Month: September 2014

Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO), host of the annual Bend Venture Conference (BVC), has secured the participation of Seven Peaks Ventures Fund I, LP, the Bend-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in capital-efficient startups throughout the Pacific Northwest, who will be sponsoring a $100,000 Seven Peaks Ventures Investment Award for this year’s launch

A knife-wielding man who broke into several southwest Bend homes Monday morning, taking money and jewelry, and tried to carjack a woman’s car before stealing an SUV was caught in Deschutes River Woods south of town a short time later, thanks in part to citizen tips on his whereabouts, police said. Nathan John Fletcher, 26,

“I am the face of suicide,” Katherine Benson said. It’s a sunny afternoon. We are sitting on the back porch of her condo in Eagle Crest. Five or six horses wander on the other side of the lodgepole fence about 20 feet away. Looking at Benson, calm and composed, only a hint of waver entering

BendBroadband was hit by a lengthy outage of its television services early Monday, a situation that continued well into the day before channels began returning to service in the afternoon. All were back by evening. In an update posted at 1 p.m. to www.bendbroadband.com , the company apologized for the long outage. It said it

Next month, the Sisters Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest will begin offering commercial permits to purchase fuelwood on the district, officials said Monday. Fuelwood is as a byproduct of forest management activities such as hazardous fuels reduction, logging slash generated by a timber sale, or roadside debris from clearing forest roads. The collection

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue successfully completed three rescue missions in 12 hours on Sunday, which serves as a reminder for all of us looking to enjoy the great outdoors. “Seventy-seventh, 78th, 79th – now we are just waiting for No. 80 to come out,” Lt. Scott Shelton, SAR coordinator told NewsChannel 21 on

Less than six months after his release from state prison on a sex abuse conviction, the former executive director of the Redmond Proficiency Academy was back behind bars Sunday, accused of trying to elude an Oregon State Police trooper on a motorcycle at over 100 mph west of Redmond. Michael Bremont, 41, of Redmond shocked

Beginning at midnight Monday, the Ochoco National Forest will drop the public use restrictions on campfires and firewood cutting that went into effect July 25. The Industrial Fire Precaution Level will also lower to a “Level 2 – Partial Hootowl,” meaning certain industrial equipment may be used between 8 p.m. and 1 p.m. These changes

St. Charles Health System’s board of directors announced Monday it has hired a new president and chief executive officer, Joseph Sluka, to lead the organization, starting Dec. 1. Sluka is coming from Rapid City, S.D., where he has served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Regional Health for the past four years.

September 8 through 14 is National Suicide Awareness Week. To build awareness and work toward preventing suicide-and suicide attempts-the Deschutes County Suicide Prevention Advisory Council and community partners are coordinating several activities throughout Central Oregon. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in Oregon. In Deschutes County, 33 people died by suicide in

A free residential document shredding, food drive and drug disposal event will take place at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Substation in Terrebonne, 8154 11 th Street, Suite 3, Terrebonne, Oregon, on Saturday, September 13th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. There is no cost to the public for up to 4 medium size boxes

The warm, sunny first Sunday of September was another busy one for Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue crews, who rescued two lost or injured hikers and an injured mountain biker within a 12-hour period, the last after darkness fell. The final incident of the day began around 8 p.m., Deschutes County 911 received a

It was a long Saturday evening and night for Crook County firefighters who battled a stubborn fire in Powell Butte that burned a hay barn, two tractors and 1,300 tons of hay, officials said Sunday. Crook County Fire and Rescue was dispatched around 4:30 p.m. Saturday to a report of a hay barn on fire

And they’re off! The 25th Annual Great Drake Park Rotary Duck Race was held Sunday for families to enjoy jumpers, food and live music, all for a good cause. Since 1989, the Duck Race has raised over $1 million for Central Oregon charities, all supporting children and families in need. Close to 500 duck s

A driver on the Bend Parkway pulled onto the median after the engine died Saturday afternoon — but that turned out to be a bad choice, as it sparked a fire in dry vegetation that eventually consumed the car and caused a major traffic tie-up, officials said. Firefighters responded around 2:10 p.m. to the reported

A 60-year-old Tualatin man, convicted earlier this year of placing a hidden video camera in a Sherwood Starbucks bathroom, pleaded guilty Friday in Bend to 25 invasion of privacy charges for using a similar device – disguised as an AC adapter — in the bathroom of his family’s vacation-rental home in Bend’s NorthWest Crossing neighborhood,

“Now is not the time to let our guard down,” says Oregon Department of Forestry Fire Prevention Coordinator Tom Fields when asked about the pending arrival of fall. “We are still experiencing extreme fire danger conditions throughout much of the state and we need everyone to remain vigilant in their efforts to prevent human-caused fires.”

Nearly 18 years ago, one of two men cutting trees for firewood in the woods near La Pine was arrested when officers found a .22 caliber pistol in his back pocket – an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. This week, he was finally sentenced to over three years in federal prison – a dozen

The deep green shade of the Deschutes River of late has raised concerns among some over the water quality. “I’m certainly seeing the turbidity is up,” hydrologist Joe Eilers with MaxDept Aquatics said Friday. “The color of the river has a green cast, so I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if blue-green algae was present.” A

A truck driver was killed early Friday when his rig left state Highway 58 and crashed about 25 miles east of Oakridge, Oregon State Police said. His dog survived. The man was identified later Friday as Dennis Joseph Huber, 56, of Silverton. Around 3:25 a.m., Huber’s Freightliner truck pulling a trailer loaded with tree products