About half of a 6- to 8-foot reptile, including long, needlepoint teeth, were found imbedded in rock south of Dayville An ancient sea-going crocodile has surfaced from the rocks of Crook County in eastern Oregon. Really.   Artist's rendering of a full, intact thalattosuchia, a fish-like crocodile from the Jurassic Period. By Jon Hughes.  Its discovery by the North American Research Group (NARG), whose members were digging for Jurassic-age mollusks known as ammonites, is another confirmation that ... [full story]

Leopold Ketel & Partners has added Springbrook, a major new hospitality, residential and retail development, to its growing list of Oregon-based clients. Springbrook will encompass 450 acres in northeast Newberg, Oregon. Key features will be a luxury inn, restaurant, spa, retail village, 1,200 homes and town homes.  Construction on the inn will begin in 2008, while the entire project will be built over a decade.  It is the first development of this scale planned for ... [full story]

If Joe Degitz were asked to discuss the pros and cons of PowerPoint, his presentation would, no doubt, rely on PowerPoint. He'd try to make his PowerPoint every bit as useful, yet entertaining, as he tries to make the ones he and a colleague create for paramedics' continuing education. He'd present bullet points of concise information, punctuated by images, sound and the occasional offbeat cartoon just to keep the audience alive because he knows, as ... [full story]

Well over a thousand bars have their welcome mat out in post-Katrina New Orleans so you don't have to look hard to find a friendly place with a smiling face. There are the ancient saloons in the French Quarter, once owned or frequented by the 'gentleman pirate' Jean Laffite and his brother. Laffite's Blacksmith Shop, tucked inside a 1772 mud and stone building (941 Bourbon St.), is a dark, candle-lit cave with a piano man ... [full story]

A Commentary by Lucy Postins, Pet Nutritionist for The Honest Kitchen Consumers should take time to read pet food labels, familiarize themselves with what various ingredients really are, research the companies who make the products they buy - and then decide what they would (and would not) like their pets to eat. As pet owners come to terms with the gravity of this most recent, widespread tragedy in the pet food industry, it is important ... [full story]

Sometimes it seems like the fish you lose are more memorable than the ones you catch. Such was the case on one of my first outings at Lake Billy Chinook several years ago. On the fifth cast toward shore, a big bull trout hit the Rapala and the fight began.   John Garrison with his 14-pound bull trout from Lake Billy Chinook – photo courtesy of Garrison’s Guide Service After several minutes of playing the fish (or ... [full story]

Home price appreciation is strongest in Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Washington; Prices reflect a market returning to normal Global Insight, the world's leading company for economic and financial analysis and forecasting, this week released the 2006 fourth quarter update of the U.S. Housing Valuation Analysis, which shows the incidence of overvaluation in the nation's housing market continues to decline, the result of falling home prices. The overall number of single family housing units deemed ... [full story]

Q: If I want to have daisies in full bloom for an August wedding, when should I start them by seed? A: I assume you mean Shasta Daisies, but the word daisy can mean other kinds of plants too. The Shasta has a botanical name of Leucanthemum usually followed with an X which means it is a hybrid and then that is followed by a variety name in parenthesis. They are usually a perennial that ... [full story]

Kathryn Legace to take over at Mountain View High School After a competitive nationwide recruitment, Mountain View High School will have a new leader this fall, Bend’s Kathryn Legace. Legace will take over for current Mountain View High School principal Bob Jones when he transitions into a new administrative position with the Bend-La Pine Schools (BLS) in July.   Mountain View High Schools’ new principal, Katie Legace “We were pleased with the strong group of candidates for this position ... [full story]

NASA released on Wednesday never-before-seen images that show the sun's magnetic field is much more turbulent and dynamic than previously known. The international spacecraft Hinode, formerly known as Solar B, took the images.Hinode, Japanese for "sunrise," was launched Sept. 23, 2006, to study the sun's magnetic field and how its explosive energy propagates through the different layers of the solar atmosphere. The spacecraft's uninterrupted high-resolution observations of the sun will have an impact on solar ... [full story]