The Bulletin, along with the rest of the EO Media Group news outlets, will be part of a one-hour Q&A session with Gov. Tina Kotek next week.

The roundtable session will be on a Zoom call, which The Bulletin will record and then distribute to all the websites in EO Media.

The idea for the roundtable was Kotek’s and we applaud her for it. Late last year she completed visits to every county in Oregon, something that former governors were not known to do, at least not very regularly. But she really didn’t get around to all the newspapers in the various communities.

Kotek hopes to make the discussion with editors and reporters a regular event, at least every six months.

It’s appealing that the news conference will be just prior to the short legislative session set to start Feb. 5. There are a lot of issues on the front burner that Oregonians want addressed. Many won’t be part of the session, but it will be good to know where the governor stands as the session gets underway.

Watch for the interview appearing on our websites Thursday morning.

Gravel pit

The Bulletin saw some traction from readers as we jumped on an explainer about what happens to all the gravel left on Bend roads after the snow and ice melts. The city uses gravel and the state Oregon Department of Transportation uses red cinder to enhance driving on snow and ice.

It was a fun and informative story by reporter Morgan Owen. Who knew the city collected the gravel and gives it to the landfill to cap some of its refuse areas?

It reminded me of a time when the city of Helena, Montana, got the idea to use recycled (and polished) glass as a method to give drivers traction on the snow. At the time, no one was buying recycled glass so the city put it in revolving cylinders to take the sharp edges off the glass and spread it on the road. It wasn’t long before drivers and, especially bicyclists, discovered the glass was not quite polished enough. The tire centers and bike shops did a booming business fixing flats for about a week. The city removed the glass and abruptly returned to sanding the streets.

We hope we can continue to provide you with interesting explainers as to why things are done the way they are in Central Oregon. If you have questions, feel free to email them to news@bendbulletin.com

Thanks for reading and please support our local journalism by subscribing to our online and e-editions at www.bendbulletin.com

Gerry O’Brien, editor