The White Salmon Valley School District is progressing toward adoption of a new literacy curriculum, including both reading and writing.  Superintendent Jerry Lewis says one of their goals is to have alignment all the way through the K-12 system, adding establishing reading skills in the early grades is the building block to all education.  He adds the reading and writing components go hand-in-hand with each other.  Lewis says at the end of the month the district will narrow down curriculum choices, with a focus on the K-6 level.

Boys Basketball Liberty 64, Hood River Valley 55:  Hood River Valley finishes at 5-10 in non-league play with the loss. Stevenson 87, Columbia 76:  Issac Holdal led the Bulldogs with 23 points.  William Gross paced Columbia with 22. Sherman 68, Dufur 37 Horizon Christian 51, South Wasco 28 Lyle-Wishram 68, Goldendale 43   Girls Basketball The Dalles 44, Summit 43:  The Riverhawks had to withstand a fourth quarter comeback by the Storm that fell short when they missed a pair of free throws in the final seconds.  Jodi Thomasian, Paulina Finn, and Bailey LeBreton scored 10 points each for The Dalles. Liberty 39, Hood River Valley 32:  The Eagles battled back after falling behind by 12 in the first quarter, but could never get closer than two points.  Lauren Orr led HRV with 15 poins,  Talia Wyatt topped the Falcons with 14. Sherman 49, Dufur 39 South Wasco 56, Horizon Christian 27 Goldendale 64, Lyle-Wishram 30

The Hood River County School District is finding bids from contractors for major projects approved by voters in a 2016 bond measure to be coming in higher than estimated.  Superintendent Dan Goldman says with a booming construction economy in the Portland area, contractors have plenty of work available, increasing the bids.  Goldman says bids on the May Street Elementary School rebuild are ten percent higher than expected.  He says that project will get done, but it may mean some additional efforts that the district had hoped to undertake might not occur.  The district is helped by having realized more money than had been projected from the bond sale, and receiving four-and-a-half million dollars in state matching funds.  

The City of White Salmon is considering having a non-profit agency created to build a new swimming pool in an effort to further bring down its cost.  Mayor David Poucher says the City of Tonasket used the method when that community built a new pool.  Once the pool was built, it would be deeded back to the City or to a municipal parks district if one was to be formed.  Poucher says going the non-profit route could save 15-to-20 percent on its cost, adding the pool would still have to go through the same permitting and inspections processes as it would if the City built it.

Three people were injured Monday evening in a commercial truck and trailer accident on westbound Interstate 84 just east of Corbett that resulted in the truck leaving the roadway, crashing through a guardrail, and rolling down a steep embankment before landing on its side along the shore of the Columbia River.  Initial investigation by the Oregon State Police shows 52-year-old Suzanne Brault of Quebec, Canada had been driving the truck and traveled out of the right-hand lane onto the shoulder as she was checking her side mirror, and then struck a parked SUV that had run out of fuel, leading to the going through the guardrail.  Brault and two Portland men in the SUV, 53-year-old Patrick Sheehan Jr. and 47-year-old Addison Blackmon III, were taken to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.  The freeway was restricted to one lane of travel for about three hours.

There will be construction work starting Wednesday on River Road in The Dalles within the vicinity of River Trail Way.  Crestline Construction and the City of The Dalles says traffic will be flagged to one lane for approximately a week, through January 24.  Lanes will open back up during nighttime hours, with steel plates in the roadway.  Meanwhile the Port of Hood River says there will be intermittent, single-lane closures of the Hood River/White Salmon Interstate Bridge on Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as Port crews work to replace roadway signs on the bridge.  The rolling closures will typically be 15 minutes in duration.  Bridge users should expect 20-30 minute delays, depending on traffic volume.  Flaggers will direct traffic on the bridge.

Boys Basketball The Dalles 49, Mac-Hi 31:  Jacob Hernandez led a balanced Riverhawk offense with 12 points as they won their final non-league game before the Columbia River Conference season begins.  Henry Lee scored 11 points and Dakota Murr 10 as the Riverhawks moved to 8-6 on the season.

Washington State 14th District Representative Gina McCabe has sponsored a bill that would require doctors to warn patients about the risks of opioid use.  House Bill 2447 would require health care practitioners to discuss dependency and overdose risks as well as provide pain management alternatives to opioids when prescribing opioids for the first time during the course of a patient’s treatment.  The Washington State Department of Health would also be required to post a brief warning statement on their website.  McCabe is calling the bill “Jeremy’s Law,” named after a former Goldendale resident who was prescribed OxyContin and Vicodin after suffering an injury while wrestling in high school.  More surgeries led to more prescriptions for opioids, and he eventually became hooked on heroin.  He entered rehab twice, overdosing between the two stints of treatment.  The bill is scheduled for a hearing Friday in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee.

The Port of Hood River is bringing in a panel of experts on Thursday to discuss the various elements of replacing the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge.  The panel will discuss bridge replacement procurement options, public-private partnerships generally, traditional project delivery options and typical timelines, and other aspects of the project.  Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says as the bridge planning process moves along, they are entering an area where Port officials need to raise their education level, particularly when it comes to private-public partnerships.  McElwee noted elected officials from both sides of the river have been invited to attend.  The worksession will be at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Port’s Marina Center conference room.

The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce still has room for more to attend Thursday’s Distinguished Citizens Awards Banquet, but the time to do it is limited.  Reservations are being accepted until noon on Tuesday.  Chamber CEO Lisa Farquharson says they will be honoring eight award winners who will be announced at the banquet.  To make a reservation, call the Chamber at 541-296-2231 by noon Tuesday.  The event is at the Fort Dalles Readiness Center Thursday evening, with Happy Hour at 5:30 and the program beginning at 6:30.