Two students from Columbia Gorge Community College are among a select group recognized this spring in a national scholar awards program.  Chantelle Hickman is a 2017 Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team Silver Scholar and Jonathan Neptune is a 2017 Community College Academic Team Bronze Scholar.  The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation sponsors the Community College Academic Team program by recognizing 50 gold, 50 silver and 50 bronze scholars, and providing nearly $200,000 in scholarships annually.  There were more than 1,800 applicants.

North Wasco County School District 21’s Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee will meet again Tuesday evening.  D-21 Superintendent Candy Armstrong says this meeting will finalize recommendations for how the district board should proceed toward a November bond measure to put before voters.  Armstrong says the panel is currently focused on building a new high school first, and that is the expected recommendation to go to the board.  Tuesday evening’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Fairfield Inn on West 7th in The Dalles.

The Hood River County Chamber of Commerce’s annual celebration of Blossom Time will take place throughout the month of April.  The Chamber’s Ashley Huckaby-May says they have been receiving phone calls about when blossoms will arrive in the orchards.  It looks like the blossoms will be later than they have been in recent years, with Huckaby-May saying some orchardists are telling them it will probably be in the third week of April.  A list of Blossom Time events is available at the Chamber website, hoodriver.org.

The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence formally handed over the keys to the Granada Theatre to purchasers Chuck Gomez and Debra Liddell at a ceremony outside the historic facility in downtown The Dalles.  The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency purchased the property for $365,410 in 2010.  Gomez and Liddell are paying $60,000 and promising to make $300,000 in improvements over the next three years.  The pair own a similar theatre in Watseka, Illinois, and plan on a full historic restoration of the Granada to house what they termed “national acts.”  Gomez says they have not yet had a lengthy inspection of the building, so there isn’t a solid timetable for getting the renovation done, but he adds they do hope to have a grand opening in the fall.  Gomez says they feel there is a strong demographic to make the Granada successful.

Baseball Central sweeps The Dalles 10-1 and 9-5 Columbia 3, Fort Vancouver 0 LaCenter 13, Stevenson 5 Sherman 5, Oakland 4 Sherman 9, Joseph 5 Tri-Cities Prep sweeps Lyle-Klicktiat-Wishram 13-2 and 13-2   Softball Glencoe 11, The Dalles 0 Westview 11, The Dalles 5 Tri-Cities Prep sweeps Lyle-Klickitat-Wishram 15-0 and 14-3   Boys Soccer Washougal 2, Columbia 0

The City of Hood River will hold a public meeting on the future of the Children’s Park on Monday.  City Councilors received a report from the public works department that the play structure on Hazel Avenue built by volunteers nearly 25 years ago will be closing due to safety concerns.  Mayor Paul Blackburn says the issue is rotting wood beams, noting they were only supposed to last 20 years, creating a liability issue for the City, but he adds they want to replace it.  He says current Councilor Mark Zanmiller was part of the original effort to build the play structure and will be an important resource, and there are modern material play structures that he believes can be built at the park.  Blackburn says an early rough estimate for replacement is 300-thousand dollars, noting modern liability issues make it difficult to use volunteer labor.  He says options to pay for it include using systems development charges and fundraising.  The meeting will be at six Monday evening at the Hood River Fire Hall.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has appointed Dr. Kristen Dillon of Hood River to the Oregon Health Authority’s Health Plan Quality Metrics Committee.  Dillon currently serves as PacificSource Health Plan’s director of the Columbia Gorge Coordinated Care Organization.  The committee was created by the Legislature to align quality measures for multiple types of health plans over which OHA has authority.  The committee will be the single body to align health outcome and quality measures used in Oregon to ensure that the measures and requirements are coordinated, evidence-based, and focused on a long-term statewide vision.  Dillon will serve a minimum one-year appointment beginning in April, with the possibility of reappointment.

Baseball The Dalles 7, North Eugene 4:  The Riverhawks scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull out the win. California (Whittier, CA) 7, Hood River Valley 2:  The Eagles had ten hits but could not take full advantage of opportunities.  Adam Cameron had a three-hit day for the Eagles in their final game in the Coach Bob Invitational in Phoenix.   Softball David Douglas 5, The Dalles 4 Beaverton 15, The Dalles 4:  The Riverhawks lost their first two games at the Glencoe Invitational in Hillsboro.   Boys Soccer Seton Catholic 5, Stevenson 1

The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved a bill to force the Forest Service to complete a land exchange on Mt. Hood.  The Mt. Hood Cooper Spur Land Exchange Clarification Act directs the Forest Service to move forward with a land exchange first approved by Congress in 2009.  Oregon Congressman Greg Walden and Earl Blumenauer authored the bill.  The 2009 law authorizes a land exchange to allow development of 120 acres of federal land in Government Camp in exchange for 770 acres of non-federal land at Cooper Spur, but the exchange has yet to be completed.  Walden and Blumenauer’s bill expresses Congress’ intent that the Forest Service move quickly to complete the exchange, addresses disagreements over a conservation easement, and allows for a more transparent appraisal process.  Walden said he hopes the full Senate passes the bill quickly and moves it along to the President for his signature.

Emergency pavement repair work on Washington Highway 14 through Skamania County will begin Friday.  Extreme temperatures, record rainfall, and freeze/thaw cycles left miles of roadway rutted and crumbling.  Beginning Friday contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will begin work to repair sections of the highway damaged by harsh winter weather.  During daylight hours on dry-weather days, single-lane closures will be necessary in either direction on Highway 14.  Drivers can expect delays of up to 20 minutes.  Additional work to repave stretches of Highway 14 in Klickitat County is scheduled to begin in mid-April, with all emergency paving repairs scheduled for completion by late spring.