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In this Issue of C.O. Local BUZZ…

🤔Local Trivia T&TH

🌄Bend, OR Weather

📅 Lots and LOTS of Events

💡Grand Illumination @ Sunriver

🎉New Event Calendar! Central Oregon Local Live!

📅Save The Date Section

🦃Who's Open for Dining on Thanksgiving? - By Eat Drink Bend

📰Local News - What’s a Happening?

📰Bend identifies 2 potential sites to expand urban growth boundary for housing needs

📰Sisters approves new guidelines for cold weather shelter 🎦

📰Festival creative director shifts role

🐎Wild Horse Adoption Facility in Central Oregon Begins Development

📰Regional News

📰After historic high, Oregon's 'kicker' size faces uncertain future

🚧 Road Closures & Construction

🔥⛑️Fire & Rescue News

🏠🔥Early Morning Fire in Prineville Contained Quickly, Pets and Occupants Safe

🚨Crime News

📰 Community News

 Got some news or know of news for our Community News Segment - share it with C.O. Local Buzz!

🐶Pet of the Week

🐕Meet Chad - Brightside Animal Shelter

📲Sponsors & Partners

😁 MEME of the Day

🌆 On going Events Fun N Games in Central Oregon has LAUNCHED 🚀

Today we are going to Ashwood, OR a small town in Jefferson County

What industry played a significant role in Ashwood's history during the early 1900s?

A. Logging
B. Mining
C. Agriculture
D. Tourism

👉Find the Answer in Tomorrow’s Newsletter👉

 BEND

SANTIAM PASS WEATHER

GOVERNMENT CAMP WEATHER

Events Sponsored By

Enjoy Bend Life Real Estate

What’s Up Central Oregon 

GRAND ILLUMINATION

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024

Holiday fun for the entire family at Grand Illumination - Sunriver Resort’s tree-lighting ceremony and fireworks show! This year’s celebration includes a visit from Santa, live music and entertainment, train rides, telescope viewings, hot cocoa, putt-putt, huggable characters, holiday shopping, and more. While here, enjoy food from local vendors or reserve a table in the Main Lodge at Lodge Kitchen or Owl's Nest. There will be live entertainment on the outdoor stage in the Backyard and holiday shopping in the Merchant Trader.

Event schedule*:

12 pm – 4:30 pm

Pony rides in front of The Lodge (weather permitting), train rides, bounce houses, putt-putt and petting zoo

12 pm – 5:15 pm

Raffle ticket sales benefiting local nonprofit Wonderland Express

12 pm – 7 pm

Food and beverage vendors available

2 pm – 7 pm

Oregon Observatory telescope viewing

2 pm

Santa arrives

2 pm – 5 pm

North Pole open for Santa visits

2:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Live music

5:30 pm

Raffle drawing

5:45 pm

Tree Lighting and Fireworks

6 pm – 7 pm

North Pole reopens for Santa visits

*Schedule subject to change. All activities are weather-dependent. 

Location

The Lodge

17600 Center Dr, Sunriver, OR 97707, USA

Coming up - Save the Date

Bend Food News

by Eat Drink Bend

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but not all of us are looking forward to a day full of cooking. We've got some of the best places you can eat out, get takeout, or grab a ready-to-heat meal kit this Thanksgiving Day!

Who's Open for Dining on Thanksgiving?

Newbie Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge is just one of many restaurants serving up a fantastic prix fixe menu on Thanksgiving.

Got an upcoming event you want us to FEATURE?

Click here to let us know about your upcoming Event!

Bend identifies 2 potential sites to expand urban growth boundary for housing needs

BEND, Ore. — The City of Bend is moving forward with plans to expand its city limits, focusing on acquiring private land to develop affordable housing.

Over the summer, city officials began searching for land to extend the urban growth boundary, driven by a new state law requiring at least 30% of city expansions be reserved for affordable housing units.

The city has identified two potential parcels for development: Jasper Ridge, located north of Highway 20 and west of Hamby Road; and Caldera Ranch, situated on the south end of Knott Road near Caldera High School.

City officials will host a public workshop Tuesday to discuss the proposed expansion. However, the city council has not yet made a final decision on either parcel.

Sisters approves new guidelines for cold weather shelter

Sisters, OR The Sisters City Council approved new guidelines Wednesday to allow a cold weather shelter to operate during the winter’s harshest nights.

“We have already set preparations and in line to accommodate that overnight shelter,” said Frank Shirley. “I don't believe there's probably another facility or organization that's going to be capable of housing the overnight shelter. So, we anticipate the city coming to us to ask us if we would do that.”

The group Sisters Cold Weather Shelter (SCWS) anticipated the vote. It’s already operating this facility which fits the city’s new criteria for a temporary, homeless shelter. Shirley is the group's vice president.

"The resolution is based on anywhere in the city that's approved by the fire marshal," Sisters Mayor Michael Preedin said. "We have talked to the cold weather shelter (group) and we believe they have a place.”

The city is expected to contact SCWS to authorize use of the facility, which is a step up from last year. In 2023, the group attempted to purchase a building across town, the city refused to support it.

“The difference in this situation now is that we have an established building," Shirley said. "It's an area where we don't anticipate anybody having a problem with having the overnight shelter here."

Shirley also believes relations between his group and the city have improved.

"We really anticipate the relationship between us and the city to be much better because it is much better," he said. "The city trusts us and I think we trust the city.”

Preedin called Wednesday’s vote “a win for everyone.”

“We just want to create the environment so they're allowed to succeed or any organization that can find a place," he said. "We literally could have multiple shelters if there were enough partners out there that wanted to take on the task.”

Last year the city’s last minute emergency shelter housed between 5 and 10 people during nights of operation.

Shirley says this location could support up to 50 people.

Festival creative director shifts role

Sisters, OR - Brad Tisdel will be leaving his current role as full-time creative director with SFF Presents (SFFP) at the end of the year. Tisdel has formed a company that will be hired to coordinate talent booking for both of the group's annual music festivals, the Sisters Folk Festival and Big Ponderoo.

Brad Tisdel, long-time creative director with the Sisters Folk Festival organization, will step back and take a different role with the organization.

Tisdel has been instrumental in the success of SFFP (formerly SFF, Inc.) since he joined the organization in its early stages in 2000. His dedication and visionary leadership were critical in co-founding and establishing the innovative Americana Project at Sisters High School, creating and running the Americana Song Academy, co-writing and implementing the five-year Studio to School OCF grant in partnership with Sisters public schools, and growing SFFP to a year-round cultural arts organization.

He was a key member of the Connected by Creativity capital campaign committee that concluded in 2019 and helped SFFP raise funds needed to purchase the Sisters Artworks Building and adjacent land, which serves as their headquarters, community space, and a music and event venue.

Tisdel has been the artistic/creative director of the organization since 2003, while also serving as the executive director from 2008-2014. During his tenure, the SFF grew to include 11 venues, with the moniker "All The Town's A Stage," a model he helped create with the SFF board, staff, and key community partners. The festival has garnered national and international recognition in large part due to the musical lineup that is carefully curated by Tisdel for artistic excellence.

Tisdel was the co-founder of the 20-year music and arts fundraiser, My Own Two Hands, and helped launch its replacement event in 2023, the Big Ponderoo Music + Art Festival.

Through his new company, Tisdel will continue to serve as a contracted talent buyer for the folk festival, Americana Song Academy, and Big Ponderoo.

"Going into my 25th year, the timing is right for me to take a step back from my full-time work with SFF Presents," Tisdel said. "The effort needed to facilitate the organization from a two-day event into a year-round cultural arts organization has been an immense, and ultimately very rewarding, experience. I also want to pursue new opportunities to expand other interests in my life that have been put aside for a long time. After pouring my heart and soul into SFF Presents, it's important I make this move at a time when the organization is strong, and there's a talented and capable staff in place that can carry on the work we do in the community for years to come."

Executive Director Crista Munro said, "It's been rewarding to work alongside Brad for the past five years and witness firsthand his passion and joy for what we do. He will leave our team with a deep legacy of community-building and a creative vision that will help carry SFF Presents far into the future. I'm pleased we were able to retain his services as a talent buyer to help ensure there's no disruption to the high artistic quality that our patrons have come to expect."

Wild Horse Adoption Facility in Central Oregon Begins Development

Prineville, OR -The U.S. Forest Service has started early work on a $3 million wild horse adoption facility near Prineville, expected to open by 2025. The site will house up to 35 horses from the Big Summit herd in the Ochoco National Forest, aiming to reduce the herd from 140 to a sustainable 47-57 horses.

HistoriCorps volunteers are restoring historic buildings at the site for dual purposes: preservation and use as the adoption center. The facility will include pens, pastures, and on-site accommodations for caretakers. Fertility control will also be used to manage the herd size.

The plan has sparked controversy, with advocates questioning the Forest Service's care practices and the genetic impact of population control. The facility aligns with the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, focusing on humane treatment and ecosystem balance. No timeline for horse adoptions or gathering has been finalized.

FULL STORY

After historic high, Oregon's 'kicker' size faces uncertain future

by Christina Giardinelli, KATU Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Oregon taxpayers received the highest kicker in history in 2024 when filing their 2023 tax return.

A kicker is dependent upon the state economist's calculation of the projected needed revenue and subsequent taxation. Oregon taxpayers only receive a kicker when the actual revenue is higher than what the economist predicts.

One of the main reasons the 2024 kicker was so big was because the state economist forecasted for a potential post-pandemic recession that never happened.

Lawmakers used that forecast to create the 2023-2025 budget. When revenue came in $5.6 billion higher than the economist predicted, the money went back to individual taxpayers and businesses in proportion to the taxes they paid.

However, the state's new economist, Carl Riccadonna, estimates the potential for that post-pandemic recession to still happen as somewhere around 20%.

"We are heading more towards a soft landing for the economy," he said, noting that he has tweaked the new prediction models to adjust for some of that overcorrecting he says the previous state economist did.

"What we have done is look at the recent performance of the revenue model, identify some potential sources that were contributing to misses and those misses seem to have a persistent bias in one direction being a bit too conservative," he said.

Those prediction misses, which erred on the conservative side, were the reason for Oregon's historically large kicker received in 2024 for the 2023 tax year.

Riccadonna's newly revised forecasting model, which predicts how much revenue will be put into Oregon's general fund from 2025 to 2027, is giving lawmakers $37.8 billion to play with that's roughly $6 billion more than the last long session.

It's unclear what that less conservative approach might mean for the 2027 kicker, which would go to taxpayers in 2028.

It should be noted the next kicker received in 2026 for the 2025 tax year will be under the old model. Based on the previous economist predictions, it is sitting at $1.8 billion - but could still fluctuate based on the revenue the state receives over the next few months.

Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, says the fact that state agencies managed with less in the 2023-25 biennium means they can and should continue to do so.

"We are raking in money at an unbelievable pace, far exceeding what we need to run the state, because what we need to run the state, we have identified to run the budget and passed it in the long session," he said.

He affirmed that belief even when asked about some of the state's challenges, such as Department of Transportation deficits and historic teacher strikes within a failing education system.

"Five years ago we passed the CAT tax, the corporate activity tax, to raise a billion dollars for the common school fund because we were 46th in the nation. So we put another billion dollars in the common school fund, and now we are 49th," Findley said.

Riccadonna says his job is not to look at the politics of how the money gets spent and by whom but rather to make the most accurate prediction possible which is what he is basing the changing models on.

Early Morning Fire in Prineville Contained Quickly, Pets and Occupants Safe

Prineville, OR – A fire broke out early Wednesday morning in the 800 block of NW Ewen Street, but quick action by firefighters kept the damage to a minimum, ensuring the safety of the home's occupants and their pets.

The alarm sounded at 3:07 a.m., and fire crews arrived to find a blaze consuming an attached storage building at the rear of a small one-story house. Firefighters rapidly deployed a hose line to extinguish the fire and conducted a thorough search of the home to ensure no one was inside. Fortunately, the house’s occupants had been alerted by a neighbor and evacuated safely along with their pets, including several dogs. The Red Cross is assisting the displaced residents.

Fire damage was confined largely to the storage structure, with minimal smoke or fire affecting the main living space. No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental. Investigators traced it to a heat lamp in a small chicken coop located near the storage area. Strong winds had caused a portable car shelter to collapse onto the coop, dislodging the heat lamp and igniting the fire.

A total of 13 personnel responded with six apparatuses. Prineville Police, Cascade Natural Gas, and Pacific Power assisted at the scene.

This incident serves as a reminder of the potential hazards associated with heat lamps, particularly in high winds. Fire officials recommend securing such equipment to prevent similar accidents.

 😎Just Sayin

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