Redmond firefighters were out raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association Friday.
It’s an annual event called “Fill the Boot” and they have been doing it more than 70 years.
Members of the firefighters association hit the streets holding boots, asking locals and those passing by to donate.
“Not only on a local standpoint, but nationwide. Many people suffer from this illness and disease and we just like to be supportive and help raise money for for the cause and to help out,” said firefighter Ryan Bradford.
If you didn’t catch them in Redmond Friday, you can still donate to the Muscular Dystrophy Association online.
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is urging Oregonians to get this year’s flu vaccine, the updated COVID-19 vaccine, and, for adults 60 years or older, the RSV vaccine.
While the flu and RSV shots are available, pharmacies are struggling to get ahold of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“COVID vaccines are not widely available in our community at this time. They were recently commercialized so there’s a change and a whole new system. So we need to be a little bit patient for sufficient vaccine to be in our community,” Emily Horton with the Deschutes County Health Department said.
Kevin Russell, Director of Pharmacy at Prescryptive Pharmacy in Redmond, says the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to hit shelves next week.
“The end of the month is when we will start seeing it in the pharmacies. As soon as it comes in, we can start administering it,” Russell said.
Russell says all three vaccines are safe to take at the same time.
“If you want to cut down on the side effects you may experience for a day or two after it, you may want to space particularly the COVID vaccine about two weeks away from the other vaccines to minimize side effects,” Russell said.
The OHA says the RSV vaccine is only for adults 60 years or older. Another form of that vaccine for babies and toddlers will be released later this fall.
The Deschutes County Health Department says it will provide targeted clinics, administering all three shots. The department says these clinics are only for those who are vulnerable, under-represented and uninsured.
As the temperatures drop and fall begins, Friday brought a reminder about the danger of leaving your car warming up in the morning.
A Bend woman said her car was stolen from in front of her apartment complex. It happened around 7:45 a.m. in the Larkspur neighborhood. Jessica Wrench says she watched as someone made of with her gold 2006 Honda Pilot.
“Thought I’ll go outside, start the car up a couple of minutes before leaving and take my daughter to school,” Jessica Wrench said. “Pass by the window to see my car being stolen.”
A motorcyclist was killed in a crash in south Bend after crashing into another vehicle Friday morning.
It happened around 9:45 a.m. at the intersection of Knott Road and China Hat Road.
Bend Police say a 74-year-old who was riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle on China Hat failed to stop at the stop sign. He hit the passenger side of a Tesla sedan that was heading northeast on Knott Road.
Watch Central Oregon Daily News LIVE in the player below from 5-6 p.m. Monday – Friday. If you missed it, you can watch replays from this week below the livestream player.
The following things I didn’t know may be a bit loose in the Verifiable Facts Department, but they basically get the point across. They are what I like to call fact-ish.
The Space Shuttle’s engine size was determined by a horse’s behind
According to snopes.com, the space shuttle had solid rocket boosters (SRBs)that were restricted in their size because the rockets were built in Utah and the launch of the shuttle was in Florida. So they had to fit it into a train car that could fit through a train tunnel that was slightly wider than our standard train track of 1.5 meters or almost five feet.
But why are train tracks that size? Because that is the size train tracks that the British used and Americans adopted it to make things easier and supplies easier to acquire.
Then why did the British use that length? Because people who built rails and tramways in England used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which use that spacing.
That all makes sense. But then why did we use that spacing in the first place? Well, the spacing for a wagon was to fit in the ruts of the long distance roads in England that were actually created by the Roman Empire.Yep. The Roman Empire actually did stretch all the way to England back then, and the ruts were created by Roman chariots.
So in order to create a vehicle that wouldn’t stray outside the ruts and potentially damage or even cripple the vehicle, the width of the ruts left by the chariots was chosen as the most efficient width.
But then why did Roman chariots get to be the width they are? And hence, why were the space shuttles engines restricted to a five-foot rail car? Well, you could say it all came down to a couple of horses behinds.
Soccer balls are black and white because of the invention of television
Prior to the invention of the television. Soccer was played with myriads of different colored balls, with one of the most famous being orange. But orange on a black and white TV made the ball nearly impossible to see and was a big turnoff for the TV viewing audience.
So what did they do? They brought us the black and white soccer ball that we know today and that our eyes very much know and love.
A wine bottle’s volume was determined by the average exhale of a human
The wine bottle is 750 milliliters and volume. But why 750 milliliters? Why not 500 or 1,000? And why, in a country that has never embraced the metric system, is this particular measurement in metric?
Well, the Romans invented glass blowing. Legend has it that when wine bottles were first made, they not only had to be made by humans, but by hand.
And also by lung.
Glass blowers had to exhale each individual bottle into existence. And what is the approximate average of a glass blowers exhale. Enough for 750 milliliters.
(Warning: Images of the two dead deer are at the bottom of this article. They may be difficult to look at.)
Oregon State Police are asking for help from the public to find whoever shot two deer and left them to waste in Hood River County earlier this month. It’s not far from where another buck was killed in late August.
OSP said a trooper responded to a call on Sept. 3 around 6:20 p.m. about a dead buck that was shot and left on county property near Odell. A second deer, a doe, was also shot and left in the same area.
No meat was salvaged from either deer, OSP said.
Anyone with information is asked to call OSP at 1-800-452-7888, *OSP (*677), or email at TIP@osp.oregon.gov. Reference case number SP23-281043.
The Turn in Poachers (TIP) program offers preference points or cash rewards for information leading to an arrest or issuance of a citation, to a suspect, for the unlawful killing of wildlife, and or waste of big game. Cash rewards can also be awarded for turning in people who destroy habitat, illegally obtain licenses/tags, and for unlawful lending/borrowing of big game tags. Learn more: https://www.oregon.gov/osp/programs/fw/Pages/tip.aspx
PREFERENCE POINT REWARDS:
5 Points-Mountain Sheep
5 Points-Rocky Mountain Goat
5 Points-Moose
5 Points-Wolf
4 Points-Elk
4 Points-Deer
4 Points-Antelope
4 Points-Bear
4 Points-Cougar
Oregon Hunters Association Cash Rewards:
$2,000 Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat, and Moose
$1,000 Elk, Deer, and Antelope
$600 Bear, Cougar, and Wolf
$300 Habitat Destruction
$200 Illegally obtaining Oregon hunting or angling license or tags
$200 Unlawful Lending/Borrowing Big Game Tag(s)
$200 Game Birds or Furbearers
$200 Spotlighting
$200 Snagging/Attempting to Snag
$200 Game Fish and Shellfish
Oregon Wildlife Coalition (OWC) Cash Rewards:
Birds
$500 Hawk, Falcon, Eagle, Owl, Osprey
All other protected avian species: see category below for listed species
Mammals
$500 Cougar, Bobcat, Beaver (public lands only), Black bears, Bighorn Sheep, Marten, Fisher, Sierra Nevada Red Fox
Species listed as “threatened” or “endangered” under state or federal Endangered Species Act (excludes fish)
$1,000 (e.g. wolf, wolverine, kit fox, red tree vole, Canada lynx, sea otter, Columbian white-tailed deer, California brown pelican, western snowy plover, California least tern, northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, short-tailed albatross, streaked horned lark, yellow-billed cuckoo, leatherback sea turtle, olive ridley sea turtle, Oregon spotted frog, green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle)
A buck and doe deer found shot and left to waste near Odell, Oregon, Sept. 3, 2023. (Oregon State Police)
Washington State Cougars football fans hosting this weekend’s historic matchup against Oregon State are being encouraged by the school to show their support for the Beavers.
What would normally be a tense game for fans of the 14th-ranked Beavs and 21st-ranked Cougs has a different feel. One of unity. That’s because those two schools, come this time next year, will be the only schools left in the Pac-12.
“Although we’re asking our Cougs fans to make it the toughest and loudest environment, we’re also gonna encourage them,” Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun said. He made the statement as part of a joint press conference with OSU officials, standing in front of a backdrop with both the Beaver and Cougar logos.
That unity will extend to the Cougar marching band.
“Eighteen minutes before kickoff, our band’s gonna play the Oregon State fight song and we’re gonna ask as a show of respect to applaud that fight song because the two universities are in a fight together,” Chun said.
An online movement to have fans of both teams rush the field has gained traction over social media. No matter the outcome, Beaver and Cougar fans could meet in the center of Martin Stadium, hugging each other and high-fiving one another in a show of support and camaraderie.
“As long as the Beavers take care of business first and win the game, then yeah I think a little solidarity in the PAC2 that we have left could be a good sign for the rest of the country. Hopefully it’s a good game,” Beaver fan and owner of Sidelines Bar and Grille in Downtown Bend Trevor Kalberg said.
The unique union on the field would come with a fine.
“Even though I’m a Ducks fan I think that just seeing two teams show such sportsmanlike actions is really cool and uplifting,” Ducks fan Rachel Davis told us.
The game is a sellout with standing room-only tickets left. Kickoff is Saturday at 4 p.m.
It will be the first time in the 120-year history of the series that the teams will meet while both are ranked.
Oregon’s education system is stabilizing according to statewide assessments of student performance. Some student groups have achieved pre-pandemic levels in English, mathematics and science.
The English and mathematics summative tests are given in grades 3-8 plus 11th grade. Science assessments are given in grades 5, 8 and 11.
The results show the percentage of students who were proficient in spring 2023.
The term “proficient” refers to whether students are on track to be college and career ready once they graduate from high school.
“We are pleased that there’s an upward trend. Our assessment scores have continued to go up over the last couple of years,” said Jason Carr, Crook County Schools Communications Director. “Between our English language arts and mathematic data, we exceed state averages in most grade levels.”
But Carr says when the average person looks at the scores and sees 48% proficiency and 57% proficiency, “those seem like low numbers. We want much higher proficiency rates. We will continue to work with our principals, teachers and support staff to do what we can to ensure we continue on the upward trend.”
All the local educators we spoke with cautioned parents and the public not to read to much into the proficiency rates, especially where student participation in the tests drops below 80% which hampers the validity of the results.
“You can break it down by grade level. You can break it down by elementary and secondary. You can break it down by subject,” said Linda Seebert, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning with the Redmond School District. “Then I believe the data also breaks it down by different student groups. Depending on what your interest is you can get very deep into those data results.”
Bend La Pine School District’s overall student proficiency rates remain above average but there are year over year declines in some grade levels.
Bend La Pine Schools are addressing the declines with new early literacy programs that are being implemented this school year.
“As we have moved past the pandemic, our schools have put considerable energy into helping students reconnect to their schools and experience a sense of belonging in their school communities,” said Scott Maben, Bend La Pine Schools Communications Director. “Just as important is our renewed focus on helping students meet high standards of achievement, along with continuing to support our teachers in use of high-quality instructional practices.”
A full-scale remodel of The Lighthouse Navigation Center in Bend is ready to get started.
The Bend City Council approved a contractor for the improved resource for the homeless Wednesday night. The extensive project will transform the warehouse-style shelter, providing showers and a laundry room for people to wash their clothes.
There will also be a full kitchen to provide for a larger number of people
“We really are focusing on the crucial resources and services that people require to be able to move towards health and stability,” said Evan Hendrix, Director of Navigation Services for Shepherd’s House Ministries.
The project is estimated to take 14 months when construction starts up, the Navigation Center will relocate their daytime services to another facility.
They will also relocate around 50 people using the Navigation Center as an overnight shelter.
