Bend’s beloved Crux lawn reopens with new design and food trucks

KTVZ on May 19, 2026

Harley Coldiron

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Crux Fermentation Project in Bend announced the reopening of its pub lawn after a comprehensive renovation.

A popular destination for families and youth sports, the renovated lawn blends thoughtful design, sustainability, and flexibility. This investment reflects a commitment to maintaining the character and spirit that have made the Crux lawn a cornerstone of Bend’s social scene. The project was a partnership with the property owners, the Gehrs family, who are local to Bend.

Crux Fermentation Project CEO Steve Augustyn emphasized the reason behind the investment. “This property has been one of Bend’s favorite gathering places for years and as the city grows, we felt it deserved an investment that helps it grow with the community,” Augustyn said.

He added that the “evolution of our outdoor space makes it more accessible, more sustainable and fun. For everything from families spending an afternoon here to friends connecting or larger groups visiting Bend.” Augustyn stated the goal is to “preserve the spirit of this place while making sure it continues serving Bend for decades to come.”

Several locally owned food trucks will join the Crux lawn this season. These include A Broken Angel, Alpine Smash Co, Mountain Mahalo Shaved Ice and Red Road Pizza Co. Local favorite El Sancho Tacos will also continue operating at the Crux lawn.

Crux will host a community celebration for the refreshed lawn on Saturday, June 6, from 4–8 p.m. The evening event, titled Vintage Rendezvous, is hosted by Vintage House 81. It will feature a curated mix of vintage and modern garments for sale, music and an energetic atmosphere. DJ See Alice will provide music for the event.

The reopening celebration on June 6 will allow the community to experience the updated outdoor area, music and vintage market.

The project was a partnership with the property owners, the Gehrs family, who are local to Bend.

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Multi-month investigation leads to arrest of Salem man on child exploitation charges

KIFI on May 19, 2026

Seth Ratliff

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) — A multi-month investigation into internet crimes against children has led to serious felony charges against a Salem man.

Wyatt Widdison has been charged with eight counts of possessing child sexually exploitative material (child pornography) in a Fremont County court. According to an official release from Madison County Sheriff Ron Ball, the investigation highlights “the strong partnerships between local, state, and regional agencies working together to protect vulnerable individuals.”

The Investigation & Arrest

The case began on Dec. 15, 2025, when the Madison County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous report regarding an adult contacting minors online.

Over the following months, Madison County detectives collaborated with local agencies, law enforcement across multiple western states, and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office to investigate.

On May 15th, a warrant was issued for Widdison’s arrest. Madison County detectives and patrol deputies located him in the Salem area and took him into custody.

On May 18, 2026, Wyatt Widdison was arraigned in Fremont County Court and was given a bond of $500,000.

Investigators believe there may be additional people with information related to this investigation who have not yet come forward. In a press release announcing the arrest, Sheriff Ball encouraged anyone with information to contact law enforcement.

“Anyone who may have had contact with the suspect, or who may have information relevant to this case, is encouraged to contact Madison County Detectives,” said Ball.

Editor’s Note: An arrest or formal charge is merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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Central Oregon Community College faculty union and leadership at odds over pay

KTVZ on May 19, 2026

Harley Coldiron

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Tensions are rising again at Central Oregon Community College as faculty union members and college leadership continue negotiations over wages and working conditions.

The dispute comes just weeks after the college narrowly avoided what would have been the first strike in school history by classified staff. Now, faculty leaders say many instructors are struggling to afford living in Central Oregon and are frustrated by what they describe as slow progress at the bargaining table.

COCC Says It Must Balance Pay With Financial Stability

In a statement attributed to COCC Board Chair Erica Skavold, the college said it values the work faculty do and emphasized that negotiations are continuing “regularly in good faith.”

College leaders also pushed back against criticism of compensation and finances, saying the institution must weigh salaries while maintaining affordable tuition for students and protecting the college’s long-term financial health.

“It’s important to recognize that the college must balance compensation discussions with student affordability, long-term financial sustainability, and other institutional priorities,” Skavold said.

According to the college, current budget projections show reserve levels between roughly 38 and 43 days — or about 10% to 12% reserves — over the next two fiscal years. COCC says those figures are below historic levels and below reserve targets established by the Board of Directors.

Administration Responds to Criticism Over Raises

The college also addressed criticism over administrator raises, saying administrators do not set their own compensation. COCC said salary decisions ultimately go through the board and budget approval process.

The last administrator salary adjustments were approved in 2024 following what the college described as a market compensation study, with increases averaging about 16%.

College officials also said that reviewing and costing several new faculty proposals in real time during the latest bargaining session was not possible due to time constraints.

Faculty Union Says Low Pay Is Driving Burnout

Meanwhile, the Central Oregon Faculty Forum paints a much different picture of the situation.

In a sharply worded statement, faculty leaders accused administrators and the board of stalling negotiations and failing to act with urgency despite public calls from COCC President Greg Pereira to resolve the dispute before the end of the term on June 12.

Faculty representatives argue that COCC instructors are the lowest-paid community college faculty in Oregon and say wages have fallen so far behind that recruitment and retention are becoming serious concerns.

“We’re now in a crisis of deferred maintenance for faculty at COCC,” said Professor Mindy Williams, who leads the faculty bargaining team. “That has resulted in failed faculty searches, faculty leaving the college barely after they’ve begun, faculty burnout, and low morale, all because of our historic low wages and high workload.”

Bargaining Pace Becomes New Point of Frustration

Union leaders also criticized the pace of negotiations, saying administrators have not responded meaningfully to several recent faculty proposals dealing with salaries and promotions.

Faculty members claim recent bargaining sessions produced little movement from the college side despite agreements to increase the frequency of meetings.

The faculty forum additionally addressed recent administrator raises and accused the college of prioritizing capital projects over employee compensation during recent budget discussions.

Next Negotiation Session Scheduled for Thursday

Both sides are expected to return to the bargaining table on Thursday, May 21, as negotiations continue heading into the final weeks of the academic term.

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Boone County Sheriff makes pitch for 3/8-cent sales tax increase

KMIZ on May 19, 2026

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey argued for his proposed 3/8-cent sales tax increase to be added to the ballot during a Boone County Commission meeting Monday.

If approved by the commission, Boone County residents would be able to vote on the measure during the August election.

Boone County Auditor Kyle Rieman estimated that, based on current 1/8-cent collections from 2025, the tax increase would generate at least $17 million annually. The funds collected would be used to build a new Boone County Jail.

According to prior reporting, it cost over $2.5 million in 2025 to house inmates. It previously cost around $499,000 for housing in 2022.

Carey told commissioners Tuesday that his office is looking to accommodate around 570 beds. The facility would be broken up into three sections: 420 beds for male inmates, 88 beds for female inmates, 50 single-unit beds for inmates certified by the Department of Mental Health, 10 single-unit beds for medical rooms and 10 single-unit beds and a recreation area for juvenile inmates. Carey said the jail will be able to be expanded in the future, with plans to fully maintain operations during construction.

The county’s website says the jail has a maximum occupancy of 246 inmates; however, it is currently housing 201 inmates due to housing constraints. Four juvenile inmates and 25 inmates waiting to be housed by the Department of Mental Health are required to be either separated from the general population or in single cells, which Carey reports the current jail was not built for.

“They eat up two-man cells, you lose 25 beds right away with those 25,” Carey said. “Then our female population, from when I started in ’89, has just blown up.”

Carey adds that funding for mental health hasn’t been given to the county.

“Funding was supposed to be held for the state and federal government, still haven’t seen it,” Carey said.

Boone County is paying to house about 180 inmates outside of the county. According to prior reporting, the cost to house out-of-county detainees from January to March this year was around $1.12 million. Carey said Tuesday that due process is key, with inmates spread across Mid-Missouri often slowing down court progress or using up department resources for transports.

“When you think about it, we’re housing 12, soon to be 13 different counties, let’s say a public defender has a caseload,” Carey said. “They have to go down to Greene County to see a client, that’s going to be an all-day trip.”

Carey said he has spoken with sheriffs in Jackson and Jefferson County who have reported that they are also overcrowded.

“At some point, am I going to have to start talking to people in Iowa or Illinois? Because we’re going to end up filling everybody up in Missouri,” Carey said.

Several residents were in the audience, with many opposing the measure in favor of funding more preventative resources in the county.

“We must have a reckoning about the work of prevention by providing basic needs and a number of community members being detained as an eventual result of poverty and instability,” the Rev. Molly Housh Gordon told commissioners.

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Burt Jones and Rick Jackson heading to runoff in Georgia GOP governor’s race

CNN Newsource on May 19, 2026

By Christopher Harris

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    GEORGIA (WUPA) — Georgia Republicans will have to wait a little longer to pick their next gubernatorial nominee.

Neither Lt. Gov. Burt Jones nor billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson are projected to secured the majority of votes needed to win Tuesday’s Republican primary for governor outright, sending the two top finishers into a runoff election scheduled for June 16.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Attorney General Chris Carr, and other candidates were eliminated from the race.

The runoff sets up a rematch between the two candidates who have dominated and defined one of the most contentious GOP primary battles Georgia has seen in years, and it means voters will spend another month navigating a race that has already produced two lawsuits, a defamation claim, and a mobile billboard circling metro Atlanta.

Jones entered the primary as the clear frontrunner, buoyed by a high-profile endorsement from President Trump, who joined Jones on a tele-rally two weeks before the election, urging Republican voters to back the lieutenant governor.

“I endorse a man named Burt Jones, lieutenant governor,” Trump said during the May 7 call. “He’s tried and true, and he’s real quality.”

Trump initially endorsed Jones in August 2025, noting that Jones was the first member of the Georgia State Assembly to endorse him for president. Jones, a sixth-generation native of Jackson, and a former University of Georgia football letterman, has served as Georgia’s 13th lieutenant governor since 2022 and spent more than a decade in the State Senate. He played a central role in passing Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, known as Senate Bill 202.

Jackson, meanwhile, entered the race in February as a self-described conservative outsider and quickly reshaped the contest. He pledged up to $50 million of his own money to the campaign and drew on a compelling personal story: growing up in poverty, moving through five foster homes and 13 schools, and living in Atlanta’s Techwood Homes projects, to make his case to Republican voters.

“I’m running for governor now to deliver the results that do-nothing politicians never will,” Jackson said when he announced his candidacy.

The campaign between the two men quickly turned personal. Jackson sued Jones in federal court, arguing that a Georgia campaign finance mechanism known as a leadership committee gave Jones an unconstitutional fundraising advantage, allowing him to raise unlimited donations while other candidates remained subject to the state’s normal contribution limits of $8,400 per donor. A federal judge temporarily blocked Jones’ leadership committee, which had accumulated roughly $15.9 million, nearly five times the amount in Jones’ regular campaign account, from raising or spending money while the legal challenge played out.

Jackson also filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones in Fulton County Superior Court after Jones’ campaign alleged on social media that Jackson had made his fortune recruiting for Planned Parenthood and helping doctors perform transgender procedures on minors. Jackson called the allegations knowingly false and deliberately timed to damage him among conservative voters as polling showed the race tightening.

Jones’ campaign did not back down. It doubled down with a mobile billboard circulating in metro Atlanta and a website attacking Jackson’s business background. Jones’ campaign spokesperson Kayla Lott said Jackson should be “proud Georgia knows how his company made its money.”

Both candidates now have until June 16 to make their closing arguments to Republican voters.

Jones will lean on his Trump endorsement, his record in state government, and his roots in Georgia politics. Jackson will continue pressing his outsider credentials, his business record leading Jackson Healthcare, which operates in all 50 states, serves more than 20 million patients annually and generates more than $3 billion in revenue, and his personal story of rising from poverty to build a billion-dollar company.

The policy differences between the two are narrow. Both men have pledged to cut taxes, support law enforcement, fight illegal immigration and oppose what they call woke ideology in schools.

Whoever wins in June will face the Democratic nominee in November.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

YPG breaks ground for new school in Yuma

KYMA on May 19, 2026

Abraham Retana

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – A local military base is getting a new school.

The Yuma Proving Ground had a groundbreaking Tuesday for the new school.

It will replace James D. Price Elementary School, and it will have 125 students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

“The school was built in the mid-50s so it has aged quite a bit still great facility but this one will be so much better because the space provided will be more flexible, more modern more relevant to the way we want to teach and the way we want kids to learn,” said Dennis Ponder, Yuma Elementary School District 1 Superintendent.

The school is expected to be completed by May of next year and has a price tag of $10 million.

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Thomas Massie loses Kentucky GOP primary to Trump-backed Ed Gallrein

CNN Newsource on May 19, 2026

By WLWT Digital Staff

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    KENTUCKY (WLWT) — Ed Gallrein, the President Trump-backed former Navy SEAL, has won the GOP nomination for Kentucky’s 4th District, beating out longtime incumbent Congressman Thomas Massie.

It was the most expensive United States House primary race in history, with more than $35 million spent between Massie and Gallrein.

Massie took the stage shortly after the race was called, telling voters he called Gallrein and conceded the race.

“We ran a race that you can be proud of,” Massie said to his supporters. “You have to apologize to nobody tomorrow for anything you did.”

Massie went on to thank his donors, supporters, family, including his grandchildren.

“That’s what we’re fighting for really. The next generation and the generation after that,” Massie said.

He said he remains hopeful, saying he believes the results will show he still has the support of the younger demographic.

“There is a yearning in this country for someone who will vote principles over party,” Massie said.

Gallrein took to the stage to cheers, thanking supporters and talking about his mindset going into November.

“For the same reasons I joined to serve our nation in 1983, with the audacity that I could make a difference, I will serve this district, my part and my nation with that same audacity that I can make a difference,” Gallrein.

Gallrein will go on to face Melissa Strange who secured the Democratic ticket.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Las Cruces Utilities gives residents’ waste new life

KVIA on May 19, 2026

Carpio Griego

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — The Las Cruces Utilities Department has a program meant to reduce residents’ carbon footprint by recycling their yard and food waste into compost. The compost goes back to customers for free.

A recent grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture helped expand the program to include food waste.

Las Cruces Utilities Deputy Director of Solid Waste, Carl Pierce, said these steps towards sustainability is important for future generations because with out it, “there will be nothing left.”

Pierce said sustainability is important to the Las Cruces area, but also said everyone should transition to more sustainable choices. He said composting gives the landfill waste a second life.

Environmental impact is also important to Pierce. He said rising temperatures and scarcity of water in areas like Las Cruces making programs like this more important than ever.

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Person airlifted after crash near Parkland High School

KVIA on May 19, 2026

Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Fire Department’s FireSTAR helicopter airlifted someone near Parkland High School in Northeast El Paso Tuesday.

EPFD said it happened after a motorcycle crash. It said the school was not involved in the crash and the school’s field was used to land the helicopter.

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Jefferson City Room at the Inn may move to a new location

KMIZ on May 19, 2026

Haley Swaino

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

This coming winter may be the last time the Jefferson City Room at the Inn homeless shelter operates at the First Baptist Church on Capitol Avenue.

JCRATI is an emergency, overnight homeless shelter that operates during the winter months. But Housing the Community Jefferson City, JCRATI’s parent organization, could soon be housing the city’s homeless at a new headquarters.

After more than two years of searching for a larger location, the organization announced at a news conference Tuesday morning that it has signed an option to buy property at 107 Adams St. and filed a zoning application for the building.

Scott Johnston, president of the board of directors for Housing the Community Jefferson City, said the 40-year-old building is not vacant, but it is not fully used. The owner mainly uses it as a storage and office space.

“The zoning application is asking the city for approval to renovate the building into both a resource center for the community and to move Room at the Inn into the building,” Johnston said. “We’re hoping that this is really going to be an impact on the community. Our whole purpose is to improve Jefferson City as a place to live and do business.”

Contingent on the city council approving the application late summer, Johnston said the new location would open its doors in December 2027.

“The building on Adams Street is intended to meet a need that we’ve been talking about for years, and that is homeless folks hanging out in the downtown area,” Johnston said.

The tentative location is a block from the current JCRATI location, and Johnston said it would allow for more guests to be welcomed in — a priority of the Jefferson City Task Force on Homelessness.

“The mayor’s task force recently concluded that that was the No. 1 recommendation. The No. 1 priority is to get a coordinated, centralized access point for hooking folks up with services and to take care of their daily basic needs,” Johnston said.

Besides having 30 available beds compared to JCRATI’s current 20, the resource center will have showers, bathrooms, recreational space, snacks and drinks.

The group hopes the expansion will do more than offer shelter from rough weather conditions.

“Most importantly, the resource center will provide an opportunity for folks to get hooked up with the services that they need in order to become more independent,” Johnston said.

The vision is to have the second floor be an overnight shelter, and the first be filled with recreational and office spaces that local resources operate out of. JCRATI hopes that will encourage people to stay after the overnight hour to get any help they may need.

“We don’t have to turn them away at 7 a.m.,” volunteer Carolyn Saucier said. “They can transition to a different space downstairs and maybe work with some people. So the possibilities of this new place are so immense.”

Johnston said the main focus of the resource center will be to find people employment and housing. He said the goal is not to create new resources, but to work with existing ones in the community and bring them to those at the center.

The new building would also better house a growing number of volunteers. Johnston said there are more than 200 volunteers with JCRATI.

The hope is that the Jefferson City community will rally behind the plan to move and expand. Johnston said he believes people will, as it’s been a growing, community-driven mission for many years.

“About six years ago, we just didn’t want people to freeze to death,” Johnston said. “So we worked with Catholic Charities to open Room at the Inn, and it had 15 beds at that time. And we were full almost all the time.”

Carolyn Saucier said conversations began long before JCRATI opened five years ago.

“I’ve been involved in the homelessness project since we started in the conversations over at Catholic Charities about 10 years ago. We simply met and we called ourselves a task force. And how can we address the issues of homelessness in our community?” Saucier said.

About three years ago, Johnston said, First Baptist Church at 301 E Capitol Ave. opened its doors to house JCRATI.

But after a few years, expansion is again needed.

“In December, it was not quite full, but then we were turning away people in January and February. So we’re very hopeful that the expanded beds for Room at the Inn has a real impact on the unhoused people and Jeff City,” Johnston said.

But there’s more than just city council approval standing between the nonprofit’s dream on Adams Street becoming a reality.

“If the zoning is approved, the real work begins for us. If the zoning approves, we’ll need to begin fundraising, renovating that building will take a significant investment and time to convert it into a community resource center and to make it suitable for Room at the Inn,” Johnston said.

The new location would tentatively be renamed the HCJC Community Resource Center and Shelter.

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