Month: March 2015

Federal income tax refunds totaling $14.2 million may be waiting for an estimated 17,500 Oregon taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2011, the Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday. To collect the money, these taxpayers must file a 2011 tax return with the IRS no later than Wednesday, April 15, 2015.

Oregon Humanities invites Oregonians to write a personal letter to someone they’ve never met as part of Dear Stranger, a letter-exchange project now in its second year. Dear Stranger aims to engage Oregonians from all walks of life through the mail. The premise is simple: Write a letter, get a letter, and make a new

With leading medical authorities warning that public health is threatened by a “post-antibiotic future,” a panel of state lawmakers received testimony Tuesday from organizations representing Oregon doctors, nurses, farmers and consumers in support of legislation [pdf] to curtail the overuse of these critical medicines on Oregon farm animals. If the proposed bill is approved by

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Gov. Kate Brown and other officials will be in Bend Friday to sign a sage grouse habitat conservation agreement hailed as a “major milestone in the conservation of the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem” of the West. Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Ann Mills also will join local officials, private

Bend mom and social media consultant Kristy Sinsara is embroiled in a legal battle with Motley Crue front man Vince Neil. Sinsara was Neil’s social media consultant. She managed his Facebook account and coached him on how to better connect with his aging audience. Sinsara said Monday she took on the rock star as a

Over 20 years ago, a Rotary exchange student returning from a year of schooling in Matsudo, Japan proposed to his band teacher that he invite the school band from the high school he attended in Japan to come to Oregon and perform a joint concert. After two years of communications, the invitation was accepted and

A former Redmond man convicted of kidnapping a Redmond woman, driving her to a remote location and raping her in 2004 has died “unexpectedly” at the Oregon State Penitentiary, officials said Monday. Richard Paul Thompson Jr., 62, was found unresponsive in his cell around 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Department of Corrections reported. He was

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney said Monday they plan to move ahead with consideration of a $7.255 billion budget for K-12 schools – with a trigger that will boost school funding if more money is available after the next economic and revenue forecast in May. At $7.255 billion, students and

Bend police reported 12 DUII arrests in four days, a sudden unexplainable surge that is sparking concern. “I’m not aware of any event that would trigger this, specifically,” Sgt. Dan Ritchie said Monday. The legal blood alcohol limit in Oregon is .08 percent, but driving impaired can happen much sooner. “Their blood alcohol level may

A 10-year-old cat was brought to the Humane Society of Central Oregon by a Good Samaritan on Friday — and was soon reunited with its owners, seven years after he disappeared, thanks to a microchip. The cat named Brave arrived in poor condition with a microchip that went to the family that lost him seven

With a financing deal in place, Deschutes County commissioners voted Monday to sell the Bethlehem Inn homeless shelter to a group organized by Housing Works, until the shelter’s nonprofit operators can purchase the $1 million building. Gwenn Wysling, executive director of the Bethlehem Inn, called it a big step in the right direction for the

A driver refused to pull over for a traffic stop in southwest Redmond early Monday morning, sparking a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash east of town and the man eluding officers searching the area. Around 1:25 a.m., a Redmond officer tried to stop a green 1995 Eagle Talon for a traffic violation (improper

Compass Commercial Real Estate Services announced Monday the sale of the 50,000 +/- square-foot mixed-use property located at 1133 NW Wall Street, at the corner of Newport Avenue in downtown Bend, for $8 million. Compass Commercial brokers, Ron Ross, CCIM, Erich Schultz, SIOR, Terry O’Neil, and Jay Lyons, CCIM negotiated the sale of the property

A Prineville police sergeant attacked by a hammer-wielding jewelry store burglary suspect of the weekend is out of the hospital, recovering from a major concussion, while prosecutors have filed initial charges including attempted aggravated murder against the suspect. Around 3:45 a.m. Saturday, Sgt. Jimmy O’Daniel responded to a dispatched call of an alarm at Terry’s

Sens Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) led a letter with 20 other Democrat senators, including Oregon’s Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to support robust investment for a Safe Transportation of Energy Products program to address increasing safety concerns related to the transportation of Bakken crude and other

Bend’s central westside is rapidly changing with new residential development, schools, parks and an expanded Oregon State University – Cascades campus on the horizon. As a first step in developing a transportation and land use strategy for the area, the city of Bend is inviting community members to provide ideas about different ways that transportation

An animal about the size of a raccoon got into a Pacific Power substation in southeast Bend and caused it to blow its fuses Sunday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 8,600 customers and blacking out homes, stores and traffic lights across southern Bend up to three hours. The utility’s Cleveland Avenue substation, at

With spring – and spring break – just under way, Bend police said Sunday they have made a dozen DUII arrests in just the past four days. Ten of those drivers were impaired by alcohol and two cases involved drugged driving, said Lt. Nick Parker. Half of the 10 alcohol-related DUIIs resulted from blood alcohol

The most realistic risks about the dangers of artificial intelligence are basic mistakes, breakdowns and cyber attacks, an expert in the field says – more so than machines that become super-powerful, run amok and try to destroy the human race. Thomas Dietterich, president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and a distinguished

Zinc, an important mineral in human health, appears to affect how the immune system responds to stimulation, especially inflammation, new research from Oregon State University shows. Zinc deficiency could play a role in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes that involve inflammation. Such diseases often show up in older adults, who are