Month: April 2015

In early June, the Deschutes National Forest, Klamath County and Bend-La Pine School Districts, High Desert Museum, Children’s Forest of Central Oregon, Discover Your Forest, Oregon State Parks and Recreation, and the Deschutes and Klamath County Sheriff’s Offices will host “Outdoor Adventure Day” for local grade school children. The event on Tuesday, June 2, from

Burgess Road will be closed at the junction with Hwy 97from May 4-7 for a Highway 97 railroad crossing replacement project being done by BNSF Railway, officials said Wednesday. The Burgess Road closure is part of the Highway 97 detour that will be using the temporary bypass road ODOT has built over the railroad tracks

Another sign that wildfire season is closing in on Central Oregon came Tuesday afternoon, as crews were called out to encircle and douse a brushfire that burned about an acre near homes south of Sunriver. Neighbors on rural Savage Drive used shovels and hoses to attack the flames before fire crews arrives. “It was scary,”

After a very mild, low-snow winter, Deschutes County’s Road Department will open the Cascade Lakes Highway for the spring and summer season at 10 a.m. Friday, officials said Tuesday. Paulina Lake Road also will open on Friday, at 8 a.m. These notes of caution were offered for the Cascade Lakes Highway: 1. Beware of spots

An overturned semi-truck trailer hauling food blocked a lane of Highway 126 for several hours Tuesday morning, and authorities said the crash occurred when the driver was distracted while eating. Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched shortly before 2 a.m. to the reported rollover crash involving a double-trailer semi on Highway 126 near milepost 103,

The Oregon House on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure designed to better protect Oregonians from invasion of personal privacy crimes. House Bill 2356,, which now goes to the Senate, would modify current statutes to include two degrees of invasion of privacy offenses while also increasing penalties for recidivists and individuals who photograph or record others

The Bethlehem Inn is proud to announce it has been awarded two challenge grants in support of its upcoming annual fundraiser, Spotlight on Homelessness, scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 at The Riverhouse Convention Center. The Bend Foundation has awarded the Inn $10,000 and The Collins Foundation has provided a commitment for $20,000. Each challenge grant

Due to low snowpack, lack of rainfall and early season warming, all debris, commercial and agricultural burning in areas protected by Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District #2 will be banned effective for the duration of fire season. This burning ban was approved by all fire chiefs from Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties, along with

The leaders of every public college and university in Oregon are asking the Legislature to restore budget cuts, rebuild educational programs and help families reach the middle class — and stay there. An open letter from the presidents of Oregon’s seven universities and 17 community colleges was delivered this week to legislators, asking them to

The Regional Aviation Group of the US Forest Service is planning to conduct a flight operations training exercise north of Gray Butte on the Crooked River National Grassland this Thursday, with the possibility of more flights on Friday. The purpose of the training is to prepare aerial supervisors, pilots and ground personnel for the coming

Oregon businesses reported 39,400 vacancies this winter, an increase of 6,600 vacancies from the prior year, the state Employment Department reported Tuesday, saying it “reflects the strengthening labor market across Oregon in the past year.” The average hourly wage offered for job vacancies was the highest in the two-year history of the quarterly Oregon Job

Effective June 1 , the public will be barred overnight and restricted from certain uses on three state-owned properties totaling 1,745 acres in Deschutes and Crook counties, the Department of State Lands said Monday. The three parcels and the new permanent rules (which took effect on an emergency basis in February on the Stevens Road

Bat conservation just got a big lift. The Forest Service will now host the award winning “Project EduBat: Education Taking Flight!“—a traveling education trunk designed to teach people of all ages about bat ecology, conservation and white-nose syndrome. The resources in the trunk are meant to encourage better understanding and appreciation of the important role

Kendall Auto Group announced Tuesday that its scholarship contest, Drive For Education, has received over 100 applications from Central Oregon students. Kendall Auto Group will be giving away 10 $1,000 scholarships to qualified high school seniors, with one student winning the Grand Prize of a scholarship and a brand new Toyota Corolla. Eligible students must

About 300 new students are needed to fill NeighborImpact’s Head Start classrooms next fall. To highlight the free preschool and get information out to families, Head Start staff will visit local communities this Friday as part of the annual Application Station Day event. “Our goal is to get out in the communities and talk with

The City of Redmond Transportation Division and Oregon Department of Transportation will be repairing deteriorated pavement at the intersection of Highland (Hwy 126) and SW Rimrock Avenues on Thursday from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. The traffic signal will be off ,with flaggers controlling traffic through the intersection. All through and turn movements will be allowed.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., demanded an investigation Tuesday into questionable contracting practices at the Department of Energy’s Hanford nuclear site in Washington state and blasted the DOE for its lack of oversight, citing an internal report from a project management contractor obtained earlier this year. The report from Bechtel National, Inc., dated January 9, 2015,

A personal document shredding, food drive and drug disposal event will take place at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Substation in La Pine, 51340 Highway 97, La Pine, Oregon, on Saturday May 2nd from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. There is no cost to the public for up to 4 medium size boxes of personal

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., welcomed the news Monday that Oregon’s rural communities will receive about $60.8 million this year in initial Secure Rural Schools funding for roads and schools, including over $4 million for Central Oregon counties. The funding announcement by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack follows Wyden’s successful work earlier this month to win

Your tax dollars keep our county jails running. NewsChannel 21 wanted to know how that money is being spent. Through tours of the facilities in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties, we compiled information on costs and populations. While each jail is very different, the sheriffs who run these facilities expressed similar sentiments about daily challenges.