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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2022)
A2 The BulleTin • Thursday, January 6, 2022 The Bulletin LOCAL, STATE & REGION how to reach us CIRCULATION didn’t receive your paper? start or stop subscription? 541-385-5800 PHONE HOURS COVID-19 data for Wednesday, Jan. 5 Deschutes County cases: 27,945 (716 new cases) Deschutes County deaths: 215 (zero new deaths) Crook County cases: 3,767 (37 new cases) Crook County deaths: 60 (zero new deaths) Jefferson County cases: 4,601 (77 new cases) Jefferson County deaths: 69 (zero new deaths) Oregon cases: 441,648 (6,203 new cases) Oregon deaths: 5,719 (9 new deaths) COVID-19 patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend on Wednesday: 29 (3 in iCu). The Bulletin had been tracking the seven-day average case count based on state data since local cases were first reported, until the state stopped providing county-level data for weekends or holidays. When data is available, The Bulletin will continue to publish information about the pandemic. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-11 a.m. saturday-sunday and holidays GENERAL INFORMATION 541-382-1811 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. ONLINE www.bendbulletin.com EMAIL bulletin@bendbulletin.com AFTER HOURS Newsroom ................................541-383-0348 Circulation ................................541-385-5800 NEWSROOM EMAIL Business ........business@bendbulletin.com City Desk .............news@bendbulletin.com Features.................................................................. communitylife@bendbulletin.com Sports ................. sports@bendbulletin.com NEWSROOM FAX 541-385-5804 OUR ADDRESS Street .............. 320 sW upper Terrace drive suite 200 Bend, Or 97702 Mailing ........... P.O. Box 6020 Bend, Or 97708 B Senate President Courtney is retiring the House, longtime Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, is serving of the majority party her final term in the — likely to remain role as she mounts a the Democrats — will run for governor. Two meet to discuss their House Democrats also Courtney pick. said Wednesday that By turns taciturn House Democratic and animated, Courtney has Leader Barbara Smith-Warner, long been one of the more cap- another Portland lawmaker, tivating and mercurial figures had informed them she would in Oregon politics. be stepping down from that He runs his chamber with a position. mixture of browbeating insults Currently in his 38th year as and heartfelt concern for the a lawmaker, Courtney served institution. in the Oregon House for a de- Courtney’s departure is cade before jumping to the not the only leadership vac- Senate. He won election as uum coming to Salem. In Senate president in 2003, and Oregon’s longest-serving lawmaker will hold seat until election BY DIRK VANDERHART Oregon Public Broadcasting Senate President Peter Courtney, the longest-serving lawmaker in Oregon history, is retiring. After months of specula- tion that leadership of the Sen- ate may come up for grabs in 2023, Courtney informed col- leagues shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday he would not seek reelection this year. His office confirmed his decision. “I am not going to be run- ning again for the Legislature,” Courtney, D-Salem, said in a text message to fellow senators. “I will serve out the remain- der of my term. It has been an honor and a privilege to have been allowed to serve locally on the Salem City Council and for all these years in the Ore- gon State Legislature. I hope I’ve helped.” Courtney’s departure cre- ates questions about who best can follow in his footsteps after two decades wielding the Sen- ate gavel. That matter will likely wait until soon after the Novem- ber elections, when members Democrats tap 3 nominees for gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson’s vacant Senate seat seaside — The democratic Party of Oregon has selected three nominees to fill the state senate district 16 vacancy left by Betsy Johnson in her independent run for governor. democrats met Monday night at the seaside Civic and Con- vention Center to make selections from a list of eight candi- dates. County commissioners within the district — Clatsop, Tillamook, Columbia, Washington and Multnomah — will interview the nominees and vote on who will fill the seat in a joint session on Jan. 14. Melissa Busch, a home health nurse from Warren, was the first selected nominee, receiving 73% of the weighted vote in the first round of balloting. maintained control ever since, often winning praise from mi- nority Republicans who see him as an evenhanded leader. More recently, he’s also seen rising angst from an increas- ingly liberal caucus that some- times chafed at his consen- sus-driven style. Among those processing the news on Wednesday was state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hay- ward, D-Portland, a longtime ally. “I am incredibly grateful to him for his decades of service to the state,” Steiner Hayward said. “He’s made invaluable con- tributions to the Legislature.” rachel armitage, also from Warren, was selected as the sec- ond nominee, receiving 64% of the weighted vote in the second round of balloting. nadia Gardner, the chairwoman of the Clatsop County Planning Commission, was selected as the third nominee, receiving 74% of the weighted vote in the third round of balloting. — The Astorian ADMINISTRATION Publisher heidi Wright ..............................541-383-0341 Editor Gerry O’Brien .............................541-633-2166 LOCAL BRIEFING DEPARTMENT HEADS Advertising Brian naplachowski .................541-383-0370 Circulation/Operations Jeremy Feldman ......................541-617-7830 Finance anthony Georger ....................541-383-0324 Human Resources ................541-383-0340 Police: Woman escapes alleged kidnapping TALK TO AN EDITOR City Julie Johnson ...................541-383-0367 Business, Features, GO! 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Box 6020 Bend, Or 97708 Phone ......................................... 541-617-7829 CORRECTIONS The Bulletin’s primary concern is that all stories are accurate. if you know of an error in a story, call us at 541-383-0367. TO SUBSCRIBE Call us ......................541-385-5800 • Home delivery and E-Edition ..........................$7 per week • By mail .................................$9.50 per week • E-Edition only ...................$4.50 per week To sign up for our e-editions, visit www.bendbulletin.com to register. TO PLACE AN AD Classified ......................................541-385-5809 advertising fax ..........................541-385-5802 Other information ....................541-382-1811 OBITUARIES no death notices or obituaries are published Mondays. When submitting, please include your name, address and contact number. 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They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. OdOT Trucks block the east travel lanes on Interstate 84 Wednesday. Santiam Pass reopens; I-84 closed to the east Bulletin staff and wire reports Crashes, spinouts and winter weather closed U.S. Highway 20 across the Santiam Pass at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, but the Oregon Department of Trans- portation reopened the pass by 11:30 a.m. Interstate 84 shut down Wednesday east of Pendleton. Major highways around Cra- ter Lake National Park also remained closed. Multiple disabled vehicles closed U.S. Highway 395 near La Grande late Wednesday morning, and Hoodoo Ski Area said it is also closed Wednesday. On Mount Hood, both Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows opened Wednesday after being closed the previous two days. The closures were the latest in a week where that saw nu- merous roads closed due to winter conditions. Previous clo- sures affected I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge, and U.S. Highway 26 over Mount Hood. The westbound lanes of Highway U.S. 20 were closed early in the morning because of crashes on the uphill climb near Suttle Lake, just east of the pass. Eventually, the Oregon Department of Transportation closed all east- and westbound lanes at the intersection of state Highway 22, just west of the pass, because of continued blowing snow and crashes. There was no word on an es- timated reopening time. Check TripCheck.com for the latest in road closures and chain or traction device requirements. A Redmond man is fac- ing attempted murder, rape and other charges af- ter a woman said she was held for weeks against her will. Around 9 a.m. Mon- day, Redmond Police re- sponded to a report of a domestic violence assault in a home in the 2800 block of SW Peridot Ave- nue in Redmond. A per- son told police that Ber- nardino Martinez Jr. had been holding a woman against her will for several weeks and that he’d threat- ened to kill her if she tried to leave. Redmond officers con- tacted the alleged victim via phone and told her to leave if she could and they would pick her up, accord- ing to Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel. “Redmond PD then saw Find it all online bendbulletin.com the victim run from the res- idence, and they picked her up,” Hummel told The Bul- letin. “The victim had visible injuries.” Martinez Jr. was arrested Tuesday night when a vehicle he was riding in was stopped by police. Assisting in the ar- rest was the regional SWAT team, the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team, according to a statement by Redmond Police. Martinez Jr. was arraigned Wednesday afternoon on 18 criminal counts, including first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, coercion and at- tempted murder. His indictment states he al- legedly threatened his victim with a handgun and struck her knowing she was preg- nant. Martinez Jr.’s next court date is Wednesday. — Bulletin staff report
