Julia Shumway
The Bulletin
Salem, OR, United States
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Past articles by Julia:
Bend contractor fees for snow removal likely to exceed budget
Last week’s record-breaking snowfall likely surpassed the city of Bend’s annual budget for contracted snow removal. Bend has yet to receive invoices from the private companies that plowed residential roads Monday through Thursday, but David Abbas, the city’s streets and operations director, said he expects those sums to be between $300,000 and $350,000. The city earmarked $250,000 for… → Read More
Bend calls off contracted snow plowers
Bend plans to call off contractors who have been plowing residential streets by the end of the night Thursday.City resources have been focused on main roads, while contractors plowed neighborhood streets around the clock since Monday. The week’s second snowstorm ended early Thursday morning, and contractors are expected to complete their second pass in all neighborhoods by the end of the… → Read More
Bend urges clearing of hydrants, storm drains
The city of Bend is urging residents to shovel snow away from buried fire hydrants and storm drains. A map on the city’s website at bit.ly/bendhydrants allows residents to search for hydrants and drains near their addresses. Keeping hydrants clear of snow will help firefighters in case of a fire on the street. Keeping storm drains clear can help prevent flooding. → Read More
Record snowfall hammers Central Oregon
Schools, government offices and the Redmond Airport all closed Monday as more than a foot of snow blanketed Bend in the biggest February snowstorm to hit Central Oregon in at least 118 years. Between 13 and 16 inches of snow had fallen on Bend by midday, with close to 20 inches near La Pine, said Marc Austin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pendleton. More snow continued to… → Read More
Wyden to visit Bend, Madras, Prineville
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, will host town halls in Bend, Madras and Prineville in February.Wyden, who holds meetings in all 36 Oregon counties each year, originally planned to visit Central Oregon in January but canceled those meetings because of the federal government shutdown.He’ll appear first in Madras, at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 22 at the Madras Performing Arts Center. A Bend town hall is… → Read More
Bachelor closes lifts because of high wind
Mt. Bachelor has shut down all lifts for the remainder of Wednesday because of high winds and downed trees.The ski area announced around 11:15 a.m. that high winds were causing huge lift swings and felled multiple trees on the mountain. Ice also built up on lifts Wednesday morning.There were several reports of downed trees in and around Bend Wednesday, and reports of localized power outages in… → Read More
After 12 years, Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney leaves office
Logically, there’s no way Tammy Baney knows all 183,000 residents of Deschutes County. But watch the former county commissioner out in public somewhere, and it’s hard to believe in that logic.Two days after Baney, 47, ended her final Deschutes County Commission meeting and one day after she started her new job leading the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, she was back in the front lobby… → Read More
Bend’s Empire Avenue will reopen Friday
Empire Avenue between Purcell Boulevard and 18th Street will reopen Friday, a few days earlier than expected. The road has been closed since early September for a $5.5 million project to rebuild the existing road and add a new roundabout at the intersection of Empire Avenue and Purcell Boulevard. Construction on the roundabout is expected to continue through the winter if weather permits.… → Read More
Marijuana tax becoming small but significant part of Bend’s budget
About two years after Bend voters imposed a 3 percent local sales tax on marijuana dispensaries in city limits, proceeds from that tax and Bend’s portion of a statewide recreational marijuana tax exceed $1.5 million and have become a small but significant part of the city’s budget.Revenue from city and state taxes on recreational marijuana now makes up about 3 percent of Bend’s… → Read More
Bend garbage companies testing food waste composting
Two Bend garbage service providers are testing whether residents will compost their kitchen scraps.Bend Garbage & Recycling and Cascade Disposal have long allowed customers to include fruit and vegetable scraps with their yard waste. This month, both companies began allowing some customers to include dairy, meat and eggs in their composting materials.If the pilot program, which is expected to… → Read More
Police find possible cougar activity in northwest Bend
A cougar might have killed a deer in northwest Bend over the weekend, Bend police reported.Police received a call Sunday morning about deer remains found in the driveway of a home on Northwest McCready Drive. The deer’s body was no longer there when officers arrived, but they found evidence that a deer had been killed and dragged off by another animal.Officials from the Oregon Department of Fish… → Read More
Old McKenzie Pass Highway to close Monday
The Old McKenzie Pass Highway will close for the season beginning at dawn Monday.The highway west of Sisters closes each winter. The Oregon Department of Transportation chose to close it Monday because of anticipated snowfall in the Cascades next week.According to the department, the earliest closure of the highway was Oct. 18, 1996. The latest was Jan. 10, 1939. → Read More
Bend plastic bag ban headed for City Council vote
Bend could ban most plastic grocery bags and require stores to charge customers for paper bags as soon as July.An ordinance discussed Wednesday by three Bend city councilors that the City Council is expected to vote on in December would ban most plastic bags, establish fines for stores that continue to give them out and mandate fees for paper bags. It’s the result of months of lobbying from a… → Read More
Bend council race includes jailed candidate, incumbent and a newcomer
A three-way race for a single seat on the Bend City Council includes a candidate who is in jail, an incumbent and a stay-at-home mother from an influential Republican family getting involved in politics for the first time. City Councilor Barb Campbell is the sole incumbent seeking re-election this year, and her main challenge is from Sarah McCormick, a political newcomer who frequently… → Read More
Bend could save homeowners thousands in septic-to-sewer transition
A policy backed by most of the Bend City Council would buy more time for homeowners on septic systems to connect to the city sewer, save them thousands of dollars and moderate sewer fee increases for the rest of the city — if a state regulator agrees to let homeowners keep repairing their septic systems.The city of Bend has spent years trying to figure out how to connect about 2,800 homes to the… → Read More
Bend TV station will host congressional debate
Three candidates for Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District will participate in an in-studio debate hosted by Bend television station KTVZ. Jamie McLeod-Skinner, the Democrat running against 10-term Republican incumbent Greg Walden in the congressional district that covers most of Central, Eastern and Southern Oregon, has been pushing for a debate for months and publicly challenged Walden to a set… → Read More
Realtors association will host debates
The Central Oregon Association of Realtors will begin a series of debates for local elections on Monday.Debates will focus on housing-related topics, including land use, infrastructure, taxes and transportation. They start Monday at 1 p.m. with a Deschutes County Commission debate.A debate for Oregon’s 53rd House district, which surrounds Bend, is Sept. 17. The Bend mayor’s debate follows Sept.… → Read More
50-acre fire burning south of Prineville
Firefighters are battling to a 50-acre fire in the Maury Mountains south of Prineville. The fire, discovered Wednesday afternoon along Forest Service Road 16 near the Hammer Creek trailhead, is believed to have originated from an abandoned warming fire. It’s still under investigation.Wildland firefighters and the Redmond Interagency Hotshot Crew worked through Wednesday night to contain the fire… → Read More
Bend gallery owners run cat for mayor as sign-code protest
One Bend resident set on becoming the city’s first elected mayor has an ambitious policy platform: eliminating cars, stopping all new construction and enforcing strong leash laws.He’s a newcomer to the political scene, but he’s well-known in some circles of town through his work with small businesses. He’s also a lifelong Bend resident who started his political career out of frustration with… → Read More
Body identified as Sara Gomez
A body found just east of Bend Friday is Sara Gomez, a 24-year-old woman who was missing since February, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s office confirmed Wednesday.The medical examiner is still investigating how and why she died, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said in a statement. “Sara Gomez was a strong, smart, and beloved member of our community,” Hummel said. “In the… → Read More