Month: February 2015

BendBroadband and ROOT SPORTS™announced Tuesday that the regional sports network will re-launch to BendBroadband customers on March 1 . The network will be part of the Essentials and Preferred packages. The popular sports network brings an extensive line-up of regional sports programming including more than 350 LIVE event telecasts of the Seattle Mariners, Portland Timbers,

A masked robber – possibly wearing a walking cast on one foot — held up a northwest Bend gas station/convenience store early Tuesday and fled, eluding a search of the area, police said as they turned to the public for leads. Officers responded shortly after 3 a.m. to the reported robbery at the College Way

A message left on a Sunriver-area resident’s voice mail Tuesday afternoon prompted a police warning about a common telephone scam, threatening enforcement action unless the call was returned. Officers said the message on the woman’s home answering machine was from a male caller identified himself as “Steve Martin” from the U.S. Treasury, claiming to take

Hazardous material is transported on railways across the country on a daily basis, including Oregon tracks that run right through downtown Bend. A recent survey says only 19 percent of Oregon’s fire departments are ready for a major oil spill. Legislation and local law enforcement are getting their hands dirty to keep Oregonians safe. Officials

Warmer weather has opened up prescribed burning opportunities for the Deschutes National Forest beginning as early as Wednesday. If conditions remain favorable, fuels specialists are planning to burn 400 acres in the southern-most area of the forest, 40 miles south of Bend near Hole in the Ground on on Wednesday. This area of the forest

A pickup and car collided on S. Highway 97 in southern Bend Monday night, sending the car’s driver to the hospital with apparent non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Shortly after 9 p.m., the driver of a Volkswagen car apparently pulled out into the path of a pickup truck heading south on Business 97 near Badger Road,

A 40-year-old Bend man was arrested late last week at San Francisco International Airport, accused of murder in the death of his former girlfriend during a hike in the Columbia River Gorge nearly six years ago, news reports stated. Stephen P. Wagner Nichols, 40, is being held without bail at the NORCAR Regional Correctional Facility

Retail gas prices continue their February surge in Oregon and nationwide, AAA Oregon/Idaho reported Tuesday – but the fuel-monitoring organization doesn’t see a return to $3-a-gallon gas any time soon. The national average for regular unleaded adds seven cents this week to $2.26 a gallon. Oregon’s average jumps 12 cents to $2.38 a gallon, says

Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Tuesday he will hold town halls this week in three Oregon counties, including Saturday events in Madras and Prineville.. Following through on his commitment to hold annual town halls in each of Oregon’s 36 counties, Senator Wyden will hold a town hall on Friday in Clatsop County and town halls

Lack of snow isn’t hurting some elements of winter tourism, according to officials who said Monday that Central Oregon is on pace to have a record-breaking season. Visit Bend President and CEO Doug LaPlaca told NewsChannel 21 hotel occupancy rates are up 3 percent for the quarter and room taxes are up 19 percent after

Is it a plane? Is it a bird? These days, it might be a drone you’re looking at. The UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) industry has been headed sky-high. And now the Federal Aviation Administration has proposed new rules and regulations aimed at balancing safety needs with a burgeoning industry anxious to fly high and far.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Monday he wants the federal government to replicate the successful use of biomass energy in Oregon and Wallowa County by using the renewable energy source when it leases or builds federal facilities in the state. In his letter to General Services Administrator Dan Tangherlini and U.S. Forest Services Chief Thomas

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s gross sales for distilled spirits in 2014 totaled a record $531.6 million, 4.3 percent from the previous year, the agency announced Monday. December 2014 was another record-breaking month for liquor revenue, totaling $61.3 million, $3.3 million more than the previous year. Sales and distribution statistics indicate that popularity of distilled

Oregon State Police released the name Monday a 45-year-old Gresham man who was critically injured in a crash on state Highway 216 near Warm Springs when his motorcycle’s saddle bag slid off and got caught in the rear wheel. Troopers said Arthur Brandon Kem was heading east on the highway, located at the north end

Six athletes from the Bend Endurance Academy have been named to the Pacific Northwest Ski Association Junior National Team for the 2015 Nordic Junior National Championships, to be held next month in Truckee, Calif. Sam Biskup (Male U16), Damon Iraggi (Male U16), Alex Heisler (Female U16), Maya Seckinger (Female U18), Tom Schoderbek and Teddy Widmer

Legislation to dedicate several of Oregon’s border-to-border highways in honor of veterans groups passed the Oregon House of Representatives on a unanimous vote Monday. Sponsored by state Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles), HB 2036 seeks to designate Highway 395 as the World War I Veterans Memorial Highway, Interstate 5 as the Korean War Veterans Memorial

Students, faculty and staff at Oregon State University have largely embraced a new policy that prohibits smoking on the Corvallis campus, but the policy change hasn’t completely eliminated secondhand smoke exposure, new research out Monday shows. A campus-wide study of the first year of the university’s smoke-free policy showed that 72 percent of students and

A 23-year-old Bend man was arrested on rape and burglary charges Saturday, accused of entering a former neighbor’s apartment in the early-morning hours and assaulting the 19-year-old woman, police said. Officers responded about 4:10 a.m. Saturday to the reported sexual assault at an apartment on Northeast Neil Way, said Lt. Nick Parker. The woman reported

It’s been over a year since he last struck — and still, Bend’s serial bank robber has yet to be caught. “Sure it’s frustrating. But with that said , I think it’s a motivation for us,” said Bend police Lt. Nick Parker. The suspect’s last known crime was December 13th, 2013 . He robbed the

Oregonians, say hello to your new governor: Kate Brown,Oregon Secretary of State. She’s held that position since 2008, although she’s been working in the Legislature since the early 90s. Brown served several terms in the House of Representatives until she was elected to the Senate, where she spent time as Majority Leader. Like Gov. John