Category: ktvz-local-news

Kelsey Merison

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) — Prineville’s coming together this weekend for Faith & Blue, a community event focused on connection and fellowship.

The event takes place August 22nd and 23rd at Pioneer Park, with food, activities, and opportunities for community members to spend time together.

Organizers say the event’s about building relationships and celebrating the community.

Faith & Blue is open to the public, with organizers encouraging Prineville residents to come out and take part.

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Kelsey Merison

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Come raise a pint, hang out with friends, and help support Redmond Youth Football!

On Thursday, August 20th from 5-8 p.m. at Wild Ride Brewing, enjoy a fun-filled Pint Night benefiting Redmond Youth Football.

For every pint sold, $1 will be donated to Redmond Youth Football. It’s an easy way to enjoy a great evening while helping local youth athletes.

There will also be Redmond Youth Football merchandise for sale, plus a raffle featuring awesome baskets put together by some of our generous sponsors. Come check them out, grab a pint, and you might even go home with a prize!

📍 Wild Ride Brewing332 SW 5th Street, Redmond, OR

Bring your friends and family and help make this a night to remember. Cheers to supporting our local athletes!

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Claire Elmer

(Update: adding video, comments from Bend Privacy Alliance)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A local privacy group is inviting Central Oregonians to learn more about technology used to monitor public spaces, including automated license plate readers, artificial intelligence, and other surveillance systems.

The Bend Privacy Alliance will host a free community discussion, Surveillance in Our Community, Wednesday from 5:00 to 7:00p.m. at the Central Library in Bend.

The event is part of a National Week of Action Against ALPRs, focused on automated license plate readers.

Organizers say the discussion will examine how surveillance technology can track vehicles and potentially reveal information about people’s movements, relationships, and daily routines.

The event will also explore how artificial intelligence can be used to draw inferences from collected data.

Jonathan Westmoreland, an event organizer and member of the Bend Privacy Alliance, said education is a key goal.

“One of the key focuses right now is just to educate people about what systems there are out there, what may be coming, how AI can be used to infer things about citizens and their patterns of life, what things can be done to protect the people at the contract level and at the technical level, and how people that are concerned about this can get involved,” Westmoreland said.

The group also wants residents to consider who can access surveillance data, how long it is retained, where it can be shared, and what safeguards should be in place before new systems are purchased or expanded.

The event is open to everyone, regardless of political perspective or familiarity with the technology. Organizers simply ask you bring an open mind.

The Central Library is located at 61956 SE Santorini St, Bend, OR 97702. If you cannot attend in-person, the event will be live-streamed. Tickets can be purchased online through EventBrite.

Earlier Story — BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Bend Privacy Alliance is hosting a public community conversation about privacy, technology, and data collection Wednesday, August 19th, in Bend. The meeting will take place at the Central Library.

The event will focus on emerging and widely used technologies, including automated license plate readers, camera networks, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence.

Organizers say the goal of the meeting is to help community members understand what information these monitoring systems collect. Discussions will also examine how gathered data can be stored or shared, along with what safeguards are currently in place.

The event is free and open to the public. It will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Central Library.

Click here to learn more.

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Lance Campbell

BEND, Ore. — A Pacific Northwest pet retailer is calling on customers across the region to help pets and families affected by recent fires in Spokane-area communities.

Mud Bay is collecting donated pet food and supplies at its stores through Aug. 30, giving Central Oregonians and other customers a way to contribute directly to the relief effort.

Customers can purchase pet food or supplies at any Mud Bay location and donate the items in-store. Mud Bay says it will match customer-donated purchases up to $10,000.

The effort is designed to get needed pet supplies from communities across the Pacific Northwest to animal welfare organizations serving fire-affected areas around Spokane.

Spokane-based AFCO Distribution is helping coordinate transportation of the donated products to the affected region. The supplies will be delivered to animal welfare organizations serving those communities, including SpokAnimal.

For Central Oregonians who want to participate, the process is simple: purchase pet food or supplies at a local Mud Bay store and leave the donation with the store. The products will then be collected as part of the broader relief effort and transported to the Spokane area.

The campaign gives people hundreds of miles away from the affected communities an opportunity to help families caring for their pets as they deal with the impacts of the fires.

Mud Bay’s donation drive began Aug. 12 and continues through Aug. 30.

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Adrielle Hasara

Bend, ORE. (KTVZ) — The Shop with a Cop program will host a fundraiser this Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Elks Lodge to benefit local children. The event features a poker tournament starting at 3 p.m., an $80 buy-in, a 50-50 raffle and food.

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Adrielle Hasara

Bend, ORE. (KTVZ) — As fire season impacts Central Oregon, experts at Think Wild are advising residents on how to safely assist displaced wildlife while respecting evacuation zones and road closures. They’re also reminding people to not approach or handle wild animals unless they are in immediate danger, and to contatact wildlife professionals for guidance.

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Spencer Sacks

UPDATE: KTVZ News has obtained two preliminary review reports from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission concerning Nate Starr and Mark Laucks.

You can view the reports below:

Nathan Starr PRDownload

26-356PJS Mark Laucks PRDownload

UPDATE: The Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted unanimously on Friday to launch a formal investigation into current and former board members of the Alfalfa Fire District Board. It encompasses multiple violations of the state’s public meetings law.

KTVZ News has learned Nate Starr, who recently resigned as board president; current acting board president Mark Laucks; and current board member Dustin Piggot are under investigation. Two previous board members who previously resigned are also named in the investigation.

In April, the commission launched an ethics investigation into former Fire Chief Chad LaValle on four separate counts of violations of Oregon ethics law, specifically violations tied to nepotism and misuse of office surrounding the hiring and supervision of his spouse.

Our reporting partners at the Prineville Review previously uncovered in their investigation LaValle’s spouse was being paid using monies from multiple grants provided by the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office.

In 2024 our investigative team was contacted by former staff members who claimed LaValle hired his wife without properly posting the position publicly.

During testimony to the commission on Friday, Nate Starr was the only individual who offered testimony in which he spent the majority of his allocated time being critical of the news media.

The Alfalfa Fire District has been the subject of significant controversy due to reporting by KTVZ News and our reporting partners at the Prineville Review; including revelations of numerous state investigations including election law violations, ethics issues, grant spending, nepotism and public meeting violations.

This is a developing story, Stay with the digital platforms of KTVZ News for urgent updates.

ALFALFA, Ore. (KTVZ) — Two newly elected board members join the Alfalfa Fire District governing board as the agency faces continued public scrutiny over its leadership, finances and operations.

Residents submit grievances

During a board meeting Wednesday, community members submitted a 60-page grievance document detailing complaints and demanding operational changes within the district.

The grievances follow months of public concern surrounding management of the fire district and former Fire Chief Chad LaValle. Those concerns contributed to the failure of a fire district levy earlier this year, which voters rejected amid tax concerns and questions about nonessential services.

You can read the full letter below.

Requested operational changes

The 60-page complaint outlines several requested changes. The document calls for updated district policies prohibiting volunteer firefighters from serving on the governing board and seeks the sale of specific equipment, including a ladder truck, two ambulances and a motorized gurney.

It also requests that district apparatus not be stored offsite without formal contractual agreements and appropriate insurance coverage.

Concerns over board membership

Resident frustration has focused in part on board member Mark Laucks, whose position has drawn concerns because he is a volunteer firefighter.

Laucks addressed the document during Wednesday’s meeting.

“We will certainly give this a really thorough review and we will address these matters,” Laucks said. “We will come up with a plan to address these items individually.”

State raises reporting concerns

The fire district has also faced scrutiny from the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office over missing financial reporting. State officials sent a letter asking why annual reports had not been filed for three consecutive years and notified Deschutes County that it should initiate dissolution procedures as required.

The district later provided annual reports for 2022 and 2023, but documentation for 2024 and 2025 has not been provided.

In a statement on the filing delays, Deschutes County officials said that, to the best of their knowledge, the Secretary of State’s immediate concern about the district’s financial audit documents and untimely submissions was addressed by former Fire Chief LaValle.

Board review planned

Board members plan to review the grievance document and develop individual responses to the issues raised by residents.

READ THE FULL LETTER HERE:

AFD Residents’ ConcernsDownload

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Spencer Sacks

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, launched his “Stop the Corruption” town hall tour in Bend, meeting with local residents to discuss concerns regarding federal government operations and policy.

The town hall lasted close to an hour and drew a largely full audience. Central Oregon residents spoke with the senator on a range of topics impacting the region, including the cost of living and concerns regarding the Trump administration.

During the event, Merkley conducted an interactive poll, asking residents to place stickers on items representing what they considered their primary concern regarding federal corruption.

Merkley explained that the tour was launched to gather direct input from community members. “The specific mission was to come over and hold a town hall related to the issue of growing corruption in our federal government,” Merkley said. “And and just hear from folks about what they’re observing, what they’re feeling, how they think we should tackle it.”

The event is part of a series of visits Merkley has made to Central Oregon in recent months. He stated that visiting communities in person is essential for advocating on behalf of the state.

“It’s important because you need to be able to be as effective and advocate as you can,” Merkley said. “And to do that, you have to go and see what’s going on. You have to check in with the local officials and see what’s happening. You have to talk to the Red cross about the evacuations. You have to visit fire crews. Maybe you need to breathe in some of the smoke and know how real it is to have, you know, so many fires burning at once and so many large fires. And and so I think it makes me more effective in fighting for Oregon.”

Merkley is up for election later this year as he seeks another term representing Oregon in the U.S. Senate.

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Kelsey Merison

OREGON (KTVZ) — As wildfires and smoke continue to impact Oregon, health officials are reminding people to take care of their mental health, too.

The Oregon Health Authority says wildfires can cause stress, anxiety, grief and trouble sleeping, even for people who aren’t directly affected by a fire.

Officials recommend staying connected with friends and neighbors and maintaining routines when possible. They also say having an evacuation plan can help reduce stress.

For anyone struggling, help is available through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. OHA says people can also call 211 for help finding local resources.

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Kelsey Merison

Oregon Congresswoman Janelle Bynum is introducing bipartisan legislation aimed at expanding investment options for credit unions.

Bynum and Republican Congresswoman Young Kim of California introduced the Credit Union Investment Authorities Act.

The bill would allow federally chartered credit unions to invest in corporate bonds and asset-backed securities.

Supporters say that could help credit unions offer more competitive savings and loan products to their members.

The bill would also limit investments in a single issuer and give the national credit union administration authority to set safeguards.

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