Investigations

In the week since the mass shooting that claimed four lives at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, questions have proliferated about what led the 16-year-old shooter, Griffin J. John II, to his former elementary school with a loaded shotgun.

Newly obtained text messages between former Alfalfa Fire District Chief Chad LaVallee and two Central Oregon Community College (COCC) officials reveal that LaVallee claimed the district was already interviewing prospective replacements for his position weeks before its governing board formally authorized advertising the job.

The Alfalfa Fire District's sale of a taxpayer-owned ambulance to Central Oregon Community College (COCC) for $15,000 is facing new scrutiny after records obtained by the Prineville Review revealed the college had apparently already paid the district before the vehicle was offered through a public auction that ultimately drew no other bidders.

Watt and Jennifer Childress are law-abiding residents of Nehalem, but both have had recent run-ins with the “food police.” Earlier this year, the couple learned that potlucks open to the public are illegal in Oregon.

The Alfalfa Fire District has finally released some of its 2026 bank records to the Prineville Review following weeks of delays, revealing nearly $90,000 in checks, a $157,420 FEMA deposit and thousands in other spending — but significant records needed to determine where some of the money went remain missing.

A legal fight that began over something as basic as the Alfalfa Fire District failing to make meeting minutes available within a reasonable time could end up answering a much bigger question for Oregonians.

Five current members of the Ochoco West Water & Sanitary Authority Board have entered stipulated final orders with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission over violations of Oregon’s Public Meetings Law, bringing at least part of a nearly year-long state investigation into the troubled special district to a close.

Crook County District Attorney Kari Hathorn has ordered the Crook County Vector Control District to release public records sought by the Prineville Review after finding the district failed to respond to the original request

Alfalfa Fire District officials acknowledged Wednesday night they still do not have access to critical banking records needed to determine what happened to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal grant funding, while new questions emerged over former Fire Chief Chad LaVallee's continuing role with the district more than two months after his resignation.

Oregonians’ distrust of Flock cameras has intensified over the past year, with at least six cities and two counties canceling or curtailing contracts with...