Month: April 2019

Deschutes County announced Friday it has hired Geoff Hinds as the new director of the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center. Hinds, who will assume his post in early June, replaces Dan Despotopulos, who is retiring after serving as the Deschutes Fair & Expo Center director for more than 19 years. “We’re extremely excited to

The City of Bend’s Water Filtration Facility will soon generate clean, renewable power, thanks to funding from Pacific Power’s Blue Sky participants. The $60,341 grant helps support the installation of 360 solar base-mounted modules at the water facility on Skyliners Road, west of Bend, and covers about 25 percent of the total expected project cost

Travelers on state Highway 22 and U.S. Highway 20 between Central Oregon and the Willamette Valley are being advised by the Oregon Department of Transportation that an upgrade project on the Tumble Creek Bridge just west of Detroit could bring delays of at least 20 minutes for much of the next three months. During the

Good Friday Morning, Everyone… Today we get to enjoy a break between storm systems. Even though we do see a few clouds today we are expecting to stay dry. Daytime highs will reach the mid 50’s and NW winds will be a bit on the breezy side; 5-15 mph gusting to 20 mph. Mostly clear

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has 63 open commissioner seats on the state’s agricultural and commercial fisheries commodity commissions. Oregon’s 23 grower-funded commodity commissions support promotion, research, and education to improve market conditions for their commodity. They also give industry members direct access to key Oregon agricultural opinion leaders and decision makers. Each commission has

Safety advocates gathered Thursday in Portland to voice concern about a growing danger: driving while distracted. In Oregon over the past five years, 95 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than 18,400 were injured: and these are preventable crashes, officials said. These tragedies are occurring all over the country, so on

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Plastic straws could be off the menu under a measure making its way through the Oregon Legislature. The Oregon Senate voted 23-6 Thursday to prohibit restaurants from providing single-use plastic straws unless a customer asks. Drive-thrus could still be able to offer straws. Sen. Michael Dembrow, a Democrat from Portland, said

The Oregon Department of Human Services announced several steps Thursday to ensure the safety of more than 80 children and youth in out-of-state facilities and begin the process of bringing them back to Oregon. The actions include halting any Oregon youth from being placed at care facilities operated by Acadia, a for-profit provider that operates

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) led a bipartisan group of senators in introducing legislation Thursday to ensure that legal cannabis businesses can access banking services. Others on board include Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Rand Paul (R-KY), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Kevin

Think Wild, a Bend-area wildlife rescue and rehabilitator, is currently undergoing some rehab of its own, getting to work upgrading its facility and preparing to build a full-fledged wildlife hospital and conservation facility. The facility east of Bend is in its first phase of construction. focusing on creating a sanctuary for its new patients. After

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., announced Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration is implementing the direction he successfully included in the 2019 spending bill, instructing the agency to exempt wine grapes from regulation under the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule. The Produce Safety Rule establishes minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing

Happy Thursday evening, everyone! Winds stay breezy at times tonight gusting around 20 miles per hour. We have the slight chance for showers on the High Desert as this round wraps up. The Cascades will see about 3″ of new snow overnight with snow levels around 4,800′ then rising to 5,200′ by the morning. Overnight

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The U.S. Attorney’s office in Oregon said a Canadian man was charged Thursday with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine after 28 jugs of liquid meth were found on the sailboat he was piloting off the Oregon coast. When Coast Guard personnel boarded the Mandalay on Tuesday, John Stirling’s speech began

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Federal prosecutors say they grew marijuana in Oregon, transported it to Texas and Virginia, and received cash payments through the mail and in luggage on commercial flights. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland said Paul Eugene Thomas, 38, of Portland, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiring to manufacture, possess

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Oregon announced Thursday that it has partnered with the Ford Family Foundation to expand two proven mental health education programs serving youth in rural communities in Oregon. NAMI Oregon is actively seeking young adults in recovery and parents/caregivers of children with mental health symptoms to share their journeys

A 50-foot-wide, 10-foot-deep hole opened up in a southern Oregon coastal highway late Wednesday night — and two cars plunged into it, with one person taken to the hospital. KMTR reported that two eastbound cars drove into the hole after a stretch of state Highway 42S collapsed east of Bandon, according to Coos County sheriff’s

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Hundreds of proposed bills have met their demise as Oregon lawmakers turn their attention to other legislative priorities. Lawmakers had until Tuesday to move their measures out of committee. Schedules were jam-packed as committees voted on hundreds of proposals sometimes without discussion. But not every proposal got a vote ahead of

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senator Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced legislation Thursday to allow the IRS to require minimum standards for paid tax preparers. Around 60 percent of taxpayers use paid preparers and the IRS receives more than 10,000 complaints per year about bad actors. While the Justice Department and IRS

The National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct its 27 th annual national food drive on Saturday, May 11, benefiting NeighborImpact in Central Oregon. The Stamp Out Hunger ® Food Drive, the country’s largest single-day food drive, provides residents with an easy way to donate food to those in need. Residents simply leave their donation

Starting this summer, Oregon State University-Cascades will host high school students on the Bend campus in August for an overnight Summer Academy, the school announced Thursday. The four-day summer camp experience will expose participants to a college campus, with classes and workshops led by OSU-Cascades faculty, students and university partners. Participants will also experience living