Anthony Broadman was recently elected to Position Two on the Bend City Council. He's recently helped lead an effort to get Bend-LaPine students back in school as soon as possible. Broadman, along with all of Bend’s current City Councilors, newly elected City Councilors, the County Commissioner-elect Phil Chang and some members of the school board, sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill asking that they make in-person education a higher priority. The letter asked for resources to test teachers, students and staff who want to return. The signatories also asked that elementary school students return to school by January 4, regardless of local testing statistics.

Plans for COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Bend and Central Oregon and assessing Gov. Kate Brown's new framework, in which Deschutes County and 24 other counties are in the "extreme" risk category. How do we move out of "extreme?" We suss out the details.

For this week’s episode of “Bend Don’t Break” we talk with Ryan Houston, who has been serving as executive director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association since 2018. Growing up in California, Houston developed an early interest the desert environment and eventually earned a master’s in ecology from the University of Arizona. He has a reputation in Central Oregon as a collaborator and coalition-builder and spearheaded dozens of efforts to conserve the Deschutes Basin during his work with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council where he was the executive director for two decades.

Houston framed the conversation by describing the work of the Bureau of Land Management, why it was founded and what it is empowered to do in its current form. One of ONDA’s primary goals is keeping this agency accountable, as the BLM oversees millions of acres in Oregon alone. Over the next few years, the BLM will be updating its management plans for some vital high desert regions in Eastern Oregon.

In this week's update, we're reviewing the conditions of the extended state shut down and reporting on city policing of Thanksgiving and other social gatherings.

In this week's update, we're discussing the conditions of Oregon's unemployment payments and the push to extend the eviction moratorium.

For this week’s episode of “Bend Don’t Break” we spoke with Judy Stiegler who served in the Oregon State Legislature for House District 54 from 2009-2011 and is now an instructor of political science at OSU - Cascades. (This district covers the City of Bend and was won by Deputy District Attorney Jason Kropf in the recent election.) Stiegler and her husband Mike Dugan have been involved in Bend’s political scene for the past 42 years and we wanted to hear her historical perspective on the results of the state and local elections.

In this week's update, we're discussing the new, temporary warming shelter that has opened in response to the tragic death of a Bend citizen. Also, we are taking a look into the guidelines of the two week statewide shut down.

For this week’s episode of “Bend Don’t Break” we spoke with Tyler Neese, the government affairs director for the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, also known as COAR. After the recent election, we wanted to catch up with some local PACs that had an impact on the political process. COAR was one of the biggest contributors to candidates in local races.

During this discussion, Neese described the state of the real estate industry which has been booming as Bend continues to attract droves of remote workers from affluent West Coast cities. We also asked him about the politics of expanding Bend’s urban growth boundary and how Oregon laws may be contributing to the housing shortage. Finally we dove into policy changes at the state and local level which affect the real estate industry such as inclusionary zoning and real estate taxes to support social programs.

Listen to more from Tyler Neese of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors on this week's episode of “Bend Don't Break,” hosted by the Source Weekly’s publisher Aaron Switzer and co-hosted by Laurel Brauns. Every week, we feature a guest from the community with a new perspective on living through the COVID-19 pandemic including mental health professionals, economists, educators, artists, business people, local leaders and historians. Subscribe on iTunes, Soundcloud or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's update, parents express anger towards extended school closures and the Bend City Council announces a tax proposal to supplement affordable housing.

For this week’s episode of “Bend Don’t Break” we talked to Luann Abrams who is the Treasurer of the Strengthening Central Oregon Political Action Committee, a new community PAC designed to support underrepresented candidates who will bring diversity, fresh perspectives and nonpartisan solutions to the issues facing the region. The PAC had a lot to celebrate on election night: Most of their candidates won their races. These include future City Councilors Anthony Broadman, Rita Schenkelberg, Megan Perkins and Melanie Kebler and future County Commissioner Phil Chang. The 2020 election was the biggest blue wave in Bend’s history and we wanted to find out if SCOPAC’s influence had something to do with it.