Month: June 2018

Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson announced Tuesday proposed changes to campaign finance administrative rules allowing campaigns to accept donations of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. “Cryptocurrency is here to stay, and Oregon needs to adapt to that reality by allowing this new form of donating,” Richardson said in a news release.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Tuesday encouraged Oregonians who believe they may have family impacted by the Trump administration’s decision to separate families at the border, or know of children who have been separated and may have been placed in Oregon, to contact her office. “Right now, we have very limited information about who

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A grand jury determined that the use of deadly force by two Gresham police officers was legally justified. Gresham police said the officers fatally shot Dmitri Bullard on May 18 after he crashed a car and charged at them with a hatchet. The suspected prowler had been traveling 114 mph after

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) – The Trump administration wants a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of Oregon counties challenging the expansion of the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument. The Herald and News reported Tuesday that the Association of O&C Counties sued last year because monument expansion included more than 40,000 acres that

Bend Mayor Casey Roats announced Tuesday that he will run for re-election to the city council this fall and not for the first directly appointed mayor’s position, having served as the last mayor chosen by fellow councilors before voters approved changing the city charter. Here’s his news release announcement, in full: Today, Bend Mayor Casey

(Update: Adding surveillance video, Hummel comment) A Medford man who fired seven shots, hitting a transient four times after the other man pulled a knife during an encounter near Bend’s Jack in the Box restaurant last month was acting in self-defense and legally justified, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel ruled Monday. But the prosecutor

Following an investigation by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., into the shady practice of wireless carriers selling Americans’ location to third parties – sometimes without permission – Verizon pledged to end its contacts with these “location aggregators,” in a letter to Wyden released Tuesday. Wyden praised Verizon’s move, which came after Wyden revealed that prison phone

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) – State and federal forest managers say Oregon’s wildfire season does not look promising. Noel Livingston, fire management officer on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, says the warm May melted off the snowpack two weeks early. The green forests of Eastern Oregon are drying out, and Livingston says Southern and Central Oregon will

Researchers at Oregon State University have learned that a specific wavelength range of blue fluorescent light set bees abuzz. The research is important because bees have a nearly $15 billion dollar impact on the U.S. economy – almost 100 commercial crops would vanish without bees to transfer the pollen grains needed for reproduction. “The blue

Good Tuesday Morning, Everyone…As storm activity weakens and moves off to the east we will see our sunny skies and our temperatures both increase. Highs today will be in the low to mid 80’s and northerly breezes will be gentle at 5-10 mph. Skies will stay mostly clear tonight and those gentle northerly breezes in

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released the following statement Monday on the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, explaining why he voted against it: “After Republicans in Congress spent almost $2 trillion in tax breaks that are overwhelmingly skewed to multinational corporations, they’re now pushing through legislation that green-lights billions more for open-ended military commitments,”

Oregon State University researchers have developed a blood test to identify dairy cows that are susceptible to bovine clinical mastitis. The interdisciplinary research team published its findings in the Journal of Dairy Science. Bovine clinical mastitis, a bacterial infection of the udder, is the most prevalent and costly disease in the dairy industry. Diagnosed shortly

The BendX Entrepreneurial Bootcamp is recruiting for the first cohort of up to 30 early-stage female company founders, and those who are seeking to launch their business. The deadline for applications is July 15 th , with classes beginning on September 11 th . Detailed information and the program application are available at www.bendx.co .

Oregon has a plan to protect trees and limit harm to the state from an invasive tree-killing insect–the emerald ash borer, or EAB. The EAB’s primary food is ash trees, and when an EAB eats, ash trees die. Since 2002, this exotic insect has killed over 100 million trees throughout the U.S. Although the emerald

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Kyle Nobach hit a three-run homer to put Oregon State in control in the seventh inning, Kevin Abel pitched four strong innings of relief and Oregon State sent Pac-12 rival Washington home from the College World Series with a 14-5 win on Monday night. The Beavers erased early deficits, starting their

(Update: Comment from utility official on efficiency effort) Pacific Power moved a large crane into place Monday morning at its more than century-old hydroelectric dam in downtown Bend to remove some parts from one of its turbines, a company spokesman said. The maintenance work won’t increase flows through the dam, Tom Gauntt said, “and the

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) – The Josephine County sheriff says a Grants Pass man drowned in the Rogue River. Sheriff Dave Daniel says it happened Saturday afternoon, when 39-year-old James Dawson tried to swim to shore after his watercraft quit working. He was not wearing a life jacket. Crews searched for the river for hours

MOLALLA, Ore. (AP) – Authorities say a man was charged with manslaughter, drunken driving and other crimes after a single-vehicle crash that killed a young passenger near Molalla. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that 34-year-old Shane Bremer of Hubbard was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe that crashed Friday in a rural part of the

Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday a drought emergency for Baker and Douglas counties due to low snowpack and precipitation, low streamflows and warming temperatures as Oregon braces for the upcoming wildfire season. As drought conditions intensify throughout the state, Douglas County becomes the first region west of the Cascades to receive a drought declaration. Drought

IDANHA, Ore. (AP) – Some trails in the Willamette National Forest remain closed due to damage from a wildfire that ripped through the area last year. The Register-Guard reports the Whitewater Trail into the Jefferson Park area remains closed. Other trails, including some in the Fall Creek area near Eugene, also are closed because of