The news feeds below are provided for the interest of our visitors, by local sources in this region. Do you, or someone you know, have an interest in providing custom news (or other) content for this region? Know of other relevant and interesting sources of news? We'd love to hear from you - drop us a quick note, and let's talk!
Weekly News for Bend Oregon.
PUTUMATALAN, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan soldiers are killing children as young as 11 years old conscripted by the Tamil Tigers in their last stand, a military commander said.
"It's very difficult to shoot a child. But it does not matter what age, you have to shoot," said Jaggath Dias, ... Read more Steve Lopez is a gifted writer, a journalist with a rare eye for the human condition, its struggles and its bliss.
RATINGS GUIDE:
4 STARS - Excellent.
3 STARS - Worthy.
2 STARS - Mixed.
1 STAR - Poor.
0 ... Read more 2009-05-02
ALL MY CHILDREN: Opal is spooked by her vision of Annie and later experiences a disturbing image of a bloodied Tad. Ryan's caught off guard when he receives a package from Alexander Cambias Sr. containing a manuscript outlining the details of the Satin Slayer murders. Alexander takes credit for ... Read moreTamils accused of recruiting children
Movie Review: 'Soloist' goes it alone, hits a lot of wrong notes
Lynda Hirsch on Soaps: Weekly summary
Your Bend / Central Oregon newspaper for arts, entertainment, recreation, news, music, culture and events.
Creator of Soul Train Dead at 75: We'll miss you, Don
"The hippest trip in America!"
Such was Don Cornelius' tag line on the hit musical showcase, Soul Train, a program he created, hosted and produced.
In 1970, Cornelius figured that there needed to be a black answer to "American Bandstand." That answer was Soul Train and it was awesome. If you wanted to hear hip music or learn how to dance, this was your source (see video below).
Sadly, Mr. Cornelius was found dead in his home on Tuesday morning, not long after he had placed a "distraught" phone c... Read more2012 Sasquatch Lineup!
It's finally here! The 11th edition of the famous Sasquatch Music Festival has arrived! In my opinion the lineup is a damn good one... It features Jack White, Beck, Bon Iver, Feist, The Roots, Electric Guest (who I featured on Bent a little while back), and tons of other artists who were responsible for some of the best music from 2011 as well as some of the releases we have yet to see in 2012. Tickets go on sale next week (if you didn't get in on the early bird pricing) and the lineup is be... Read moreThe Bard in Bend: Shakespeare at Winterfest
Winterfest is fast approaching and this year the five day event includes a one-man show on Wednesday entitled, "Shakespeare on the Rocks: Good Will."
Grant Turner, the star of the show, is the artistic director of the Northwest Classical Theatre Company and will present an intimate look at the bard's life from his birth in 1564 to his death in 1616—a pretty cool way to learn from an expert what we all should have learned in eighth grade. The Oregonian gave Turner's show a very favorable rev... Read more
KTVZ - Central Oregon's News Leader
A Sisters man was in good condition Saturday evening at a Bend hospital, one day after his car crossed the center line of Highway 20W west of Tumalo and collided nearly head-on with an oncoming semi-truck loaded with lumber, Oregon State Police reported. Read more Curry County Sheriff John Bishop is calling it a miracle. Read more Oregon legislators are back to work now for a very short 2012 annual session, and this week, NewsChannel's Joe Burns got a chance to talk with them on a variety of topics. Since the High Desert's delegation are all Republicans, one logical topic: how they view the GOP race for the presidential nomination. Read moreDriver Hospitalized, Cited in Hwy. 20W Crash
Mushroom Pickers Found Alive But Hurt After 6 Days
C. Oregon Lawmakers Reflect on Hot Presidential Race
New West is a next-generation media company dedicated to the culture, economy, politics, environment and lifestyle of the Rocky Mountain West. Our core mission is to serve the Rockies with innovative, participatory journalism and to promote conversation that helps us understand and make the most of the dramatic changes sweeping our region.
Idaho-based writer Daniel Orozco's first book, Orientation and Other Stories (Faber and Faber, 162 pages, $23), journeys to so many different places--from life among the perpetual painters of the Golden Gate Bridge, to Paraguay, where the deposed president of a Latin-American country lives in sumptuous exile, to white-collar and blue-collar American workplaces in Washington, California, and elsewhere--that it's hard to believe it's less than two hundred pages long. The years of care Orozco has put into this book--which was more than fifteen years in the making--are evident in every honed sentence.
You can tell Orozco was having fun, challenging himself to try every possible narrative technique--first-person, second-person, third-person, perspectives that are limited to one character and some that are omniscient (including one that ventures briefly into the perspective of a pack of dogs), stories composed of several distinct episodes, and one comprised of entries from a police officer's log that build into a hilarious love story.
Daniel Orozco will kick off his book tour in Moscow, Idaho with a reading from his pickup truck in front of BookPeople on Main Street on June 10 (7 p.m.). He'll read in Portland on June 23 at Powell's Books on Hawthorne (7:30 p.m.). Read more Last week two regional organizations announced the finalists for their annual book awards. I've listed the finalists below with links to New West's reviews of the books and author interviews. First, the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association announced the finalists for its Reading the West Book Awards (that's the new name of the MPIBA's longstanding book award series).
The shortlist in the Adult category:
• Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession by Craig Childs (Little, Brown and Co.)
• The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Volt: Stories by Alan Heathcock (Graywolf Press)
• Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America by Eric Jay Dolin (W.W. Norton)
• The Ringer by Jenny Shank (The Permanent Press)
Also in the Roundup: The finalists for the High Plains Book Awards, The Whitefish Review seeks donations for its ninth issue, The High Desert Journal announces a poetry prize, and the tally on how many books Oprah helped David Wroblewski and Cormac McCarthy sell. Read more Each year readers and writers gather to celebrate the written word at book festivals, fairs, and writing conferences throughout the West. Although there are a few spring festivals, everything really begins to pick up in June, and the schedule remains busy through November.
The offerings vary from those that concentrate on helping writers improve their craft, such as the Lighthouse Writers Workshop's retreat in Grand Lake, Colo. (July 10th-15th), to those that introduce writers to readers through panels, readings, and book signings, such as the Montana Festival of the Book in Missoula (October 5th-7th). Some, such as the Aspen Summer Words Festival (June 19th-24th), combine workshops and readings. The workshops charge fees, but plenty of the festivals are free to attend, including the Montana Festival of the Book in Missoula and the Equality State Book Fair in Casper. Most workshops are already accepting applications for this year.
I've updated the Book Festivals of the West map with this year's information when it was available. Please let me know if there are any more events to add or update--I'll even throw this open for events in California and Texas. New West will run reports from the festivals again this year--we already have correspondents lined up for the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, Aspen Summer Words, and the Montana Festival of the Book, and are looking for more contributors. Read moreLoneliness and Laughter: Daniel Orozco's 'Orientation"
Reading The West & High Plains Book Awards Finalists Announced
Book Festivals of the West 2011
A stunning view from Bend, Oregon looking west over the Cascade Mountain range, this cam offers the latest on local weather.