Over the weekend, love flourished amongst the mountains of Telluride, Colorado. Between blades of tall grass and wildflowers, Oregon Ducks Football tight end Terrance Ferguson proposed to his now fiancée, Sophia Meyer.

The two have been dating since high school, with Ferguson attending Heritage High School in Littleton, Colorado. Meyer attended a different school in a nearby town and played basketball for her respective alma mater.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres,” Ferguson said in his Instagram post about the proposal, quoting ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ from the Bible. 

Meyer has the same biblical quote cited in her Instagram bio. That proposal post is the first pinned post on Ferguson’s Instagram account.

Ferguson and Meyer’s two labradoodles, Obi and Oso, were included in the proposal, taking part in a picturesque meadow surrounded by Colorado mountains.

The ring Ferguson used to propose to Meyer is from Happy Jewelers, an Orange County based jeweler known for icing out several athletes and celebrities.

Ferguson is expected to be a serious asset on the field during the Oregon Ducks’ first season in the Big Ten. Last year, Ferguson shined with six touchdowns, and 414 yards for 42 receptions. He forewent the 2024 NFL Draft for his senior season.

Ferguson is currently at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis with coach Dan Lanning, quarterback Dillon Gabriel and linebacker Jeffrey Bassa. The Ducks stepped into their new conference in a BIG way, with a massive inflatable Duck in the Indianapolis River.

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates decreased throughout Central Oregon in June, while both Crook and Deschutes counties saw total nonfarm employment increase over the month, the Oregon Employment Department reported Tuesday.

Crook County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased over the month of June and is now 6.1%, down from 6.3% in May — in June of last year, it was 5.4%. The unemployment rate remains 1.6 percentage points above the record low set before the pandemic when it was 4.5%.

Crook County gained 160 jobs (+2.2%) in June, with most gains occurring in the public sector (+100 jobs) and most losses occurring in private education and health services (-20 jobs). Employment levels in Crook County are now 8.8% above pre-pandemic levels in February 2020 (+590 jobs).

The county lost 70 jobs in the last year (-0.9%). Job losses were concentrated in construction (-160 jobs), information (-30 jobs), and other services (-10 jobs). Marginal gains were concentrated in private education and health services (+40 jobs); and trade, transportation, and utilities (+30 jobs).

Deschutes County (Bend-Redmond MSA): The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 4.1% in May to 4.0% in June. June’s unemployment rate remains 0.6 percentage point above its record low of 3.4% before the onset of the pandemic.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that Deschutes County gained 420 jobs (+0.4%) from May to June. Most gains were concentrated in accommodation and food services (+710 jobs), with minor gains in financial activities (+30 jobs) and mining, logging, and construction (+30 jobs). Total nonfarm employment is now 95,300.

Total nonfarm employment declined by 1.1% (-1,070 jobs) from June 2023 to June 2024. Over the year, job gains were concentrated in private education and health services (+670 jobs). Other notable job gains took place in durable goods (+70 jobs) and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+60 jobs). Over-the-year losses occurred in leisure and hospitality (-510 jobs); retail trade (-400 jobs); professional and business services (-320 jobs); government (-190 jobs); and mining, logging, and construction (-140 jobs).

Jefferson County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased slightly over the month of June and is now 4.6%. The unemployment rate was 4.4% from October 2019 to December 2019, shortly before the first impacts from COVID-19.

Total nonfarm employment decreased by 80 jobs in June (-1.2%). Private-sector job gains were concentrated in leisure and hospitality (+40 jobs), with marginal gains in other services (+10 jobs), and financial activities (+10 jobs). Total nonfarm seasonally adjusted employment is now -1.8% (-120 jobs) below the pre-pandemic employment level.

Jefferson County’s total nonfarm employment decreased by 110 jobs over the past year (-1.6%). Job gains were concentrated in private education and health services (+30 jobs); leisure and hospitality (+30 jobs); professional and business services (+20 jobs); and other services (+20 jobs). Losses were concentrated in manufacturing (-130 jobs); trade, transportation, and utilities (-40 jobs); and the public sector (-40 jobs).

Next Press Releases

The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the July county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday, August 20, and the statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for July on Wednesday, August 14.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Firefighters in the West are scrambling as new wildfires threaten communities in Oregon, California and Washington, with at least one Oregon fire so large that it is creating its own weather.

Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon was closed in both directions Tuesday between Ontario and Baker City as flames from the Durkee Fire advanced toward the roadway in multiple locations. On Tuesday afternoon, the Oregon Department of Transportation also closed the eastbound lanes of I-84 from Pendleton to Baker City.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Monday night authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the lightning-caused blaze, which had scorched nearly 375 square miles (971 square kilometers) as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Durkee Fire was threatening homes in and around the communities of Durkee, Huntington and Rye Valley, as well as the interstate, cell towers and power infrastructure in the area.

Stephen Parker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boise, Idaho, said the Durkee Fire showed such extreme fire behavior on Saturday, Sunday and Monday that it began creating its own weather system with a “pyrocumulus cloud.”

“That can happen when a fire becomes plume-dominated,” Parker said. “It’s like a thunderstorm on top of the fire, generated by the heat of the fire.”

The pyrocumulus cloud allows the smoke and ash from the fire to travel much higher in the air than it would typically go, he said. If there is enough moisture in the air above the fire, the pyrocumulus cloud can also generate rain and lightning, potentially causing new fire starts in the region.

There were lightning strikes in the region on Monday night, but there were also other thunderstorms in the area, making it impossible to tell which weather system was responsible for the storm, Parker said.

Tuesday morning was free of pyrocumulus clouds, Parker said, but they tend to form later in the day.

“I don’t see any pyrocumulus developing yet today. But I would not be surprised if we got a fourth day out of it,” he said.

Several new fires ignited in that area Monday because of severe weather that included lightning and strong wind gusts, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

“Within minutes of the first lightning strikes, reports then came in of visible flames,” the post read.

Multiple fires have scorched more than 1,093 square miles (2,830 square kilometers) in Oregon, with nearly 180 square miles (466 square kilometers) torched in the past 24 hours, authorities said.

Parts of the West have also been in the grip of a heat wave, including record-breaking triple-digits temperatures, for days.

A fire in the Columbia River Gorge that started late Monday forced urgent evacuations around the town of Mosier, Oregon, and the entire town of about 400 people was ordered to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice on Tuesday.

In central Washington, a fire that sparked Monday near Natches prompted mandatory evacuations while another near Bickelton also forced evacuations and threatened a natural gas plant.

“This is shaping up to be another monster fire year in the Pacific Northwest, and it’s just mid-July,” Ed Hiatt, Pacific Northwest Assistant Fire Director for Operations at the U.S. Forest Service, said Tuesday in a news release.

Millions of acres of national forest lands across Oregon and Washington are continuing to see record- breaking dry timber conditions on both sides of the Cascade Mountains with no “wetting” rains for more than six weeks in areas from far southern Oregon to the eastern part of the state and north into central Washington, according to the news release.

Fire crews from across the country were coming to the region to help, Hiatt said.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek earlier this month declared an “extended state of emergency” until October because of the increased risk of wildfires.

“I urge all Oregonians to follow the instructions and evacuation levels issued by emergency officials,” she said at the time, while also urging people to subscribe to emergency alerts, to have an evacuation plan, prepare a go-kit, and stay aware of changing conditions.

Near the California-Nevada border, a series of lightning-sparked wildfires in the Sierra forced the evacuation of a recreation area, closed a state highway and was threatening structures Tuesday in several communities southwest of Portola, which is about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Reno.

Nearly 200 children and staff at a summer camp near Portola voluntarily evacuated on buses back to their homes Sunday night in the Reno-Sparks area.

Heat waves and historic drought tied to climate change have made wildfires more challenging to fight in the American West. Scientists have said climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme, and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

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Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this story.