Jefferson County Community Calendar: Give Thanks Lunch, Coffee Cuppers Update, and Winter Events Ahead

Central Oregon Community College's expanded 24,000-square-foot Madras campus opened in January 2026 with nursing and childcare programs designed to build a homegrown healthcare workforce — and ten months later, the college says early results are encouraging.

Enjoy Thursday's unseasonably warm weather while you can — a Pacific storm system will bring an 80% chance of rain and gusts up to 44 mph on Friday, followed by a gradual cool-down that could bring overnight lows near freezing by next week.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a 29-year-old Madras man Wednesday following a report of a suspicious person armed with a rifle in southwest Madras — the second firearms-related incident in the city in less than a week.

Two-time World Series champion and Madras High School graduate Jacoby Ellsbury was officially inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame Tuesday at the 2026 Oregon Sports Awards in Beaverton — capping a career journey from Central Oregon to two World Series rings.

The Kinsman Foundation has awarded a $20,000 grant to the Jefferson County Historical Society, adding to a growing pool of philanthropic support for the project to convert a historic Madras church into a county history museum.