The Gorge Community Foundation is taking applications for its Gorge Community Grants program.  The Community Grants program provides charitable funds as the Foundation board determines are most needed and not limited to a single focus or exclusively to the interests of a particular constituency.  The total available for 2021 granting through GCF Community Grants is $14,000 and proposals will be accepted for any amount up to that total.  Applications are due May 10 and funding decisions and grants awarded the end of June.  The range of grants in the past has been $650 to $4,000.  Starting this year, GCF’s Joan Burchell Fund and the Riddell and Athalie Lage Fund have been combined into a single program to increase the amount of funding available.  For more information, go to gorgecf.org.

A bill in the Oregon House would require employers to pay farmworkers in Oregon overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week.  That has some in the agriculture industry concerned.  Oregon 26th District State Senator Chuck Thomsen testified on the bill in a House committee, and the Upper Hood River Valley orchardist thinks the bill would actually hurt many of his workers.  He uses harvest work as an example, when many workers are trying to work as much as they can and move on to other orchards to continue to pick.  Proponents say farmworkers should be afforded the same overtime pay provisions as other workers.

Shake Alert is now available in Oregon.  Althea Rizzo of the Oregon Office of Emergency Management says ShakeAlert uses science and technology to detect significant earthquakes quickly and sends a real time alert to people on compatible cell phones and other mobile devices through text-like messages.  Rizzo points out it does not predict earthquakes.  No sign up is required to receive ShakeAlert notifications, and no action needs to be taken other than enabling emergency alerts on your cell phone.

Boys Soccer Hood River Valley 1, The Dalles 1:  The draw nailed down first place in the Intermountain Conference for the Eagles. Seton Catholic 5, Stevenson 1   Girls Soccer The Dalles 0, Hood River Valley 0:  HRV dominated the chances in the game, but the Riverhawks were able to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.   Volleyball South Wasco def. Dufur 3-1 Sherman def. Bickleton 3-0   Football Sherman 40, Mitchell-Spray 32   Track and Field Stevenson won the girls portion of a four-school meet, while Adna finished first in the boys’ portion.  Jazmin Mendoza and Ryan Jackson won two events apiece for the Bulldog girls, while Garrett Bernt won a pair for the Stevenson boys.   Columbia was the boys’ winner and LaCenter took first in the girls’ standings in a three-school meet in White Salmon that also included Goldendale.  Goldendale’s Tiana Watson won a pair of events.   Baseball Winlock 6, Stevenson 5   Softball Winlock 13, Stevenson 8

The Oregon Health Authority and the Hood River County Health Department are going to hold two COVID-19 testing events on Monday and Tuesday.  Monday’s will take place at the Marine Park Pavilion in Cascade Locks, and then on Tuesday at the River of Life Assembly in Hood River, with both from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.  To make an appointment, go to doineedacovid19test.com.  Everyone is welcome, no insurance is required.  The tests are done with a quick and pain-free self-administered nasal swab.

The Hood River Police Department says there have been seven reports of catalytic converters being stolen from vehicles within the city limits since the start of the year, and another was reported by the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office this past weekend. Thieves target catalytic converters because they contain precious metals, like platinum, palladium or rhodium that are valuable to metal dealers. When the catalytic converter has been removed, your vehicle will make a loud roaring sound that will get louder as you push the gas pedal. It can cost on average up to $2,000 to replace a catalytic converter and it is illegal to drive your car without one. Police say to prevent catalytic converter theft, park in well-lit areas and close to building entrances or in a garage if possible, have the catalytic converter welded to your car frame to make it harder to steal, consider engraving your vehicle identification number on the converter, calibrate your car’s alarm to set off when it detects a vibration, or use video surveillance. New Oregon Senate bill, SB 803, has been proposed to curb the rise in catalytic converter thefts by prohibiting scrap metal businesses from buying or receiving catalytic converters, except from commercial sellers.

Sustained prices since the end of the last harvest season is bringing good prices to wheat producers in the Mid-Columbia.  OSU Extension General Agricultural Agent for Wasco and Sherman counties Jacob Powell says COVID had initially impacted the price of wheat, but prices have picked up thanks to high demand from customers in Asia.  Powell says the biggest concern for wheat producers is the dry spring, as they hope to see more moisture get into the ground before hot summer temperatures arrive.

Volleyball Pendleton def. The Dalles 25-17, 25-23, 25-15 Cross Country Both the Hood River Valley boys and girls won an Intermountain Conference dual with Crook County in Prineville. The HRV girls took six of the top seven places in their race, with a 1-2-3 finish from Chloe Bullock, Lucy Hennessy, and Phoebe Wood. Elliott Hawley had the top finish for the Eagle boys in second, with Joshua Humann leading a large pack of HRV runners in fourth. The Dalles won both the boys and girls competitions in a three-school race with Pendleton and Redmond at Sorosis Park. The Riverhawk boys were dominant, taking five of the top six places. Juan Diego Contreras, Nick Caracciolo, and Leo Lemann finishing as the top three. Hanna Ziegenhagen won the girls’ race, followed by teammate Emily Johnson. Boys Soccer King’s Way Christian 2, Columbia 1 (decided on penalty kicks)

The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office says a Cascade Locks man was arrested Monday as part of an on-going child pornography investigation.  The Sheriff’s Office reports 30-year-old Kale Kingman’s arrest came after officers executed a search warrant, and was the result of a six-month investigation that began on a tip that was received from the Oregon Internet Crimes Against Children task force and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Detectives from the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office worked in concert with investigators from the Oregon Department of Justice and Wasco County Sheriff’s Office during the investigation, search warrant and subsequent arrest.  Kingman was lodged at NORCOR on ten counts of Encouraging Child Sex Abuse in the 1st Degree.

The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency board had a discussion Tuesday evening about the future of governance of Urban Renewal in The Dalles, but there was no move to enter into a reorganization process.  Agency board member and Wasco County Commissioner Steve Kramer re-expressed his feeling The Dalles City Council should be responsible for decisions on projects that are occurring in the City, as was the case from 1990 to 2016 when the Council served as the URA board.  But fellow board member and City Councilor Darcy Long-Curtiss said involvement from other taxing districts represented on the URA board is important.  The Columbia Gateway URA’s debt obligation calls for the agency’s lifespan to continue through 2029.