Curtis Jackson
AMMON, Idaho (KIFI)—Several residents in Ammon are without water Wednesday afternoon as crews work on an emergency water main repair.
The repair is affecting those on Taylorview Lane between Judy Street and Stonehaven Drive.
The Ammon Public Works department said they hope to be completed by 6 p.m.
Gabrielle Lopez
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — A 37-year-old man was arrested during a traffic stop and charged for sexual contact with a child, according to the El Paso County Constable Office of Hector Bernal, Precinct Three.
Wednesday, a sergeant with the constable’s office saw Ryan Henry Falvey driving a car.
The sergeant knew Falvey was wanted on two counts of indecency with a child/sexual contact.
The sergeant stopped Falvey at the 14400 block of Eastbrook Drive in Far East El Paso and took him into custody.
The constable’s office booked him into the county jail with a $75,000 bond, according to records.
The arrest came from an investigation led by the El Paso Police Department in 2025, the constable’s office said. The warrants issued in March 2026.
Jessamyn Dodd
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) – A man who had his death sentence overturned is heading back to court.
57-year-old Omar Richard Deen was sentenced to death in 1998 for fatally shooting his mother and Calipatria Police Chief J. Leonard Speer.
His conviction was overturned in April of 2026 by the California Supreme Court due to a juror’s personal connection to Chief Speer.
Deen was transferred from state prison to local custody in Imperial County, where a judge ordered him to be held without bail as a pre-trial defendant, while the District Attorney’s Office, and Deen’s defense team review the case.
He is due back in court this November.
Tracee Tuesday
(Update: adding video, Life Flight Network is a not-for-profit air medical transport organization)
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — St. Charles Health System is switching air medical transport partners, naming Life Flight Network as its preferred provider for patient transport and ending a long-standing relationship with AirLink.
The decision comes after a months-long request for proposals process focused on patient transportation between St. Charles facilities and from St. Charles hospitals to out-of-region care facilities. The change does not impact 911 emergency response services in Central Oregon communities.
Life Flight Network, a not-for-profit air medical transport organization founded in Oregon in 1978, has served Central Oregon for decades and opened its Redmond base in 2012. The organization is owned by four nonprofit Pacific Northwest health systems: OHSU, Legacy, Providence and St. Alphonsus.
AirLink, which has been a staple in the Central Oregon community since at least 2013, said it respects St. Charles’ decision but will remain in the area.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’ve been here a long time. And in fact, there’s people on our team that have been with the company for well over 20 years. And AirLink has been a staple in the community,” said Dan Brattain, regional vice president for AirLink. “We respect their decision. That’s their call. However, we know what our service is. We provided a top-notch service to the community.”
Brattain said AirLink has secured two hangars in Redmond and added another hangar in Bend after the hospital indicated it wants to use the current pad area for expansion. The company will move off the hospital pad back to the Bend Airport and may do some basing in Redmond.
“Our understanding is where there were three bidders, as being one of those and obviously LifeFlight. And they selected LifeFlight. We still have a current agreement with them. So our agreement expires in a few months,” Brattain said.
Life Flight says patients will see no disruption during the transition, which will happen over the coming months.
“We’re very familiar with the Saint Charles system as we’ve been flying patients in and out of the hospitals in this Central Oregon area. And so there shouldn’t be any disruption. We’re familiar with the system. We’re familiar with the providers and how they transfer patients,” said Angela Holcomb, business area manager for Life Flight. “The public shouldn’t see any disruption at all in services.”
Holcomb said Life Flight and AirLink have worked side by side for 14 years with great working relationships.
“The majority of people can’t tell us apart when we show up into a hospital room and we’re coming to take their loved one. And so I think for the public to know that both air medical companies provide excellent service in this area. And I don’t see that anyone will notice much difference as far as the public is concerned,” Holcomb said.
Life Flight crews operate with a team of three: a pilot, a critical care nurse and a critical care paramedic. The aircraft services all of Central Oregon and can fly to Portland, Klamath Falls and other locations as needed. Five or six helicopters stationed throughout the valley, north of Central Oregon and east of Central Oregon cover the region, all within less than an hour away.
For 911 calls, Deschutes County 911 dispatches the closest available aircraft, whether it’s Life Flight, AirLink or another aircraft from outside Central Oregon, ensuring patients get care as quickly as possible.
“What I’m most proud of is our culture. The dedication that all of our flight crew members and our pilots and our mechanics and our air staff and our support staff, everyone within the company and how we all have the same mission. We all have the same values. We all want what’s best for the patient,” Holcomb said.
All Life Flight staff at the Redmond base live in Central Oregon, raise their kids here and recreate here.
“We were founded in Oregon almost 50 years ago. So we’ve been in the central Oregon area operating here for the last 14 years at this Redmond base. But our aircraft out of Portland has been also servicing this area prior to us establishing a base here,” Holcomb said.
St. Charles values its longstanding collaboration with regional EMS partners and remains committed to working closely with local agencies in support of the communities they collectively serve.
LifeFlight says patients are expected to see a transition from AirLink to their critical care medical transport. That transition will happen in the next few months, with no disruptions expected in service.
Reported at 11:53 AM on May 27, 2026
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — St. Charles Health System is moving away from its longtime air ambulance program, AirLink, and partnering with Life Flight Network to handle patient transports across Central Oregon and beyond.
The change will roll out in the coming months, shifting how critically ill patients are moved between facilities.
The decision is raising questions about what prompted the switch, how patients may be affected, and what lies ahead for AirLink and its members.
KTVZ’s Tracee Tuesday takes a closer look in a full report tonight at 6 p.m. on NBC.
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Camden County man was pronounced dead after being pulled Wednesday morning from the Little Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.
The unnamed 82-year-old from Roach, Missouri, fell into the water from a dock at the 3.7-mile marker of the Little Niangua arm for unknown reasons, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. Rescue and recovery divers found his body in about 8 feet of water, the patrol stated.
The drowning is the fifth in the Patrol’s Troop F region this month, and the fifth of the year.
Jessamyn Dodd
IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA) – Students walking near the library at Imperial Valley College (IVC) were met with an increased safety reminder from campus staff. This comes after an incident was reported outside of the library in the evening of May 15.
Staff are encouraging students to use the buddy system at night, stay in well-lit areas, and keep emergency contact numbers accessible, and immediately report any suspicious activity.
“We just want to encourage all of our students to, if they feel any concerns on campus, to see something, to say something, by reaching out to our campus safety team,” said Celeste Alvarez, Executive Director of Marketing, Communication, and Public Relations at IVC.
Staff say resources are available for students who may feel unsafe or need support. The college partners with the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office, in addition to having campus safety patrols who monitor and secure the area.
“We have an incredible campus safety team. And our dedicated on-site deputy sheriffs. Our most powerful security asset is our community,” Alvarez explained.
Despite the incident, many students say they feel safe on campus and appreciate the security measures in place.
“We have security that’s actively throughout the campus, and whenever there’s something. That needs to be done. They’re always on top of it. So for myself, I do feel safe,” said Elaine Valdez, an IVC student.
Campus staff say the incident is no longer a threat and the suspect has been arrested. However, anyone with any information on any crime on campus is urged to call campus police.
Dillon Fuhrman
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – The Yuma Police Department (YPD) says a man has been arrested and indicted for sexually assaulting a minor.
According to a press release, YPD says they received information Friday, May 15, 2026, about a sex offense between the suspect, identified as 38-year-old Jesus Plantillas, and a 14-year-old girl.
During the investigation, YPD learned that Plantillas had two other prior allegations of sexually assaulting a minor, one back in 2015 when the victim was three-years-old at the time, and the other back in 2022 when the victim was 15-years-old at that time.
With the U.S. Border Patrol’s help, Plantillas was found Saturday, May 16, 2026, at around 11 p.m. in the area of Fifth Avenue and First Street, where he was arrested and booked into the Yuma County Detention Center, according to YPD.
Last Thursday, YPD says Plantillas was indicted for one count of molestation of a child, four counts of sexual abuse and five counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
Plantillas is currently being held at the Yuma County Detention Center on a bond of $250,000.
If anyone has information regarding the case, call YPD at 928-373-4700, or 78-CRIME at 928-782-7463 to remain anonymous.
Claire Elmer
(Update: adding comments from Prineville Planning Director)
PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) — A Prineville housing development is moving forward with a new builder, and city leaders say the change could help add more homes to the fast-growing community.
The Ochoco Pointe subdivision has been in Prineville since 2003. Over the years, Pahlisch Homes has built up a large part of the neighborhood.
Now, Pahlisch has assigned its agreement to purchase the remaining lots to another builder, Lennar.
Because the land is city-owned, the change had to be approved by Prineville City Council.
“If we’re going to sell property to a developer, we want to know what it’s going to look like and what it’s going to be,” said Joshua Smith, planning director for the City of Prineville.
“We assigned it to Pahlisch, and we had specific requirements. So they had to come back to City Council and request that they allow that to be turned over to Lennar,” Smith added.
The City of Prineville worked with Lennar on the development’s rules, street networks, and overall design. The goal is to build on the groundwork Pahlisch laid, while providing more housing at a lower price point.
“They made the decision to allow the assignment primarily based on providing a slightly lower priced home,” Smith said. “What it does is it keeps the project moving, which it would have stalled out.”
Lennar is expected to build around 150 homes in the next phases. That will help add inventory, but it is only one piece of Prineville’s housing needs.
The city is also seeing apartments go up, while still looking for more ways to fill low- to middle-income housing gaps.
“We have a need at the low end. I think that’s everywhere,” Smith said.
“A tremendous amount of apartments being built. So that’s kind of hitting some of that upper middle. I think we have a little bit of need at that lower middle,” Smith added.
City leaders say Prineville is actively planning for growth, while trying to make sure each step protects the culture and community that make the city unique.
Harley Coldiron
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A drug trafficking case with ties to Central Oregon has now brought Bend residents into the middle of a much larger federal investigation.
Federal prosecutors say six people have been charged in connection with a methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking network that stretched from the Portland area to Bend, where investigators say two of the defendants helped move large quantities of drugs for resale.
Bend connection
Among those charged are Nathalie Claire Buchanan, 28, and Charles Ottis Johnson, 37, both of Bend. According to court documents, investigators say the two were trafficking partners who routinely bought large amounts of methamphetamine in the Portland and Salem areas and brought it back to the Bend area to sell.
Prosecutors say the case came into focus after a February 11 traffic stop, when police found more than 4 pounds of methamphetamine in the car Buchanan and Johnson were riding in. Investigators also reviewed text messages tied to the alleged drug deal, which they say added to the evidence against them.
How the case unfolded
The federal case stems from an investigation that began in July 2025, when the DEA, Oregon State Police, and the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force started looking into a Forest Grove supplier believed to be run by Mariano Perez-Sanchez.
Court documents say Perez-Sanchez acted as a drug dispatcher and took orders from retail-level distributors. Investigators say other defendants worked as couriers, including Cristina Echeverria, who allegedly delivered drugs to Buchanan at a hotel before the Bend-area traffic stop.
On February 17, 2026, OSP troopers stopped Echeverria and Rafael Mora Contreras after what authorities say was an overnight trip to California to restock drugs. Troopers allegedly found 28 pounds of methamphetamine and 6 kilograms of cocaine in Echeverria’s car.
Troopers allegedly found 28 pounds of methamphetamine and 6 kilograms of cocaine in Echeverria’s car.
Investigators also say Dagoberto Ayala-Lopez worked as a courier for Perez-Sanchez, and that a search of his vehicle and home turned up more than 2 kilograms of methamphetamine.
What prosecutors say
The six defendants were charged in a second superseding information on April 29 with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, along with other drug counts, including distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine.
The defendants are:
Rafael Mora Contreras, 45, Forest Grove.
Cristina Echeverria, 42, Forest Grove.
Nathalie Claire Buchanan, 28, Bend.
Charles Ottis Johnson, 37, Bend.
Mariano Perez-Sanchez, 42, Forest Grove.
Dagoberto Ayala-Lopez, 38, Hillsboro.
Bend suspects background
A review of court documents found Nathalie Buchanan has had several misdemeanor arrests, while Charles Johnson has an extensive criminal history in Crook County. He has been arrested at least 11 times in the County dating back to 2006. His arrests include DUII, eluding a police officer, theft, trespass, and possession.
DEA is leading the investigation with help from Oregon State Police and the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lewis Burkhart is prosecuting the case.
Dillon Fuhrman
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – Yuma residents of all ages are invited to attend the Community Wellness Movie Night, happening this summer.
The event is taking place every Tuesday, from June 2 to July 14, at 6 p.m. at the MLK Youth Center, located at 300 S. 13th Avenue.
During the event, there will be free popcorn, drinks and hot dogs.
Several sponsors for the event include Yuma Crossing Rotary Club, Arizona Complete Health, Arizona@Work, Yuma Farmer’s Market, and more.
To learn more about the event, call 928-783-9347, or email mlk@ypic.com.
