Please read this breaking news story that colleague Anna Kaminski wrote late Friday about a foiled plot to shoot rock climbers at Smith Rock State Park. It’s a shocking story and we will be sure to follow up with more information next week.

The same day the mass shooting was planned to take place, Sen. Jeff Merkley was near Smith Rock to celebrate a new, modernized water piping system for three local irrigation districts. The water savings will be huge, but there will be changes. Over the next few years Central Oregon’s open-air canal systems, most of them a century old, will give way to these pipes. 

Reporter Joe Siess was on site for the first turn of dirt at the Spencer Court affordable housing project. The 60-unit building is expected to welcome its first tenants in September 2024. We wrote back in February about the plan to demolish the old building and replace it with something larger and more modern. The demolition is now finished and the rebuild can begin.

We’ve been writing a lot of about new housing projects in Redmond recently. If you missed them, catch up on this 22-home development planned near Redmond High and also the long-awaited groundbreaking at Oasis Village. The tiny home community and RV parking spaces will give homeless people in Redmond a place to go for shelter and get back on track.

It’s a busy weekend around Redmond. If you’re looking for something to do, consider saddling up and riding out to the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center and take in a day of rodeo. The Columbia Circuit finals got underway Thursday and the finals are tonight. Cowboys and cowgirls from throughout the Northwest are trying to earn checks and qualify for the National Finals in December.

I got to spend Friday with Lee Barker of Barker Bass fame (and a couple of other fames in Redmond.) He’s got a new memoir out, titled “Plausible Gumption,” that details the many different lives he’s lived. Keep an eye out for that in a future edition of the paper.

To help keep the Spokesman reporting on local issues and adding local reporters, consider purchasing a subscription — either for digital access or home print delivery. Go to redmondspokesman.com or stop by our office, next door to the Odem Theater on 6th St., and we’ll get you signed up at an affordable price. That’s the best way to support our work and stay informed about your community.

— Tim Trainor is editor of the Redmond Spokesman.