Hood River County Commissioners continued considering how to use the County’s American Rescue Plan Act allotment, and have decided some will go towards helping to deal with the lack of child care in the County.  The County will be receiving a total of $4.53 million in federal funds.  County Commission Chair Mike Oates says they are looking at working with Columbia Gorge Community College to get more people interested in a career in child care and Early Childhood Education, noting the lack of child care in the region is preventing some people from going to work.  Earlier Commissioners prioritized using the federal dollars in four broad categories:  ending the pandemic and accomplishing maximum immunity within the county, continuing County services, assisting in economic recovery, and retooling to deal with new economic realities.

A proposed supplemental capital budget in the Washington House includes $6.3 million dollars in projects for the 14th Legislative District.  Goldendale Republican Gina Mosbrucker is a member of the House Capital Budget Committee.  She says one of the allocations would be $1 million to build a new behavioral and substance abuse health facility for Comprehensive Health Care in Goldendale.  The proposed capital budget also includes $670,000 for a new Klickitat County animal shelter in Goldendale.

Washington Gorge Action Programs is preparing to change its Lyle Food Pantry into a mobile operation.  The Lyle Food Pantry was established at the start of the pandemic, but usage declined after schools resumed in-person learning to the point where the numbers don’t support keeping it open.  WAGAP’s Leslie Naramore says they received a Washington Department of Agriculture grant to purchase a refrigerated truck that will be refurbished to allow it deliver food on a periodic basis to Lyle and other smaller communities in Klickitat and Skamania counties.  WAGAP will hold a community discussion on the mobile food pantry plan on March 9 at 7 p.m. at the Lyle Activity Center.

The Dalles Middle School principal Sandra Harris will become North Wasco County School District 21’s Human Resources Director.  Harris has held a number of positions over the course of her career including middle school teacher, Dean of Students, principal and administrator.  Among her new duties, Harris will be responsible for recruitment, training and employee development, labor relations, teacher licensing and contract management.  She will also serve as the Title IX director and Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator for the district.  Harris has been principal at The Dalles Middle School since 2015.  

Maryhill Museum of Art will open for the season on March 15 with an expansive survey of contemporary Indigenous art of the last four decades.  Most of the works in the exhibition Northwest/Southwest: Indigenous Art After 1980 are drawn from Maryhill’s own holdings and are emblematic of the museum’s commitment to collecting and exhibiting work by Indigenous American artists.  The museum will also present the concurrent exhibition Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry: Silver, Turquoise, Coral, and Shell, featuring silver and turquoise jewelry by Diné (Navajo) and Pueblo artists.  Ornithology: Avian Imagery from the Permanent Collection will showcase artworks with birds as the subject matter.  In 2022, all or part of three different Théâtre de la Mode sets will rotate onto view.  The museum will also present a range of exhibition-related programming either in-person or virtually, as necessitated by the pandemic.  Program information can be found on the museum’s website at maryhillmuseum.org.

Home at Last Humane Society announced its Clear the Cans event has been extended.  Home at Last originally planned to hold the event for one day only on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but has now added a second day at the same time on Sunday as well as new volunteer shifts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through the end of April.   Volunteers can go to homeatlasths.org and click on the big green button to sign up to volunteer.  The Clear the Cans events are the kick-off to an expansion of Home at Last’s bottles and cans redemption drive to raise $250,000 for the shelter in 2022.  Donors have contributed many bags that must be processed and cleared to make way for the continued expansion of the program.  Funds will be used for animal control, shelter facility improvements, maintaining a highly trained staff, subsidizing a successful spay/neuter program, veterinarian procedures and its popular rescue and adoption operations.

Boys Basketball

Hood River Valley 78, Pendleton 53:  The Eagles gradually pulled away to get the victory and clinch a spot in the Oregon Class 5A playoffs. Tommy Ziegler scored 16 points and Clayton Cook 15 to lead HRV.  Grayson Sams topped Pendleton with 12.  The Eagles will play a first round game in the Class 5A playoffs on Friday, March 4, most likely on the road.

  The Dalles at Crook County, cancelled due to weather, rescheduled for tonight.

  Girls Basketball

Pendleton 52, Hood River Valley 35:  Muriel Hoisington scored 16 points to lead the Buckaroos into the state playoffs with the win.  Marina Castaneda led HRV with 15.

  The Dalles at Crook County, cancelled due to weather, rescheduled for tonight.

  South Wasco learned last night it will play Mohawk in the second round of the Oregon Class 1A Boys Basketball Tournament on Friday.  A game time has not yet been announced.

The bill in the Washington Legislature that would pave the way to create a bi-state commission to oversee construction and operation of a new Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge has passed the Senate, and is currently in the House Transportation Committee.  14th District State Senator Curtis King says the bill will get a committee hearing on Thursday, and he plans to testify for it.  Similar legislation is pending in the Oregon Legislature, and has passed the Senate Transportation Committee.  King said both legislatures have to make changes in their statutes to allow the commission to go forward.

City officials in The Dalles are encouraging citizens to sign up for virtual town hall on March 9 to help shape The Dalles Vision 2040 document.  An initial community survey was done in November.  Mayor Rich Mays says the responses are helping to shape the March 9 discussion.  Six broad categories came from the first survey, including enhancing education, creating economic vitality, providing recreation and open space, improving governance and infrastructure, fostering cultural enrichment, and strengthening and sustaining community life.  The meeting will be on Zoom from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on March 9, and to register go to thedalles.org.

South Wasco County School District closed Sherman County School District closed but operating remotely Lyle School District two-hour delay, no morning pre-school, morning buses on snow routes   Mid-Columbia Children’s Council Head Start Tygh Valley center will be virtual today.