I had a bird slam into one of our living room windows a few days ago, about the same time a Nextdoor thread talked about the issue. So I turned to Think Wild - of course - and Molly was quite helpful with stats, tips, etc.
Any regular users of this subreddit have seen this type of message many times. I've had more problems with TDS outages in the last 6 weeks than I had in many years of being a customer. This one several hours . No ETA for restoration. I live off Hunter Circle north of Cooley. Just looking for commiseration that's all no magic answers other than moving to a different provider.
I hope this is OK with the mods - to not run into any more trouble with frequent posts, I've started to post/share new stories (including a deep dive into the two Newberry geothermal companies) at my brand new sub, r/BarneysBendBugle - and plan to also ask you all to share story ideas, while I also share some behind-the-scenes stuff, both about my work and about the site. News as conversation, which of course has been a joy here at r/Bend. Please visit and join, and thanks to all!
Police got several calls reporting that more than 30 youths (I'd say "teens," but one cited was 12) had gathered at Mt. Bachelor Park & Ride, then rode recklessly through town, failed to stop for officers.
Giving due credit to the Source, which broke the news. Thanks to Heather Cassaro for her holiday weekend help - and yep, have reached out to Zach for any info/comments and will update the story when I hear from him. (I also embedded a video of the concepts for the new terminal - and Labor Day weekend air travel advice from RDM - as you can guess, it's leave early;-)
A bit more behind-the-scenes: While I of course don't give sources pre-approval of articles, I almost always IMMEDIATELY email the link to them, just to make sure I got everything right/accurate. Josh Bailey of NUID was kind enough to follow up with some corrected/added info this morning - from a typo to a further explanation of what the new fish screens will do.
For a change, I'm going to give a shoutout to out my "old" (OK way younger than me!) friend and former KTVZ colleague, Jason Carr, now the PIO for Deschutes County SO, who always does great news releases and strives to provide great photos as well. Fortunately, this Three Sisters Wilderness hiker had a Garmin GPS unit to activate an SOS and get help.
(STORY UPDATED: With today's first containment figure - 8%) I bet a lot of veteran firefighters and those who work with them know well how "containment" is a simplified term that can mislead people about how well/difficult their efforts are going. Found this elaboration note on the fire's Facebook page and thought it was worth sharing.
Most of you have probably heard or read about this arrest. One of the blessings of my tiny one-man-band is the time to, for example, look up a suspect's criminal history, report on the initial formal charges (which can quite often vary from the arrest charges, for a variety of reasons).
So I'm reading a book called "The Next Journalism" by Tom Rosenstiel, and it's building on what I've already hear: Journalism needs to adapt to the changing times and listen to what the community's issues are, what people want to hear more about and how we can literally help you. I've ridden the tide of daily news for most of my life, but I can and will pivot! In what ways ... I'm open to hearing what you'd like to know more about, etc. Thanks for your support.
I haven't seen this full a council agenda in some time (though I'm not tracking as closely as I used to, for various reasons). Also please note: the council has a roundtable with developers at 4 pm today. I have a link to that agenda/livestream.
Great news in an update from DCSO. A quick, effective fight stopped the fire at 10 acres. Hats off to the fire folks!
I got a laugh from Bob Bryant when I told him my old wordplay joke - that parkway spelled backwards is YAW-KRAP;-) It was quite a fight/debate back then - sort of like the log deck (Riverbend Park/Bill Healy Bridge) was years later. I thought he had some interesting things to share. I bet you have opinions about the parkway, connected to all the feelings/arguments about Bend's growth. (We all remember what very sad 25th anniversary comes NEXT month...:-/
I watched the whole not-too-long video and it feels like this guy does try to steer the middle ground between sugar-coating Bend's wonders and the ... well, trolls. No place is perfect, but it's surely not Hell on Earth either.
I came upon this Facebook post just a bit ago, so how could I resist? I have a call in and will try to flesh it out a bit, but the pics are super and worth sharing. I have other items in the works and have posted a fine Oregon Capital Chronicle story on how the data center issue is affecting the governor's race, and compiled reactions from the AG, governor and treasurer applauding the latest federal judge's ruling on vote-by-mail. Y'all have a great weekend!
Fire officials praised neighbors for quick 911 call that limited the losses. Other stories in the works include a Bend motorcyclist's arrest on fentanyl charges.
(I'd have flaired 'critique my work' but the skin is really thin in the wake of my wife's passing, so kindness is requested;-)
One way I stayed semi-sane during my caregiving time for wife's illness was by using Base 44 to create ... https://barneysbendbugle.com - and it's been a blast.
But I'd love to talk with others who are (or have been) at this embryonic stage and wrestling with how deep down the many rabbit holes I go.
I've dropped notes to both LION Publishers and Tiny News Collective. No replies yet. My favorite AI 'adviser,' Perplexity, has given me tons of great advice. Too much, even - you know what I mean.
I know there are platforms to help build a site. But I've already gotten past that huge initial hurdle, except for the plumbing of a newsletter, ads/subscriber base etc.
At this stage of my life, I want to keep it fun - I've had my decades of stress - and for my focus to be on covering the local news in my own way - I've never had a "dream" of being my own boss, running my own business, etc. I love working WITH people. (As for "for" people, well... long story;-)
I'm also blessed with a certain level of fiscal sanity - SS, small pension, IRA etc. - but there's a 'budget gap' to plug, and if the Bugle could be how... it'd be wonderful, even with the tradeoffs.
Lastly: Are there enough of "us" (very loosely used term) to create a subreddit of its own, such as "small local news publishers" to exchange successes, troubles/questions, etc.? If so, please comment here and/or drop me a note.
(I'm also thinking of making a sub just for the Bugle, as our Bend subreddit's mods limited me to a daily post due to complaints about my more-frequent posts. It of course could evolve into a daily digest rather than start and run another sub, seeking participants etc. Tradeoffs to the newsletter route.)
But whatever does or doesn't happen next, I've/we've built a darn robust back-end CMS that does everything I as a life-long journalist and "end user" who preferred that end of tech and leaving the rest to others with that passion. Fun as heck, even with the constant tweaking.
If any of this strikes a chord - hopefully a positive one - I'm all ears. (I know that looking in the mirror;-)
Crook County Sheriff's Office says he was selling the ripped-off clubs, bags and other golf gear on Facebook Marketplace.
A Nextdoor post/thread prompted me to reach out this evening, and we'll know in a couple days whether she makes the ballot or not.
I was working at The Bulletin at the time, having moved here the year after the Awbrey Hall Fire. We've learned a lot about defensive and prevention efforts, but have a lot more to do.https://barneysbendbugle.com/api/functions/ogArticle?id=on-30th-anniversary-of-destructive-skeleton-fire-officials-remind-about-steps-to&type=news\_story
As I explained here a few days ago, what with my wife's celebration of life coming up Saturday, haven't been able to dive into my story ideas as I'd like. Priorities - even after her passing, Deb comes first! But I've posted a couple new top stories (jobs report is the other) and links in the Newswires to other items of note. (I know they are mostly external links, but I can be a curator AND a creator;-) Thanks all.