Local News Archives

Reminder: Senator Jeff Merkley holding Bend, Madras in-person town halls on Sunday

April 19, 2024 10:33 am KTVZ News Partners

Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.,  is wrapping up his latest series of eight in-person town halls around the state with a pair of Central Oregon…

This year’s Bend ‘Guns to Gardens’ firearm safe surrender event brings in 45 guns, which are made into garden tools

April 10, 2024 2:35 pm KTVZ

Central Oregonians turned in dozens of unwanted guns on Saturday, to be turned into garden tools. The second annual Guns to Gardens firearm safe…

Central Oregon Wildfire School returns, teaching crucial skills for firefighters ahead of another busy fire season

April 26, 2024 9:46 pm KTVZ News Partners

SUNRIVER, Ore. (KTVZ) — For the next several days, Central Oregon Fire Management Service is once again partnering with structural firefighting…

Voters to decide fate of Bend-La Pine Schools’ five-year levy to support stronger programs, avert staff cuts

April 26, 2024 11:55 am KTVZ

One of the items voters will face on the May 21 primary ballot soon to arrive in their mailboxes is Bend-La Pine Schools’ five-year local option levy…

Special Report: Child Care Desert: How COCC and NeighborImpact are working together to create more needed slots

April 23, 2024 5:26 pm Jillian Fortner

Finding child care is a struggle for many parents across Central Oregon. NeighborImpact is trying to alleviate the crisis by creating over 1,000 new…

‘Growing something is really profound’: Deschutes County creates Peace Garden for juvenile detention center

April 26, 2024 11:41 am Matthew Draxton

Deschutes County and the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council Skills Lab are sharing the wonder and life lessons that gardening brings with…

Deschutes County commissioners OK new homeless camp eviction policy, on hold pending managed campsite

April 26, 2024 11:27 am KTVZ, Barney Lerten

Deschutes County commissioners voted unanimously this week to approve a new homeless camp eviction policy and procedure for county-owned lands,…

St. Charles Health System, still largest Central Oregon employer by far, sees workforce grow nearly 9% in past year

April 25, 2024 10:57 pm KTVZ News Partners

Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) on Thursday released its 2024 Central Oregon Largest Employers List, complete with breakouts of the…

USFS says CEC to conduct power line vegetation management, fell about 140 trees along North Pine Street in Sisters

April 26, 2024 2:59 pm KTVZ News Partners

Vegetation management will begin next Wednesday, May 1 on about 3.5 miles of existing power line along Forest Service Road 2058, also known as North…

Update: ODOT again shifts sixth Bend Highway 97 blasting operation – likely the last – to next Tuesday night

April 25, 2024 3:06 pm Barney Lerten

The blast scheduled for this weekend along U.S. Highway 97 for the Bend North Corridor project — originally moved back a week, to May 4 — has again…

HAVE YOU SEEN IT? Small Redmond business has cargo trailer with $13K worth of tools stolen from work site

April 25, 2024 6:53 pm Harley Coldiron

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Redmond Police are asking the public for any information on the whereabouts of a cargo trailer stolen with $13,000 worth of…

‘Normalize reaching out for help’: Oregon DOJ, Bend-La Pine Schools address rise in reported bias incidents

April 22, 2024 9:19 pm Matthew Draxton

Oregon’s Department of Justice just launched a “You Belong.” Campaign after becoming the first state in the nation to provide a hotline for those…

Combat prep: Rainy weather pauses Army nighttime helicopter training at Biak Training Center until Monday

April 23, 2024 9:17 am KTVZ

The Oregon National Guard’s Biak Training Center in Powell Butte is hosting active-duty Army rotary wing (helicopter) night training missions…

Tip from S. Oregon Child Exploitation Team leads to La Pine man’s arrest; several digital devices seized in raid on home

April 24, 2024 3:53 pm Barney Lerten

(Update: La Pine man formally charged, appears in court) La PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) – An investigation sparked by a tip early this year from the Southern…

Fire destroys several sheds, outbuildings on NE Prineville street; Crook County Fire crews protect nearby triplex

April 24, 2024 8:53 pm Barney Lerten

A fire destroyed several sheds and outbuildings in Prineville Wednesday afternoon, but Crook County Fire and Rescue crews were able to control the…

‘I did what needed to be done’: Crook County man talks about finding, helping driver badly injured in rollover crash

April 21, 2024 10:22 pm Matthew Draxton

A Crook County resident who heard the sounds of a very bad late-night crash last weekend stepped out of his parents’ house and stepped up to find the…