for up to eight hours Sunday night on a second night of sub-zero temperatures — the second outage of the day on Bend’s Eastside.. Spokesman Jeff Beaman said Monday the cause of the outage at Country Sunset Mobile Estates, 61445

A former Bend lawyer pleaded guilty Monday in Eugene federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and could face a 20-year sentence when he returns to court next March, federal officials said. Appearing before U.S. District Judge Michael McShane, Bryan Gruetter, 55, admitted to diverting more than $1.1 million of client

A second straight night of below-zero temperatures left the High Desert in deep-freeze mode late Sunday and early Monday — though a wee bit warmer — with the promise of warmer days to come in the new work week. And indeed, Bend had reached 27 degrees by mid-afternoon Monday, relatively “balmy” but also threatening to

La Pine has been bearing the brunt of some of the region’s coldest temperatures in the latest cold snap — and its firefighters were out again Monday morning on their third structure fire in sub-zero readings. Temperatures were at -17 when crews responded to the blaze at 53234 Riverview Drive, where residents noticed smoke coming

Because of road and weather conditions affecting much of Oregon, DMV has been rescheduling drive tests Monday and may need to do so again Tuesday . Some of the affected offices may resume drive tests Monday afternoon, and a handful may conduct a scheduled drive test if the vehicle is equipped with a traction device,

On Sunday at The Pine Tavern, children of all ages got to enjoy a special breakfast with a jolly fellow from the North Pole. The 23rd annual “Breakfast with Santa” was hosted by the Assistance League of Bend for the foster families of Deschutes County. Each of the 130 kids got to sit on Santa’s

On Saturday night, when temperatures plummeted to record territory far below zero, a fill-in-the-blank question: “It was so cold that…” brought a variety of responses from our NewsChannel 21 online friends. “It’s so cold that I (saw) homeless kids sleeping inside Wal-Mart on the benches overnight,” was the most-liked comment, by Jennifer Falls, who thanked

Over the weekend, Bend’s First United Methodist Church held a toy and bake sale fundraiser, where the proceeds will benefit children locally and globally. The gently used toys, games and books were donated by the community. Proceeds from the sale will go directly to Family Access Network and First United Methodist Church’s “Imagine No Malaria”

The city of Bend has delayed work on its controversial water pipeline project — not due to this week’s frigid, snowy weather, but under an agreement to wait for a federal judge’s ruling on opponents’ request for an injunction to block the project. Under a stipulated order signed last Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Ann

A recent state report shows Oregon’s student-teacher ratio is among the highest in the country. Oregon public schools have worked on decreasing class sizes, but they’re still above the national average. Redmond teachers and students said Friday it affects the way learning happens in the classroom. “The average for me has been 30, maybe 31”

Friday morning, Central Oregon woke up to snow. By mid-afternoon, visibility dropped on area roads and traffic was slowed. “There is a little layer of ice, and then there is soft snow over that, and with the freezing you have to go slow,” Bend resident Eddy Young said. “A little slippery, but the car is