The City of Bend plans to release its Smart Controller study during the High Desert Green Industry Conference scheduled for February 14-15 at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo.The Smart Controller study was initiated in 2004 after the City Council authorized the City’s work with the Smart Watering Application Technology (SWAT) program of the Irrigation Association. The City of Bend WaterWise program has installed over 70 smart controllers at city owned sites, with a total ... [full story]

Life for the Cheetah Girls has been rife with change. What started as a TV movie transformed into a multimedia franchise. Weeks filming on location turned into months touring major music venues. A quartet of actors became a trio of pop singers. And now the Cheetah Girls - Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Sabrina Bryan, better known to fans as Chanel, Aquanetta and Dorinda - are ready to change their spots yet again. THE CHEETAH ... [full story]

Game: "World War II Online: Battleground Europe" Publisher: Matrix Games System: Windows Cost: $30 plus monthly fee ESRB rating: M Review rating: 3 stars Many gamers groan every time a new World War II title is released, but not me. Games with modern or futuristic settings are fun, but give me a good World War II-based shooter, wait a month, and I'll show you the very definition of pasty, sun-deprived skin. Needless to say, when ... [full story]

According to a newly published study from Oregon Health & Science University, a drug frequently prescribed to breast cancer patients appears to cause swelling in the eye. The research, which was conducted by scientists at the OHSU Neurological Sciences Institute (NSI), the OHSU Casey Eye Institute (CEI) and the OHSU Cancer Institute, is published in the current online edition of the medical journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. The work will also be published in ... [full story]

Everyone aspires to be fit, but how does a busy family with school, jobs and activities factor fitness into their busy lives? Expert advice comes from the American Council on Exercise and the San Diego County YMCA. "Families are under increasing stress and struggle to balance work, family and health," the Y's Pattie Griffin says. "Getting fit doesn't require that much time, it's just setting aside the time. It can be done during the time ... [full story]

The island of Grenada in the eastern Caribbean is experiencing a period of new development and luxury accommodations, and general tourist attractions are being upgraded as well. The Mount Edgecombe Plantation project aims to restore a beautiful working plantation in St. Mark's parish. Through this project, the western coast of Grenada will be revived with the growth of every fruit and vegetable that can grow on the island. Added initiatives include Grenada's first eco-holistic spa ... [full story]

The sweetest Valentine Republicans in the U.S. Senate could give to American women would be to announce that they will filibuster until Christmas if Senate Democrats try to ratify the offensive United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, and repeatedly promoted by President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., it has wisely never been ratified. The notion is downright ... [full story]

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) on Thursday applauded the decision to fully fund the Northwest Forest Plan as part of the President's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget request for the U.S. Forest Service. "As someone who has been involved in local forestry issues for more than two decades, I can say it's time that Washington finally lives up to the promise it made to the people of forest communities of the ... [full story]

Proposal seeks 180,000 new rental vouchers and a record $1.6 billion in homeless assistance U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson on Monday unveiled the Bush Administration's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget request, which seeks to expand record homeownership, promote affordable housing and assist homeless individuals and families. President Bush is seeking $35.2 billion for HUD, which represents a $1.6 billion or 4.5 percent increase over his proposed spending plan for FY 2007.   HUD Secretary ... [full story]

Not many biotechnology companies can get a sneak peek, long before getting the OK to mount human clinical trials, at how an experimental drug might perform in real life. But for San Diego's CoDa Therapeutics, the chance came in December 2005 when a New Zealand construction worker had his eye doused with concrete spewed from a malfunctioning high-pressure hose. The epithelium - the thin layer of cells that cover the surface of the cornea - ... [full story]