Month: May 2016

The Downtown Bend Business Association and a Wall Street marijuana dispensary teamed up Thursday morning to clean up and beautify a prominent yet neglected corner at the northern “gateway” to the downtown area. Oregrown’s employees and DBBA volunteers pulled weeds, and replaced them with some lavender plants. The corner of Wall and Bond Streets was

A fire broke out Tuesday at the Prineville Freight Depot in a vacuum truck holding zirconium, a flammable byproduct of making magnesium chloride deicer, fire officials said, It was quickly extinguished , but a worker was admitted to St. Charles Bend for inhalation burns. Crook County Fire and Rescue Chief Matt Smith said it was

Howi, Mike and Walt are from very different backgrounds, but they have one thing in common: their service to our country. Recently, 71 years after their service, the three were offered a trip to the nation’s capital through “Honor Flight” program. “I can’t explain it,” Walt Young said Wednesday. “It was very astonishing.” Every year,

NewsChannel 21 engineers said they have resolved technical issues Thursday that had our transmitter for over-the-air viewers operating at low power earlier in the morning. We again apologize for the inconvenience.

Some visitors at Bend’s Pilot Butte Cemetery are saying there’s an infestation at the city-owned grave site. “There are gophers everywhere. They’re breeding, and like that hole in there, they’re going into those people’s grave right there,” Redmond resident Darcy Lindelli said Wednesday. Lindelli said when she went to visit family graves a few days

A recent speed limit boost has many Jefferson County drivers concerned. In February, legislation raised the speed limit from 55 to 65 mph on areas of Highway 97. Now, many community members are turning to social media to voice their concerns. After a recent accident that killed a Madras mother and her three young sons,

Failure to properly signal a turn led to a brief police pursuit of a car with two Warm Springs men north of Madras Wednesday morning. The driver soon stopped and surrendered, but his passenger, a fugitive, ran and holed up in a house, prompting a call-out of the region’s SWAT team and his eventual surrender,

A southeast Bend motel guest was shot in the leg during a dispute with two visitors Tuesday night and taken to the hospital for treatment, police said Wednesday. Lt. Clint Burleigh said two motel visitors were detained at the scene, but no charges have been filed as police continue to investigate what took place. Officers

Two Redmond 17-year-olds, Dakota Ortwein and Reyanne West, spent weeks plotting to kill Ortwein’s mother, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Tuesday. “We’ve confiscated the cellphones and computers from these kids, and they were communicating extensively back and forth,” Hummel told NewsChannel 21. The mother survived her injuries, and the teens are facing charges

The Oregon Department of Justice concluded a more than yearlong investigation Tuesday by clearing Deschutes County Jail staff of any criminal conduct in the hours leading up to the Dec. 14, 2014 jail cell death of Edwin Burl Mays III of a methamphetamine overdose. Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel reviewed and released the report

The La Pine Fire District recently completed a two-year project to upgrade its life support system that helps paramedics act more quickly in a medical emergency involving youngsters. Lt. Mike Moores explained the workings of the new, time-efficient system, which allows paramedics to determine more accurate drug dosages within seconds. “Everything is size-appropriate for me

A Redmond teen and his girlfriend, both 17, have been arrested on attempted murder charges, accused of injuring and trying to kill his mother at their Redmond home, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Monday. Dakota Ortwein and Reyanne West were arrested in connection with an incident that occurred last Thursday afternoon at the

Various ways to make Bend streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians will be on display next week as a “Future Fair” is held in conjunction with the Bend Livability Project and the First Friday Art Walk on June 3. A demonstration of protected bike lanes as well as an example of the pedestrian median refuges

Former Deschutes County sheriff’s captain Scott Beard pleaded guilty Monday in a Eugene federal courtroom to two counts each of theft and money laundering, admitting he stole more than $200,000 while the head of the agency’s investigations division. U.S. District Judge Michael McShane set sentencing of Beard, for Aug. 23. Prior to the sentencing, U.S.

One week after a 64-year-old La Pine man left home on an outing and failed to return, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies announced Monday night that Jimmy Alen Robins’ body was found in northern Lake County earlier in the day. Robins had left his home in the 15000 block of Camino De Oro Avenue in La

A two-car crash at Northwest Colorado Avenue and Sisemore Street south of downtown Bend caused no serious injuries Monday morning, but downed power lines and repairs prompted street closures and detours in the area of the Bend Parkway, officials said. Deschutes County 911 dispatchers got the first reports of the crash shortly before 8 a.m.

Bend’s Cascade Middle School was placed in a precautionary lockout for about an hour Friday afternoon due to “a threat to the school” that led to an arrest, the principal wrote in a letter sent home to parents. “Classes are continuing inside as usual,” the Bend-La Pine Schools said in an emergency text sent at

The Redmond Municipal Airport announced late Thursday the three-week runway intersection construction project will be completed on time and commercial service will resume Monday as scheduled. Despite rain delays, it’s gone so well, private aircraft will return Friday. Runway 5-23 re-construction work, where both runways intersect, is why the airfield was originally scheduled to close

Bend police said Wednesday they have arrested a 22-year-old Madras man in connection with the after-hours March burglary of a northeast Bend bank where they said he smashed the glass door with a baseball bat, went inside, yelled and looked for the cleaning crew as a Prineville woman hid in fear. Police had released security-camera

Several recreation sites across the Deschutes National Forest will open for the season this weekend, including the Newberry Caldera on the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and sites along the Cascade Lakes Highway. On Friday, the road to the Newberry Caldera will be open to motorized travel. In addition: Boat docks are being installed and all