The average gas price in Oregon has risen 9.3 cents in the last week. Find out more here.

CHICAGO (KTVZ) — Average gasoline prices in Oregon have risen 9.3 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.73/gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 1,307 stations in Oregon.

Prices in Oregon are 5.2 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 16.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 5.4 cents in the last week and stands at $4.65 per gallon.

According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Oregon was priced at $3.09/g Sunday, while the most expensive was $4.79/g, a difference of $1.70/g.

The national…

Smith Rock State Park is slated to get a new, wider pedestrian bridge this summer, which means there will be no bridge access for about four weeks during construction in mid to late summer. The exact dates depend on nesting season and streamflow.

The bridge spans the Crooked River in Central Oregon near Bend and connects the front of the park with many but not all of its hiking trails and climbing destinations. There will be no temporary bridge, and…

The majority of seafood consumed on the Oregon coast isn’t from the Oregon coast.. Find out more here.

As thousands of visitors flock to the Oregon Coast every year, most of them are looking for the fresh high-quality seafood that is distinctly Oregonian.

But a study commissioned recently by the Oregon Coast Visitors Association – the destination management organization serving the entire Oregon Coast from Astoria to Brookings – found shockingly that about 90 percent of the seafood consumed on the coast is imported from other domestic and international sources.

In response, OCVA has launched the Ocean Cluster Initiative – United States Department of Agriculture-funded program entitled “Capturing Value by Keeping Local Seafood Local” – to help combat that trend. The initiative…

Oregon Democratic Gov., Tina Kotek, will focus on affordable housing and combatting homelessness. Learn more here.

By CLAIRE RUSH/Associated Press/Report for America

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s newly sworn-in Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek signed three executive orders intended to combat homelessness on her first full day in office Tuesday, a sign of how critical the shortage of affordable housing has become in the state and across the nation.

The orders call for boosting construction and marshaling resources to help the nearly 18,000 people living outside in Oregon.

Advocates welcomed the measures. But they said that shoring up mental health and addiction services must also occur in order to help people move off the street.

Just last year, Oregon lawmakers…

A new Native art exhibit will be featured at the High Desert Museum. Learn more here.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — For many Native communities throughout the High Desert, what constitutes art spans beyond the walls of a gallery or a museum. Objects are alive, tied to purpose and intrinsic to thriving communities. Art is at once utilitarian and ceremonial, as well as part of the continuation of Native traditions.

Opening on Saturday, Jan. 28, Creations of Spirit will immerse High Desert Museum visitors in the Indigenous Plateau worldview, reflecting knowledge systems of tribes along the Columbia River and its tributaries.

Six Native artists commissioned for this new, original exhibition are creating artwork that will be used in Native communities before arriving…

Hayden Homes Amphitheater is accepting applications for food cart trucks. Learn more here.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Hayden Homes Amphitheater is looking for a few good food trucks.

The application window is now open for vendors looking to partner with Oregon’s largest outdoor music venue. The Hayden Homes Amphitheater hosted 52 concerts in 2022, including sold out shows by Kenny Chesney, Nine Inch Nails, ODESZA, The Chicks, and more.

“We work long, hard and often hot hours, but we have a blast doing it,” says Kris Ann Palacios, the amphitheater’s food & beverage manager. “We’re hoping to find business partners who love food and music as much as we do.”

Palacios has as many as eight food cart openings…

Just over a dozen Oregon cities, towns and unincorporated areas had their status changed from urban to rural, the result of a new definition the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2020 census.

Those places — including Mount Hood Village, Boardman and Irrigon — joined more than 1,100 nationwide, with a combined 4.2 million residents, that are now rural areas according to the bureau.

Under the old criteria, an urbanized area needed to have at…

OSU archaeologists find oldest known projectile points in Idaho. Learn more here.

CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon State University archaeologists have uncovered projectile points in Idaho that are thousands of years older than any previously found in the Americas, helping to fill in the history of how early humans crafted and used stone weapons.

The 13 full and fragmentary projectile points, razor sharp and ranging from about half an inch to 2 inches long, are from roughly 15,700 years ago, according to carbon-14 dating. That’s about 3,000 years older than the Clovis fluted points found throughout North America, and 2,300 years older than the points previously found at the same Cooper’s Ferry site along the Salmon River in present-day…

The sale of gasoline-powered passenger vehicles will be prohibited by 2035. Learn more here.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Policymakers for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Monday approved a rule that prohibits the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles in Oregon by 2035.

The effort comes as Oregon plans to cut climate-warming emissions by 50% by 2035 and by 90% by 2050, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The transportation sector accounts for nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon.

The rule is based on vehicle emission standards California adopted in August. The standards require car manufacturers to sell a certain percentage of zero-emission vehicles — electric cars, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles — as part…

Skyline Sports Complex in Bend has a groomed cross-country ski area. Find out more here.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Thanks to recent snowfall and help from volunteers, the Bend Park and Recreation District has a groomed cross-country ski area at Skyline Sports Complex in Bend.

The ski grooming at Skyline Sports Complex is done by community volunteers in partnership with Mount Bachelor Sports Education Foundation and BPRD.

Currently, there is a one-kilometer loop groomed for skiing, no track set. The groomed area is flat and users are asked to do their part to maintain the groomed surfaces by not walking or bringing dogs through the area.

“We need everyone’s cooperation to help keep this in-town skiing opportunity for…