Family Support Group: Where: Bend, Oregon, St. Charles Medical Center, Physician's Dining Room, second floor Time: 5:30 p.m. Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Free to public Chapter Meeting: Where:  Bend, Oregon, St. Charles Medical Center Time:  7:00 - 8:30 p.m.  Date:  Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Free to the Public This month's topic: IN OUR OWN VOICE  IN OUR OWN VOICE is a recovery-education program in which people living with mental illness are trained to speak directly to community audiences about their ... [full story]

Special Meeting Held to Offset Compensation Cuts To Liquor Agents by Bill Passed by Oregon Senate and House to Re-balance Budget PORTLAND, Ore. – At a special meeting held today, the commissioners of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission adopted a temporary price increase on distilled spirits from April 1 through June 30, 2009.  The increase is a 50-cent surcharge per bottle on all distilled spirits products. The Senate and the House passed a bill to ... [full story]

Company to Move Manufacturing System and Equipment from Korea and Spain to Oregon; Could bring $250-million to Oregon Economy PORTLAND, Ore. -- As today’s manufacturers and retailers transition towards greener and more efficient supply chains, GreenLight Pallet Co., the manufacturer of the UNIPAL 100% recyclable patented corrugated pallet system, announced plans to complete its 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility on Marine Drive along the Columbia River in Portland this May. As GreenLight Pallet Co. LLC ... [full story]

REDMOND, Ore. -- Cornucopia Natural Foods of Redmond, Oregon is recalling bulk self-serve grind peanut butter, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.  The product was manufactured using peanut products recalled by Peanut Corporation of American because they have the potential to be contaminated with  Salmonella.  Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy ... [full story]

BEND, Ore. -- A long-time Bend resident passed away in January and representatives from the estate say the Bend Fire and Police Departments were willed approximately $1-million.   Bend Police and Fire Departments were bequeathed about $1-million.  Over the years, the resident had made several donations to both the Police and Fire Departments. According to representatives from the estate, the funds are to be split equally between the Police and Fire Departments and used for “enhancements.” The ... [full story]

REDMOND, Ore. – Deputies have identified the man who died in an apparent domestic dispute from a gunshot wound northwest of Redmond on Sunday afternoon as 43-year old Christopher John Hamm. Hamm was the son and step-son of the other two persons involved in the dispute, Jean M. Henderson, 59, and Larry Kent Henderson, 68, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Captain Marc Mills stated in a news release Deputies were called to the family’s 8-acre property and home ... [full story]

"Watchmen" takes a remarkable piece of literature, an assemblage of comic books transitioned into a mind-blowing graphic novel that considers sober human issues, and turns into a distended botch of a movie.   RATINGS GUIDE: 4 STARS - Excellent. 3 STARS - Worthy. 2 STARS - Mixed. 1 STAR - Poor. 0 - Forget It (a dog.)  This "Watchmen," from director Zack Snyder (the box-office behemoth "300"), is tough to watch. Alan Moore, the book's masterly writer, ... [full story]

In an ideal world, gay marriage would be won at the ballot box. Voters would recognize that they have absolutely nothing to lose by allowing their fellow citizens the same rights to marry that heterosexual men and women now enjoy. Even many prominent conservatives (say, Sarah Palin) have come to recognize that it is wrong, heartless even, to deny gay couples the right to sign up for health benefits or to make critical medical decisions ... [full story]

At Texas A&M University's sporting events, whenever opposing coaches go off on the referees, our yell leaders — we don't have cheerleaders — signal for the fans to do one of our yells, which ends with, "Sit down, bus driver!" As I watched Sen. John McCain stand up and go on one of his rants about earmarks, I wanted to shout, "Sit down, bus driver!" Look, I like Sen. McCain, and to be honest, I ... [full story]

Heeding the advice of Gen. David Petraeus, Barack Obama has committed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan and will keep 50,000 in Iraq after U.S. combat operations end in August 2010. But are U.S. vital interests more threatened by what happens in Anbar or Helmand than in the war raging along our southern border? Prediction: After all U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea have come home, there will be a U.S. army on the Mexican ... [full story]