The North Wasco County School District 21 budget committee needed only one meeting to send a 2018-19 budget to the D-21 board.  D-21 Superintendent Candy Armstrong says the only significant change from this year’s budget is the addition of instructional assistants in each elementary school to help with kindergarten and first grade students who need skill building in order to self-regulate.  Armstrong says the instructional assistants will work with counselors in each elementary building, with Mid-Columbia Center for Living helping with training and therapeutic time on the campuses.  But to afford to do that, Armstrong said they will have to leave the district-wide librarian position unfilled this coming school year.  The D-21 board will vote on the budget in mid-June.

Wasco County Commissioners held a hearing on the first two tasks coming out of the periodic comprehensive land use process, passing a first reading of them.  County long-range planner Kelly Howsley Glover says these first two items involved the citizen involvement process and to get people used to a new format for the new comprehensive plan that will come out of Wasco 2040.  She notes the current format had a lengthy series of chapters that discussed the data that supported the goals, policies, and implementation of the plan, and now each chapter will relate to directly to a statewide land use planning goal.  The County Commission is expected to pass the second reading of the first items at their next meeting.  A new set of Wasco 2040 public meetings that will focus on water resources, economic development, minimum parcel size, and agri-tourism will start later this month, with the first one taking place on May 30 at 5:30 p.m. in Dufur City Hall.

The annual Community Cleanup will take place in The Dalles on Saturday.  Once again this year yard debris and large items, like old furniture, can be disposed of at the old Wasco County maintenance yard on West 10th and Walnut on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.  Cindy Keever of The Dalles Public Works says once again people are asked to come in to the site off of 10th Street and turn right onto Walnut.  Keever says there are five different areas for disposal, so people are asked to separate their loads as much as possible.  There will once again be a Reuse Fair at the Cleanup, where people can leave usable items they don’t want so others can take them.  The information number for the cleanup, which will be active during the hours the site is open, is 541-288-6267.  

Track and Field Hood River Valley’s boys won a dual meet at Oregon City, topping the Pioneers 69-55.  Jonah Tactay won three events and Chad Klaas two for HRV.  Oregon City topped HRV in the girls’ meet 70-63.  Katie Kennedy won a pair of events for the Eagles. The Dalles’ boys won nine events and the girls eight at a three-school meet in St. Helens.  Philip Dunagan, Tressa Wood, and Mercy I’aulualo were double event winners for the Riverhawks.   Boys Tennis Hood River Valley 8, The Dalles 0:  The Eagles finish Columbia River Conference play with a perfect 6-0 record.    

The Next Door has signed the papers to take ownership of the former Mid-Columbia Council of Governments building in The Dalles.  The Next Door Executive Director Janet Hamada says the sale closed on Tuesday.  Hamada says the building is over three times the size of its current facility in The Dalles, and the location on Kelly Avenue is perfect for them.  She notes the building is essentially ready to move into, so they hope to get into the facility by the end of June.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo were joined at a Wednesday news conference by other legislators and Forest Service officials to hail the recent passage of legislation to permit disaster relief funds to be used when fire suppression expenditures exceed their 2015 ten-year average.  The bill doesn’t go into effect until 2020, when the federal Budget Control Act expires, but the legislators say there are additional expenditures in the bill to achieve the same result in the next two fiscal years.  Wyden says they had to do that with the constraints currently in place.  The group also says the law expanded the Good Neighbor Authority program to allow for needed road reconstruction and improve on the ability for the federal government to partner with state foresters on restoration projects across state-federal boundaries.

Hood River County Commissioners talked revenue options during a worksession Tuesday evening as they continue to grapple with the County budget shortfall.  A number of different options were discussed, including a public safety levy, targeted tourist taxes, a food and beverage tax, a gas tax, and service districts.  Commission Chair Ron Rivers says whatever direction they decide to go in, making it clear what the revenue for will be critical.  The Commission is planning to move ahead with establishing focus groups to examine various aspects of the County’s budget and revenue options.

The Oregon Health Authority released a report Tuesday that concludes exposure to air pollutants near the AmeriTies facility in The Dalles did not pose chronic public health risks.  But the “AmeriTies-West Letter Health Consultation” report, authored by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, cautions that strong odors could still trigger physical symptoms.  The report was prepared at the request of the North Central Public Health District.  The district requested help in understanding if exposure to outdoor air pollutants—naphthalene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—posed long-term health risks to residents near the AmeriTies West facility, which treats wooden railroad ties.  The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality signed a mutual agreement and order with AmeriTies in April 2016 to reduce odors, including the company using a different wood preservative with less naphthalene.  That change was made in late 2016.   An air quality open house is planned for May 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles.  To read a summary of the report and the full report findings and recommendations, visit the OHA AmeriTies webpage at www.healthoregon.org.  It is also available at The Dalles-Wasco County Library.

Baseball Hood River Valley 19, The Dalles 3:  Caden Leiblien had four hits and five runs batted in and J.J. Mears drove in three runs as the Eagles used three big innings to finish a three-game sweep of the Riverhawks.  HRV scored six runs in the first inning, five in the fourth, and eight in the sixth as the Eagles stayed within a game of Pendleton atop the Columbia River Conference.   Sherman 5, Culver 4:  The Huskies moved into first place in Special District 6, with a doubleheader at Culver on Saturday.   Heppner 15, Dufur 5 Columbia sweeps Castle Rock 17-4 and 12-2. Irrigon 14, Stevenson 2 Lyle-Wishram sweeps White Swan 13-0 and 11-0. Goldendale sweeps LaSalle 6-1 and 6-4.   Softball Hood River Valley 10, The Dalles 6:  HRV jumped out to an early lead and held off a pesky Riverhawk squad to move a game in front of Hermiston for second in the Columbia River Conference.   Castle Rock sweeps Columbia 14-4 and 7-1 LaCenter sweeps Stevenson 24-0 and 15-0   Boys Soccer Columbia 4, King’s Way Christian 0   Girls Tennis Montesano 3, Stevenson 2    

Today marks the beginning of this year’s Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery in the Columbia and Snake rivers, running through September 30.  State fish and wildlife biologists have specially tagged and released up to 1,000 or more northern pikeminnow into the Columbia and Snake rivers, each worth $500.  The program also pays registered anglers $5 to $8 per fish that is nine inches or longer.  The more fish an angler catches, the more each pikeminnow is worth.  Last year the top fisherman in the program earned more than $83,000 in just five-months of fishing.  Northern pikeminnow experts say the best place to fish early in the season may be near The Dalles.  That registration station also showed the highest number of catches last season.  Northern pikeminnow are voracious eaters, consuming millions of young salmon and steelhead each year.  The program is administered by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration.  For more information about the program call 800-858-9015.