Month: July 2019

A fire in a tree spread to a home in northeast Prineville Wednesday afternoon, causing heavy damage and spot fires around the neighborhood from blowing embers, officials said. Crook County Fire & Rescue was dispatched just after 3 p.m. to a possible structure fire on Allen Avenue, Division Chief Russell Deboodt said. Initial reports were

Every year, flaggers and other highway workers are injured and killed on highways in Oregon and across the nation. The Oregon Department of Transportation said Wednesday it has begun deploying new flagging technology — auto flaggers — that takes work zone flaggers out of the line of traffic, making them safer. An auto flagger is

Happy Wednesday evening, everyone! Winds will stay calm and skies will stay mostly clear for us this evening. Temperatures will be in the mid to upper 40s and lower 50s for lows. Temperatures average at 47 degrees for this time of year. Tomorrow we’ll see mostly sunny skies with just a few more clouds developing

The Board of County Commissioners have formally adopted the fiscal year 2019-20 Deschutes County budget. The action followed a series of public meetings and hearings by the county’s budget committee in May and June. The newly adopted County operating budget totals $227,788,787. This excludes contingency, unappropriated balances, and internal transactions that tend to inflate the

Investigators continue to look for a suspect in connection with a bomb threat and suspicious package left Monday at the Deschutes County Courthouse. Detectives have received about a dozen possible tips at this point as they try to track down the suspect they believe left a suspicious package and who likely also called in a

(Update: Expands throughout) EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A large-scale cleanup has netted thousands of pounds of trash and waste from 10 homeless encampments spread throughout a small island on the Willamette River in Eugene. The Register-Guard reported Wednesday that the city and low-level criminal offenders supervised by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office began the cleaning

Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter DeFazio, along with Sen. Ron Wyden and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader, pushed the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a letter Wednesday to immediately withdraw a harmful proposed rule that would take food assistance away from 3 million Americans, including 66,000 Oregonians. Merkley is the top

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Favorable weather conditions have allowed firefighters to make substantial progress in containing a large blaze in southwestern Oregon. The Oregon Department of Forestry said Wednesday that the Milepost 97 Fire adjacent to Interstate 5 is now 25% contained. Fire managers are working to contain as much of the fire as

A detached garage was destroyed in a fire on Crooked River Ranch Tuesday evening that also spread to the deck of a nearby manufactured home, but firefighters kept it from causing major damage to the home itself, officials said. Estimated losses totaled nearly $140,000. Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue was called around 6:20 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Another patient has died at Portland’s main emergency mental health center. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports at least two other patients have died since the Unity Center for Behavior Health opened in 2017. It opened as the region’s solution to consolidating treatment for people experiencing a mental health crisis. Multnomah County officials confirmed

More Oregon cities are getting help with charging up from a Pacific Power grant program. Electric vehicle charging station projects from Pendleton to Grants Pass – nine in all, including two in Central Oregon – will receive up to 100% of eligible costs. The program is designed to assist non-profits, local governments and businesses with

Students who are new to the Crook County School District must register for the 2019-2020 school year during New Student Registration, a two-day event coming up next week. New Student Registration is a new event designed to allow families who are new to Crook County to register all their students at one location. It is

Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno released an audit report Wednesday highlighting three areas in which the Department of Administrative Services can improve efforts to enhance transparency and promote lawmakers’ ability to make informed decisions about how taxpayer dollars are spent. The findings are outlined in the report, entitled: “Enhanced Transparency in Key Budget Practices

During the historic snowstorm in February, Robert Bennett was delivering Meals on Wheels to homebound seniors in La Pine when he slipped on ice and fell underneath his pickup truck. He found himself trapped and had to call 911 for emergency responders to dig him out. But nothing comes between a dedicated volunteer and their

The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council said Wednesday it recently received a Rural Business Development Grant for $50,000 from USDA Rural Development. The grant will support COIC’s ongoing work to enhance and expand Central Oregon’s local food system, focusing on the growth of the wholesale market. COIC developed the grant application in close collaboration with local

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A transgender woman in Oregon has filed a $375,000 lawsuit against her insurance companies and her employer, saying they’ve discriminated against her by refusing to pay for facial surgery. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Clatsop County employee Christina Ketcham has already undergone sex reassignment surgery, hormone replacement therapy and worked with a voice

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mother of a woman fatally shot by an ex-boyfriend who then killed himself is suing the man who illegally sold the rifle involved and the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office for failing to serve the shooter with a restraining order filed against him. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports a $10 million lawsuit filed

(Update: Adding comments from local scam targets, Better Business Bureau) People in Oregon lost an average of nearly $6,500 to online scams last year, according to a report released Tuesday by CenturyLinkQuote. The team reviewed FBI statistics and the 2018 Annual Report by the Internet Crime Compliant Center, or IC3 . It found Oregon ranks

Happy Wednesday Central Oregon, On Wednesday we continue our weather pattern of seasonal daytime highs and slightly above average overnight lows. A fast-moving system of low pressure will bring a low chance for rain and perhaps isolated thunderstorms late Thursday afternoon into early Friday. Friday night through Tuesday, a large area of high pressure will

A Dufur woman was killed Tuesday when her SUV left U.S. Highway 197 in Wasco County and struck a rock wall, Oregon State Police reported. Troopers and other emergency personnel responded shortly before 11 a.m. to the reported single-vehicle crash on the highway near milepost 29 north of Tygh Valley. OSP said a preliminary investigation