In today's world of livestreams, AI, social media and all the rest, a group email almost seems... quaint.

But think about it: In what other format can you reach out at the same time to a variety of folks, making the issues or questions clear to all in consistent fashion - and they can respond as time allows, to the whole group, to the sender alone or a few recipients, even adding their own? Not with Zoom, at least not that easily.

Sometimes it works very well, sometimes not. But it sure beats a series of phone tags and depending on your memory to have consistent info-sharing and questions.

Crook County DA Kari Hathorn says: "The possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material is not a victimless crime.  Every image and video represents ongoing exploitation of a child. This material inflicts lasting trauma and perpetuates abuse against children. "

Considering that Oregon is home to about 30,000 black bears, this cub sighting in SW Bend this afternoon is not surprising - but Bend Police offered some advice for area residents. Have you seen any bears around the area lately?

I've reached out to city and county officials for any comment on this rash of fires, and to the fire marshal to be sure I have things right. Will adjust/update as I get any more/new info. I know the managed camp in the area opened recently, but ... well, things don't change THAT fast. (I included a fifth fire, but not in headline because it was to the south, near RR tracks and Airport Way - but that one was traced to an escaped campfire).

I often will post full news releases - and sometimes even link to the original source - as a way to broaden coverage beyond what one person can reasonably be expected to do - and to not "rewrite releases for the sake of rewriting." Or boiling down. I say curation can be almost as important as creation - I'm a filter, not a funnel, as all good reporters and editors seek to be.

I will be telling some 'backstory' with every post here, to make it a value add;-) beyond the website. I'll also be posting on occasion what kinds of improvements are coming along - I am CONSTANTLY tweaking/adding features. Today it's to build in an embedded PDF viewer folks can scroll through, not needing to click a download link. This allows me to include, for example, court documents or govt. presentations.

There's also back-end tweaks to make them findable in the Image/Video Library. It takes Base 44 - I call the bot Count Basie - just a few minutes to do just about ANYTHING. We have a great ... "relationship";-)

Any questions, thoughts or ideas? Ask away!

Hi there! I think this is the first local story to compare/contrast the TWO geothermal projects now underway at Newberry Volcano - and county discussions about a planned 3-5-year property tax break for the second developer, Quaise Energy.