BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The seasonally popular, winding and historic McKenzie Pass Highway (state Highway 242) is being cleared of winter snow as motorists and cyclists eager to travel it wait for the all-clear. But this year, there’s more going on – a big paving project, and ODOT is pleading for everyone to stay out
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A staff update presented to commissioners last week shows Deschutes County continues to have challenges in the county-owned part of the homeless camping area known as “Dirt World.”
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(Update: Statement from St. Charles) WASHINGTON (KTVZ) – Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced Monday the first in what’s expected to be more long long lists of Oregon projects funded through the half-dozen final fiscal 2024 spending bills Congress passed late last week and President Biden quickly signed into law, to avoid a government
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ ) – Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Aviation Subcommittee, recently joined Reps. Val Hoyle (OR-04) and Derrick Van Orden (WI-03) to help introduce the Airport Ramp Worker Safety Act as an original cosponsor. This bipartisan legislation would require the development of training and safety standards to
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Deschutes County is seeing some success and as expected, some continued challenges in its remediation efforts to reduce health and safety concerns at a homeless camping area on county-owned land at Juniper Ridge, just north of Bend, including fewer people living there.
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Deschutes County’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee is closing in on a decision on which of two finalist sites in the east county to recommend to county commissioners as the location for a new landfill when the longtime Knott Landfill in southeast Bend is finally full to capacity in coming years.
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BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – U.S. Highway 97 was shut on Bend’s north end for a brief period Sunday morning for the first in a series of blasting operations to clear rock and make way for the highway’s new path, east of its current location. Area residents and businesses had been notified of the planned highway
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Senator Ron Wyden said Friday he has joined Senate colleagues in introducing legislation that would create a permanent grant program for state and tribal governments to use local food producers for hunger relief programs. Wyden said the EAT Local Foods Act would increase access to locally-sourced, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food in underserved communities
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced Thursday that Oregon State University has received $667,500 as an initial award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a set of interventions that includes tailored toolkits and resources that can be used by schools, preschools and day cares to reduce wildfire smoke exposures
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon Health Authority has released its 26th annual report on the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, which shows an almost 30% increase in the number of prescriptions written for lethal doses of medication under the Act in 2023, partly due to lifting of a state residency requirement. Prescriptions rose about 29%, from
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CENTRAL POINT, Ore. (KTVZ) – If you’ve ever wondered where steelhead go in the ocean after they spawned in rivers, you’re not alone. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists in southern Oregon want to know too. Biologists are putting satellite “pop-off” tags on 10 adult winter steelhead in the Rogue and Chetco rivers this
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., announced Friday a federal investment of $1.29 million for the Bend Municipal Airport toward construction of its air traffic control tower, due for construction this year and completion by the fall of 2025. “Bend Municipal Airport is an important part of Central Oregon’s robust, local
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Congressman Cliff Bentz (OR-02) released a statement Friday regarding the partial title transfer by the Bureau of Reclamation to the Ochoco Irrigation District of the water delivery infrastructure associated with Ochoco Reservoir near Prineville: “This ‘phase one’ title transfer of the Crooked River Project’s water distribution facilities to OID will provide the District
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SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – Oregon’s K-12 public schools will receive a record $74.2 million from the Common School Fund in 2024, state officials announced this week. Every one of Oregon’s 197 public school districts receives money from the Common School Fund every year. How much each district receives depends on the number of students served.
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., voted Friday in favor of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 – a bipartisan package of six appropriations bills that will complete funding for all government agencies through fiscal year 2024. Here’s their statements, in full, on what’s included: Bipartisan Government Funding Package Backed by
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SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Thursday joined the US Department of Justice and a coalition of 15 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia in filing a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of monopolization or attempted monopolization of smartphone markets in violation of Section 2 of the
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BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — On Wednesday, the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners adopted the updated Deschutes County Transportation System Plan (TSP). The plan will go into effect in June. The TSP is a long-range plan that identifies improvements to the County’s transportation facilities and services to accommodate projected population and employment growth within the County
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After years of discussion, months of staff work and weeks of roundtables and listening sessions, Bend city councilors held a sparsely attended public hearing Wednesday night, then moved ahead with a transportation fee on utility bills to help cover a gap in funding street operation and maintenance.
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After a great deal of sometimes emotional testimony Wednesday morning, most strongly opposed to a recently opened transitional home for sex offenders on parole and probation in a southeast Bend triplex, Deschutes County commissioners were wrestling with the issues when Chair Patti Adair revealed tearfully her own, personal connection.
Continue ReadingTULALIP, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a multimillion-dollar measure to send state money to tribes and Indigenous people in the state who die from opioid overdoses at disproportionately high rates in Washington. It was one of seven fentanyl-related bills Inslee signed Tuesday while on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, KING-TV reported. The
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