Month: June 2016

Cowboys and cowgirls will be flocking to the 76th annual Sisters Rodeo, starting Wednesday night with Xtreme Bulls, and that has crews working around the clock to make sure everything goes without a hitch at this weekend’s event. The rodeo is expecting more than 30,000 visitors this weekend. Crews are getting ready for the biggest

Three months after nearly 800 Deer Ridge Correctional Institution minimum-security inmates were moved from their previous quarters to the larger, long-mothballed medium-security facility, state lawmakers have approved another $3 million for more security equipment and to add 200 more inmate beds, as well as 33 more staff. The legislative Emergency Board approved that among other

The 76th annual Sisters Rodeo kicks off Wednesday night with Xtreme Bulls, and crews are working around the clock to make sure everything goes without a hitch at this weekend’s event. The rodeo is expecting more than 30,000 visitors this weekend. Tickets are still available, but officials say they expect Saturday to be sold out.

Beginning in July, Deschutes County’s Building Safety Division will assume responsibility for the City of Sisters Building Program. “We’re excited to continue and expand our partnership with the City of Sisters,” said Deschutes County Community Development Director Nick Lelack. “Through this effort, we will create a one-stop shop for all Sisters Country residents.” The county

Starting Monday, June 20 , the intersection of Powell Butte Highway, Neff Road and Alfalfa Market Road will be closed to all traffic. Work will consist of finishing up the final paving on the Powell Butte Highway and Neff Road legs of the new roundabout. Traffic will be routed onto detours during the closure, which

Fruit, vegetables and flowers are just a few of the crops that Gigi Meyer grows on her farm just outside of Bend. The beginning of intense heat in Central Oregon presents new challenges for Windflower Farms in Alfalfa, east of Bend. “With the early heat there is no doubt we would rather have a more

A man sought by police in a Washington state homicide and arson case — and who authorities had warned might have traveled to Central Oregon — was arrested in Seattle Tuesday morning, officers said. Seattle police found a stolen pickup truck associated with last week’s homicide investigation in Elma, Washington, said Grays Harbor County sheriff’s

Oregon’s snow season was shortened by early snowmelt, even after most of the state’s mountains achieved near normal to above-normal seasonal snowpack, federal water monitors said Tuesday. Warm temperatures and rapid snowmelt during April resulted in an unusual amount of snowpack loss, even breaking records in some cases, according to theJune Water Supply Outlook Reportreleasedtodayby

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Tuesday he is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the death of a La Pine woman and whether to charge her younger sister, who lived with the woman’s decomposing body for five months. An autopsy confirmed that 63-year-old Christine Freise died of natural causes last November at the La Pine

As part of an ongoing campaign to halt the spread of invasive weeds, land managers plan to treat more than 10,000 acres of infestations this year on sites administered by the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests and the Crooked River National Grassland. Often overlooked or unrecognized by the general public, invasive weeds are a major

The recreational sale of pot edibles has been legal for nearly a week now. NewsChannel 21’s Dani Fried visited a Bend marijuana shop to see how sales have been going, and get a guided tour of its cannabis edibles and extracts. Officials at Oregrown said their sales have gone up significantly since edibles became legal

The Bureau of Land Management Prineville District Office and Waibel Ranches, LLC, announced Tuesday they have worked out a solution to last year’s closure of Teaters Road that will restore public access from Highway 380 (the Paulina Highway) north to the North Fork Crooked River area and the Ochoco National Forest. “Under the mutually acceptable

The city of Mosier lifted its boil water advisory Monday as work crews continued to remove oil from the tanker cars that derailed last Friday. Meanwhile, Union Pacific officials said they found a possible cause of the derailment: a bolt that fastens the rail to the railroad ties. Here’s the 7:15 p.m. update from Mosier

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the resulting tsunami is the most complex disaster scenario that emergency management and public safety officials in the Pacific Northwest could face. This week, a four-day exercise called Cascadia Rising 2016, will test emergency agencies’ ability to respond to such a disaster. Federal officials say

When Bend resident Angie Neumaier and her five children went to float the Deschutes River in Bend on a sweltering Sunday, they expected to relax. “We would never have done it with our young kids,” had they known what was waiting for them, Neumaier said Monday. “It was much, much more intense than what we

The hot weather in Central Oregon has many scattering to stay cool. This weather is also keeping air conditioning businesses busy as well, and with the hot weather coming early this year, a lot of homes are unprepared. Home air conditioners are being put to the test and some are failing, leaving repair crews swamped.

Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council Executive Director Andrew Spreadborough announced plans to resign at the COIC Board of Directors meeting last Thursday. Spreadborough has served as COIC’s executive director since March of 2013. COIC Board Chair Jason Carr expressed gratitude for Spreadborough’s leadership over the years. “Andrew has taken COIC to the next level, and I

Celebrate the 4th of July by volunteering with Bend Park & Recreation District. Volunteers are needed to assist with our community’s biggest parade and holiday event – the July 4th Pet Parade and Old Fashioned Festival held in downtown Bend and Drake Park. Adult and teen volunteers are invited to join in to help with

Do you remember a rewarding job that made a difference in your life when you were young? 72 Central Oregon youth are about to embark on a similar experience with Heart of Oregon Corps’ Central Oregon Youth Conservation Corps (COYCC)this summer. These young people will improve Central Oregon’s public lands while learning job skills and

Oregon’s economy and job growth made the Top 10 in two national reports released Monday. Here’s a report from WalletHub: With the U.S. economy growing steadily amid a stalling global economy and many states coming back strongly from the Great Recession while others still struggle to make up their losses, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted