Month: May 2016

A 638-acre wildfire about 20 miles northwest of Madras was fully contained on Tuesday. It all started Sunday evening when a campfire escaped and quickly grew into a large-scale fire. Several crews were dispatched Sunday night, including firefighters from the Bureau of Land Management, and Warm Springs Hot Shots and smoke jumpers. “We were able

A Central Oregon Memorial Day tradition continued for the ninth year at Troy Field in downtown Bend. Volunteers took the time Monday to read aloud the names of every service member who lost their life in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The name-reading ceremony started at 8 a.m. Monday and was expected to go

For the first time ever, tiger trout soon will be swimming inDiamond Lake’scrystal-blue waters, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported Tuesday. Biologists hope these sterile trout prey on any invasive fish once they are large enough next spring. Tiger trout are a hybrid between a female brown trout and a male brook trout.

An escaped campfire sparked a wildfire that blackened almost 640 acres near the Deschutes River in Wasco County before crews were able to contain it, officials said Tuesday. It was one of three human-caused blazes in the area over the holiday weekend, they added. The South Junction fire, which grew east from the South Junction

Two hikers who illegally entered the caldera of Crater Lake were rescued Monday after they were stranded overnight on the shoreline of the nation’s deepest lake, one seriously injured in a 250-foot fall, national park officials said. Park spokeswoman Marsha McCabe said one hiker sustained serious injuries when he tumbled the last 250 feet while

A Redmond teen and his girlfriend appeared in court Friday on attempted murder and other charges as prosecutors alleged the 17-year-olds plotted to use a baseball bat and pepper spray to kill the boy’s mom, then burn down the house with her body still inside. Dakota Ortwein and Reyanne West were indicted this week by

EUGENE, Ore.(AP)- University of Oregon sororities and fraternities are planning service projects at a California campsite where about 1,000 people left trash that took dozens of National Forest workers six hours to clear. The Register-Guard reports(http://bit.ly/1OU6Yhi)the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council said in an apology statement that many university fraternities and sororities were among

A speeding driver on a cellphone drifted and his station wagon struck an SUV on the Bend Parkway Saturday afternoon in a rollover crash that caused no injuries but closed northbound lanes for nearly an hour, police said. The driver was ticketed for his actions, they added. Police were dispatched at 1:35 p.m. to the

A Jefferson County fire official credited quick actions by a Madras homeowner for saving his family and mobile home when fire broke out Saturday evening. Jefferson County Fire District No. 1 crews responded around 5:40 p.m. to a reported structure fire at the Green Spot Mobile Home Park at 1112 Southwest Highway 97, said Assistant

After days spent piecing together what led to the shooting of a man at a southeast Bend motel, police detectives said Friday night another man was stabbed several times, sending both to the hospital and two men to jail on robbery, heroin possession and other charges. Officers were called around 9:15 Tuesday night to Room

Last fall, Oregrown in Bend bought a farm in Tumalo to grow marijuana. And they’re still waiting to get going. “It’s very frustrating,” said Hunter Neubauer, co-owner of Oregrown, said Friday. Last December, Deschutes County commissioners temporarily “opted out” of allowing cannabis production in rural areas, amid intense debate between businesses and rural residents, while

PORTLAND, Ore.(AP)- Portland Public Schools has shut down its drinking fountains and will use bottled water after tests at two schools found unsafe levels of lead in water from sinks and fountains. The district said late Friday that it is also working to provide on-site blood lead level screening for students at Creston and Rose

A 42-year-old Bend-area resident was arrested Thursday by Deschutes County sheriff’s detectives in a drug raid on his Deschutes River Woods home that turned up heroin and methamphetamine, deputies said. Detectives with the agency’s street crimes unit served a search warrant on a home in the 19000 block of Manzanita Lane, said Sgt. Deke DeMars.

A federal appeals court has dealt a serious blow to a proposed Harney County wind energy project at Steens Mountain and given the Bend-based Oregon Natural Desert Association a legal victory over required protection for the sage grouse. The Capital Press reports that the 100-megawatt wind energy project would have been built in private land,

It was a sing off for a good cause. Friday was the final night of “Careaoke for a Cure” at Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing. The karaoke event is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society and the Relay for Life Bend chapter. Eighty contestants have been singing off against each other for the last few

A large shop in southwest Redmond was destroyed by fire early Friday morning, and three people staying in it as they moved into their new home escaped without injury, officials said. Homeowner Jill Wolfe said what matters most is that everyone, including her 15-year-old son, got out safely. “The fact that he was alive was

Bixby and her human have biked all across the country to raise awareness for pet adoption. Bixby moonlights as “Rescue Dog,” and she’s been doing a lot of work in communities across the U.S. to help her brother and sister pups find a loving home like the one she has with her human, Mike Minnick.

This year’s 37th annual Cascade Cycling Classic presented by Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon will be held July 20-24. The race needs Host Housing volunteers to provide homes for riders/teams for this year’s event. Being a host for out-of-town (and often out of the country) cyclists is a great way to get involved in the

Nearly four months after the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation came to an end, the issues surrounding the takeover are still swirling on the High Desert. B.J. Soper of Redmond began the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard after watching the 2014 standoff between rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal government in Nevada. “That was a turning

International Women’s Day was back in early March. The day highlights the pay inequality that still persists between men and women in the workplace. Here in Oregon, women account for 49 percent of workers, yet the average earnings of women are around 68 percent of male earnings. Do women represent a smaller share of our