The 41st Annual Mid-Columbia Lions Follies will premiere Friday night at the Hood River Middle School Auditorium.  This year’s show is titled “Kid Awesome and the Disco Girls”.  Director Kim Vogel says the show is set in a town called “Supertown,” with a super hero school where the students have to solve a number of problems.  This weekend’s performances are Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., with shows Thursday through Saturday nights next week beginning at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for children at the door, with one dollar off for tickets purchased in advance from Lions Club members and various ticket outlets.  Proceeds go to the Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation.

A group of Hood River County Commissioners, staff, and a member of the public will meet next week to try to determine a formula to distribute funds generated by a new one percent construction excise tax to assist in development of affordable housing.  Commission Chair Ron Rivers says half of the revenue generated by the tax is mandated to go directly to affordable housing, but the rest is a little more flexible involving the two types of construction the tax applies to, residential and commercial construction.  The group recommendation will go to the County Commission for consideration at the panel’s meeting in May.

This year’s Northwest Cherry Festival has a new logo, and this one is going to stick around for a while.  The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Lisa Farquharson says they have come up with a different logo every year, but this will develop a permanent brand for the festival.  She notes the logo is patterned along the lines of canning labels from the 1950’s.  The festival theme will change each year, and Farquharson says the festival poster and parade will reflect that.  This year’s festival is Friday through Sunday in The Dalles, and Cherry Festival event guides are available at Gorgeradio.com.

The Eyeopeners Lions Club has installed a hearing loop system inside the Hood River Middle School Auditorium to help those with hearing aids be able to clearly hear speakers and events in the facility.  Lions Club member Leonard Hickman says the system uses a magnetic coil that runs underneath the flooring of the auditorium that is hooked up into the sound system.  The Eyeopeners Club is paying $1,500 for the hearing loop system.  It should be ready for annual Mid-Columbia Lions Follies, which begin this Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Hood River Middle School Auditorium.

The White Salmon Valley School District is working on a five-year equity plan.  District Superintendent Jerry Lewis says the purpose of the plan is to improve on how various services are provided to students, and finding gaps in what they are doing.  Lewis notes district administrators have been diving deeply into data on those issues.  Lewis says they are pairing up with other districts in this effort through the Washington Leadership Academy, a school administrators’ program.

Baseball The Dalles 17, Pendleton 7:  The Riverhawks took control with six runs in the second inning, and Henry Lee’s two-run homer ended the game in the bottom of the sixth inning as The Dalles salvaged one win out of the three-game series. Hermiston 4, Hood River Valley 2:  The Eagles lost for the first time in Columbia River Conference play. Columbia 6, Stevenson 5 Dufur sweeps Weston-McEwen 14-0 and 12-6:  The Rangers ran their winning streak to 13 games. Kittitas sweeps Lyle-Wishram 10-6 and 15-9   Softball Hood River Valley 8, Hermiston 2:  Kaylin Winans homered to give the Eagles the lead in the fifth inning, and HRV went on to score six runs in the final two frames to finish a three-game sweep of the Bulldogs Pendleton 12, The Dalles 0   Track and Field Dufur’s Asa Farrell and Ezekiel Stelzer won two events apiece in a five-school meet at Sid White Field in The Dalles. Lyle-Wishram’s Brandon Montoya and Elijah McCullough each had two first place finishes while the Cougar boys’ four by 400 meter relay team was victorious during a four-school meet in Zillah.   Boys Tennis The Dalles 5, Hood River Valley 3   Girls Lacrosse Hood River Valley 19, Wilson 3:  Abigail Bartles and Kathryn Koenig scored five goals each.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee has signed 14th District Representative Gina McCabe’s bill lowering the fine incurred by individuals who fail to use a certified installer on a mobile or manufactured home installation.  House Bill 1329 lowers the fine imposed by the Department of Labor and Industries from $1,000 to $250 for the first infraction, and would prevent subsequent infractions from exceeding $1,000 per violation.  McCabe says many mobile or manufactured homeowners cannot afford a $1,000 fine.  She worked with Labor and Industries to develop the legislation.  House Bill 1329 will go into effect 90 days after the adjournment of the 2017 legislative session.

Northern Wasco County PUD will be accepting applications for its economic development grant programs through May 5.  Applicants must document non-profit status, not be a religious affiliated entity, and have not been funded more than twice in any five year period.  Projects shall be for infrastructure or property with a life expectancy of at least five years and are located within the Northern Wasco County PUD service area.  There is a limitation of $20,000 per application.  Applications may be obtained from the Northern Wasco County PUD Office located at 2345 River Road in The Dalles or online at nwasco.com.  Information is available by calling 541-298-3302.

Northern Wasco PUD board members formally received a staff recommendation for rate increases during a special meeting Monday, calling for a 9.13% increase in residential rates.  That includes a $5 increase in the flat fee and a 4% increase in the per kilowatt hour price, which means the typical customer would see their power bill go up by $7 per month.  PUD General Manager Roger Kline says the last rate adjustment came in 2013 after a cost of service analysis, and that was the first to take place in thirteen years.  He adds there are multiple reasons for the need to increase rates, including dealing with infrastructure needs and offsetting Bonneville Power Administration cost increases.  The PUD board will vote on the increase at their meeting next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the PUD board room on 2345 River Road in The Dalles.  If approved, the rate increase would go into effect in May.

Hood River County Commissioners received a surprise when receiving a report on the costs to realignment of Tucker Road at Nobi’s Corner and the Windmaster/Country Club intersection.  The Oregon Department of Transportation estimate for the project has gone from about $3,200,000 to around $4,000,000.  The County has to provide a 10% match, and Commission Chair Ron Rivers says the increase would cause that share to go beyond the $350,000 the County has budgeted for it.  Commissioners received seven options on how to proceed from Public Works Director Mikel Diwan, and they chose to have staff go back and talk with ODOT about just doing the Nobi’s Corner portion of the project, which would cost about $2,000,000.