A motorcycle rider was taken by Lifelight to a Portland hospital after being ejected off of his motorcycle in an accident on Highway 142 at Glenwood Road Monday evening.  According to the Washington State Patrol, 46-year-old Jimmie Burr of Colville, Washington was westbound on Highway 142 near milepost 22 at about 5:10 p.m. on Monday when he lost control and slid across the roadway.  He was ejected from the motorcycle, and came to rest down a 25-foot embankment.  Burr was first taken to Klickitat Valley Hospital in Goldendale, then flown to Legacy Emanual Medical Center in Portland with undisclosed injuries.  The WSP said speed was a factor in the accident.

The continuing resolution approved by Congress recently does include the Low Income Energy Assistance Program after it did not appear in the White House budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  Jim Slusher of Mid-Columbia Community Action, which administers the LIEAP program in Hood River, Wasco, and Sherman counties, says the funding is at similar levels to the current fiscal year.  Slusher noted the extremely cold winter the Gorge endured this year meant they could not provide assistance to pay heating bills to all who applied with the agency.  Community Action will hold a community barbecue and open house on Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 312 East 4th in The Dalles to celebrate Community Action Month.

Southwest Washington District Class 1A Baseball Tournament First Round Columbia 7, Montesano 3:  William Gross drove in three runs and pitched a four-hitter as the Bruins defeated the Evergreen League champions.  Trenton Howard had two runs batted in, as the Bruins took advantage of five Montesano errors.  Columbia is at Castle Rock for their second game in the tournament today.   Baseball Dufur 19, Riverside 9:  The Rangers run their record to 20-0.   Boys Tennis Hood River Valley 8, Pendleton 0

The Historic Columbia River Highway is closed below Rowena Loop between The Dalles and Hood River due to a rock slide that occurred on Sunday.  Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Peter Murphy says crews are still assessing the situation, and there is no estimate on when Highway 30 will reopen.  He said they are dealing with an overhang that leaves open the question of whether everything that could fall has done so.  Murphy says crews called scalers will be brought in to move down from the top of the hillside and make sure anything that could fall is removed.  The slide is also rather large, over 75 feet long.  Another question is whether some of the bigger rocks in the slide can be moved out by ODOT equipment, or if they will have to be crushed first.

Ballots are being returned for next Tuesday’s special districts election at a very slow pace.  Wasco County reported a return rate of just under 11 percent as of Monday morning, while Hood River County was at 7.4 percent.  The low returns are in spite of a busier than usual special districts ballot.  In Wasco County there are contested races for the Columbia Gorge Community College and Port of The Dalles boards, while in Hood River County there are plenty of candidates for seats on the Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation, Port of Hood River, and Hood River County School District board.  Ballots can be returned by mail, or at designated drop boxes.  In Wasco County those are at the Courthouse on 511 Washington in The Dalles or at Maupin City Hall, while in Hood River County they are at the County Administration Building on 601 State in Hood River or at Cascade Locks City Hall.

If the Oregon Legislature doesn’t reinstate $40,000 per year to each Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area county to help administer Scenic Area land use ordinances, Hood River County may consider no longer offering the service.  That would involve the County repeal from its land use code administration of the Scenic Area, which would send applicants to the Columbia River Gorge Commission.  Commission Chair Ron Rivers says with the county’s ever-tightening budget situation, he’s not sure they can afford to do the work without state funding.  The funding has not been in state budget proposals to this point, but passage of a fiscal plan for the upcoming biennium by the Legislature is still weeks from happening.

The Port of The Dalles has been working on the concept of a value-added food lab to utilize agricultural products produced in the region.  Port Executive Director Andrea Klaas says Oregon State University Extension has worked on a lot of value-added concepts in the region, and the Port sees a role it can play.  Klaas says the bottom line goal is to bring more financial return to are farmers and help them diversify their options.

Baseball Hermiston 5, Hood River Valley 4 Pendleton 5, The Dalles 1 Warden 15, Goldendale 2 Dufur sweeps Sherman 10-0 and 12-6:  The Rangers clinch the Special District 6 title and runs its record to 19-0.   Softball Hermiston 1, Hood River Valley 0 Pendleton 13, The Dalles 0   Track and Field Lyle-Wishram’s Brandon Montoya won both the 100 and 200 meters and finished second in the long jump at the Spudder Classic in Ridgefield Trout Lake took both the boys and girls team victories in a five-school meet at Bickleton.  Kevin Bren won three events for the Glenwood boys, while Hannah Funkhouser and Sidney Becker won three each for Trout Lake. Mykhail Lembke won two events to lead the Goldendale effort at the High Mountain Classic in Cle Elum. Irrigon’s boys and Mitchell-Spray’s girls won team titles at the Arlington Invitational.  Dufur’s Asa Farrell and Ezekiel Stelzer, and South Wasco’s Ana Popchock won two events apiece. Sherman’s boys were second and the girls fourth at the Madras Invitational.  Reese Blake won the boys’ 1500 meters and Desiree Winslow the girls’ pole vault for the Huskies.   Boys Soccer Columbia 10, Castle Rock 0   Boys Golf The Dalles earned a berth in next week’s Oregon Class 5-A Championships with a third place finish at the Special District 2 Tournament at Eagle Crest.  Chase Snodgrass was the top Riverhawk finisher, shooting 15-over-par for the two round tournament and finishing fifth, six shots behind medalist Issac Buerger of Ridgeview.  The state tournament is next Tuesday at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks.   Boys Lacrosse Summit 13, Hood River Valley 8 Hood River Valley 9, Mountain View 3 Bend 16, Hood River Valley 12   Girls Lacrosse Hood River Valley 11, Tualatin 10

The Dalles Blue Zones Project will launch in The Dalles later this month with a series of focus group meetings to talk about what they love about the community and what they would like to see change.  The Dalles was recently selected to host one of four Blue Zones Projects in Oregon, a community well-being initiative to make healthy choices easier.  Five topics will be explored during the focus group meetings on May 22 and 23 at The Dalles Civic Auditorium: Community policy, worksites, schools, engaging individuals, and faith-based communities.   Information from the focus groups, along with a community survey and other activities, will help put together a strategic plan to be created later this summer by volunteer leaders, local staff and national experts.  Each focus group will be offered three times and will take up to 90 minutes, and schedules and sign-ups to take part are available at go.bluezonesproject.com/thedalles_rsvp.

White Salmon officials are looking into the possibility that building a new community swimming pool might not cost as much as has been estimated.  Mayor David Poucher and City Councilors learned about an Ellensburg firm that constructed a single lap pool in Tonasket for about $760,000, with the total project coming out to $1.25 million.  After receiving earlier estimates above $3 million, Poucher says they want to learn more about what Tonasket did, and thinks White Salmon can get its costs down to $1.25 million to $1.5 million.  Poucher says some City officials will go to look at the Tonasket pool and visit with the contractor that built it to investigate the possibility further.