Month: June 2019

(Update: More details, Styrofoam ban fails) SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Senate voted Tuesday to prohibit single-use plastic shopping bags, joining a growing movement to reduce plastic pollution in oceans. The Senate voted 17-12 to keep grocery stores and restaurants from providing such bags. Stores would still be able to offer recyclable plastic and

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) – The Yakima County coroner has released the name of a man who was among five people shot to death on the Yakama Indian Reservation last weekend. The coroner said Wednesday that 59-year-old John Cagle was killed in White Swan on Saturday. The coroner released the names of the other four victims

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) – Oregon wildlife managers are considering updates to the state’s elk management strategy. The Astorian reported Monday that any new guidance the state develops will likely be folded into strategy for North Coast cities grappling with conflicts between residents and elk. Communities such as Warrenton and Gearhart are struggling with a growing

The city of Redmond is looking to create affordable housing in an unusual way. It’s selling two houses to the nonprofit Housing Works after the police department seized them back in 2012. The seizure of two houses in southwest Redmond were the result of an investigation where a marijuana grow was discovered. The houses were

Temperatures are expected to climb into at least the mid-90s this week in some parts of Oregon. Health officials are recommending people prevent heat-related illnesses that can lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. “People may not realize that heat-related illnesses can be deadly,” said Tom Jeanne, MD, deputy state health officer at the Oregon

Amid all the ups, downs and cross-currents in the local and national economy, Bend’s median home sale price set yet another record in May, reaching $466,000, an appraisal firm reported Tuesday. That’s an increase of $3,000 from April, which also set a record with an $18,000 jump from the previous month, according to residential appraiser

Let’s Pull Together is a volunteer-oriented multi-county noxious weed eradication event. The event is for every weekend gardener and concerned citizen who wants to be involved. Learn how you can help protect our native Oregon ecosystem. How to get involved: Visit our web page at www.letspulltogether.org , preregister and get a tee. Bring your weeding

Mt. Bachelor, a POWDR company, announced Tuesday that the Woodward WreckTangle in Bend will be celebrating its official opening this Friday at its location in The Old Mill District. Offered in partnership with Woodward, an experiential action sports company also owned by POWDR, the WreckTangle is a ninja obstacle challenge for both kids and adventurous

Happy Tuesday evening, everyone! Mostly sunny skies will carry us through the evening. We’ll see mostly clear skies overnight with low temperatures in the low to mid 50s. Winds will be light out of the north. High pressure will break down and the jet stream will flatten out over the coming days, so we’ll eventually

Classes are coming to an end this week, but Crook County High School just announced a new addition to one of its Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs: a sawmill. A Lucas Radial Sawmill was recently delivered to the high school and students already put it to the test. The sawmill can handle logs up

Oregon State University–Cascades will graduate its most diverse class ever during its 18th commencement ceremony Sunday, June 16, including a record number of graduates who are the first in their family to earn a college degree. The graduating class of 331 students is the third largest in OSU-Cascades’ history. A record 40% are first generation

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) – The Yakima County coroner has released the names of four of the five people who were found shot to death on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state. The coroner on Tuesday identified the victims as 49-year-old Catherine Eneas; 61-year-old Dennis Overacker; 51-year-old Michelle Starnes; and 36-year-old Thomas Hernandez. The coroner

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A 38-year-old man is the person fatally shot by a Portland police officer Sunday after authorities say he threatened a woman with a knife. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports police say David W. Downs was shot after encountering Officers Nathan Kirby-Glatkowski and Jackson Oldham in the stairwell of a mixed-use building. Police say

A 35-year-old Warm Springs man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges in a 2017 drunken-driving crash that killed two men. Harold Blackwolf Jr. was sentenced in a Portland federal courtroom to 71 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – With an eye to making Oregon as big in cannabis as it is in craft brews and pinot noir, Oregon’s Legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that empowers the governor to enter into agreements with other states for the interstate transfer of marijuana. The leader of the minority Republicans in the

Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that she is accepting applications to fill judicial vacancies on the circuit courts in Deschutes, Josephine, and Lake counties created by the retirements of Judges A. Michael Adler (effective June 30, 2019), Thomas M. Hull (effective June 30, 2019), and Robert F. Nichols, Jr. (effective May 31, 2019), respectively. The

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued an injured man who fell about 800 feet into the caldera at Crater Lake on Monday afternoon, officials said. Coast Guard Sector North Bend got a call shortly before 4 p.m. from Crater Lake National Park rangers requesting helicopter support for a man who fell into the caldera near

Being the parents of four children, ages 1 to nearly 13, takes a lot of organization and planning. And things can go wrong, in many little or not-so-little ways. But for Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Evander McIver, the seemingly typical workday of Thursday, May 30 brought an unforgivable mistake in so many eyes –

Mountain towns across the West are working to preserve their communities’ natural resources, and Bend is one of the cities trying a new program to put more tourist dollars toward doing that. It’s called the ” Pledge for the Wild ” and it encourages people to donate to local nonprofits to preserve the places that

CAMANO ISLAND, Wash. (AP) – Officials say a gray whale that washed ashore in Everett last month died of starvation. The Daily Herald reported Tuesday that a necropsy determined the female whale that washed up at Harborview Park in early May was skinny and undernourished. The nearly 42-foot (13-meter) carcass was towed to a beach