Month: December 2018

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon recorded the second-highest number of votes ever cast in an election last month, eclipsed only in 2016, though the percentage of registered voters who cast ballots was the lowest since 2002. The clashing numbers are due to the number of registered voters having shot upward through Oregon’s “motor voter” automatic

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, b ut for some, tragedy may strike. “The top fire dangers of the holiday season include kitchen fires, cooking fires, fires from heating devices,” Bend Fire Battalion Chief Dave Howe said Thursday. “(Some) of the most brutal ones are the Christmas tree fires.” Between 2012 and 2016,

Oregon and its natural beauty were in the national spotlight Thursday evening during the 2018 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the U.S. Capitol West Lawn. The 80-foot noble fir from the Willamette National Forest was officially lit for the first time by Hillsboro student Brigette Harrington, winner of Governor Kate Brown’s “Find Your

Happy Thursday evening, everyone! Areas of patchy fog are likely to develop again tonight as our inversion remains in place. Cold air will be trapped in lower elevations, so temperatures will stay chilly. Overnight apart from the fog we will see mostly clear skies. Temperatures will dip into the teens for overnight lows, which is

(Update: Feds drop planned 2020 review of sage grouse status) BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – Federal officials have dropped plans to conduct a five-year status review of a jeopardized bird species as the Trump administration seeks to weaken its habitat protections. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in 2015 that the greater sage grouse was

A Redmond man seriously burned along with his daughter in a December 2016 hash oil explosion at his home has received a six-month federal prison term, prosecutors said Thursday. William E. Wild Sr., 48, also was sentenced Wednesday in Eugene federal court to three years supervised release for endangering human life by manufacturing hash oil,

Base Camp Studio, a local non-profit offering art and art therapy programs, is offering Art Therapy groups for teens experiencing anxiety, beginning in January. With separate programs for middle school and high school students, these groups will offer teens a way to gain insight and understanding of their feelings through creative expression. According to the

(Update: Adding Crook County information) With the passage of House Bill 2017, Keep Oregon Moving, the state Legislature has committed to both the improvement and enhancement of transportation services through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (“STIF”). For Central Oregon, this means the opportunity to enhance public transportation services to access jobs and community services, improve

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), along with Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), introduced a bill Thursday to provide transit authorities with zero-interest loans to purchase electric buses. The lawmakers said in a news release that such a move is aimed at curbing emissions

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., are urging the Food and Drug Administration to act quickly to implement plans to ban flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes. In a letter sent this week by Wyden, Merkley and 19 other senators to FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the lawmakers also ask Gottlieb to follow the FDA’s

Older adults who added hazelnuts to their diet for a few months significantly improved their levels of two key micronutrients, new research at Oregon State University indicates. In the study, 32 people age 55 and older ate about 57 grams of hazelnuts – 2 ounces, or about one-third cup – daily for 16 weeks. Results

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced Thursday the Ban Conflicted Trading Act , legislation that would prohibit members of Congress from abusing their public positions for personal financial gain. The Ban Conflicted Trading Act responds to multiple scandals in recent years in which members of Congress have been found buying and selling

Oregonians could be voting on legalizing psychedelic mushrooms in 2020. People behind the Psilocybin Service Initiative said Wednesday that so far, the headlines about their measure have been all wrong. NewsChannel 21 spoke with the chief petitioners of the initiative, Sheri and Tom Eckert. They’re both counselors in Portland. They said their measure is not

Good Thursday Morning, Everyone… It is another cold, foggy morning on the High Desert and it is likely that we will stay cold and foggy for much of the day. Highs will reach the upper 20’s to low 30’s and breezes will stay light out of the SE. Above the fog it is quite clear.

(Update: OSP identifies driver killed in crash) A 73-year-old Prineville man died Wednesday morning when his car went into the oncoming lanes and collided with a roofing truck on Highway 97 at Redmond’s south end, Oregon State Police reported. The crash and investigation closed the highway for more than three hours. OSP and other emergency

It was a busy Wednesday night for the Bend City Council, as their next-to-last meeting of the year had plenty of issues to grapple with, from Mirror Pond to boosting housing density while also adopting a single-use plastic bag ban and a policy to help homeowners facing the cost of sewer hookups. Among the biggest

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A former inmate of a Portland-area jail has filed a lawsuit against Multnomah County, claiming he was seriously injured when he slipped in the shower. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports 36-year-old Christopher Troy Depue is seeking $905,000 for pain, suffering and economic damages in the suit filed last month in Multnomah County Circuit

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) – Officials in a western Oregon county have banned displays of wild and exotic animals such as those often found in circuses. The Gazette-Times reports Benton County commissioners held a second reading this week of the ordinance banning animal acts after they had voted unanimously in favor of the measure last month.

A Eugene man was seriously injured Wednesday when his car collided head-on with an oncoming pickup truck on state Highway 126 in Redmond, police said. Police and fire medics responded around 10:15 a.m. to the reported crash at Highway 126E and Southeast Lake Road, Lt. Curtis Chambers said. At the time of the crash, all

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The NCAA has imposed two years of probation on Oregon after finding it violated rules related to the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the track and field program. The NCAA’s decision issued Wednesday said women’s coach Kelly Graves failed to “monitor and promote an atmosphere of compliance in his program.”