The founders of a local group that envisions establishing a modern 600-seat performing arts center in the Gorge will hold a town hall-style event this weekend to outline their idea.  Mark Steighner is President of the Performing Arts Initiative, and he says a feasibility study is being done to determine what is possible.  He adds the vision includes a facility that can be used for a wide variety of purposes, noting current facilities in the region are limited in many ways.  Steighner says the group has explored several different potential locations in the Gorge, but are not to the point of selecting one.  The Performing Arts Initiative will roll out their idea to the public Sunday evening at 7:30 at Naked Winery in Hood River.

The Hood River County Planning Commission has developed its recommendations for zoning ordinance amendments to regulate marijuana businesses and short-term rentals in unincorporated areas.  For marijuana, County Community Development Director John Roberts says the regulations allow growing and processing in exclusive farm use zones, processing in industrial zones, and retailing in commercial zones.  He added the panel decided to prohibit growing and processing in rural residential zones due to compatibility issues and the sizes of parcels within the zone.  On short-term rentals, the Commission is recommending prohibiting short-term rentals in resource and industrial zones, and allow them with a permit in residential and rural unincorporated community zones, with a total cap of 60.  The County Commission will now consider the Planning Commission recommendations, with hearing dates still to be determined.

Oregon Congressmen Greg Walden, Peter DeFazio, and Earl Blumenauer have introduced legislation require railroads to inspect on foot certain tracks in high consequence areas, such as near waterways, for defects.  It also calls for creation of a new trust fund to help communities prepare for accidents involving rail cars transporting flammable liquids, including crude oil and ethanol by collecting an annual fee for rail cars that do not meet Department of Transportation standards.  In addition, the legislation would also require that railroads periodically use gage restraint measuring systems to measure shifts in the rails and detect weak ties and fasteners.  It also authorizes funding for the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration to hire additional track safety specialists.

Kiteboard 4 Cancer will celebrate on Saturday the tenth year of a grueling six-hour Kite Derby endurance race designed to embody the battle cancer survivors and fighters face every day.  More than 200 professional, semi-professional and hobbyist kiteboarders will be in Hood River for the race that benefits Athletes 4 Cancer survivorship camps.  The weekend will also feature more than ten bands, local food and brews, silent art auctions and other family-friendly activities.  The theme is #NoWaitlist.  When fundraising for Kiteboard 4 Cancer 2016 began, Athletes 4 Cancer had 112 survivors on a waitlist to attend the group’s Camp Koru.   It is down to 54, and the goal is to make it zero by the end of Sunday.  A complete schedule of events is available at kiteboarding4cancer.org.

Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have introduced legislation to require the National Transportation Safety Board to conduct investigations of major oil train derailments.  Merkley says under the Mandate Oil Spill Inspections and Emergency Rules, or MOSIER, Act, railroad investigations would be conducted in a third party manner similar to the airline industry.  This bill follows another bill introduced by the pair that would provide a tax credit to railroads for using new state of the art cars for oil transport, while also imposing a fee for the use of older cars.  Both Merkley and Wyden applauded an announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation it will require railroads to provide more notification about shipments of crude oil and other flammable liquids.  On Thursday Oregon Congressmen Greg Walden, Peter DeFazio, and Earl Blumenauer introduced legislation require railroads to inspect on foot certain tracks in high consequence areas, such as near waterways.  It also calls for creation of a new trust fund to help communities prepare for accidents involving rail cars transporting flammable liquids, including crude oil and ethanol by collecting an annual fee for rail cars that do not meet Department of Transportation standards.

The Oregon State Police is investigating a shooting that occurred late Tuesday night along Interstate 84 on Herman Creek Road in Hood River County.  According to the OSP, the Skamania County 9-1-1 center received a report at about 11:30 p.m. that a subject had been shot along I-84 west of Hood River.  Officers were able to locate the injured subject and arrange for transport to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland for treatment of a non-life threatening gunshot wound.  Officers from the OSP, the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office are in the process of conducting an investigation into the shooting, and no other details have been released.  The OSP does say information gathered indicates that there is no threat to the general public in relation to the incident.

A total of eight people were taken to hospitals after a three-vehicle accident on Tuesday afternoon on Highway 97 about seven miles south of Biggs.  According to Oregon State Police Lieutenant Patrick Shortt, two cars were stopped in the northbound lane for construction when a pickup truck struck the rear end of one of the vehicles at an approximate speed of 45 to 50 miles per hour.  The driver of the pickup told OSP troopers that he was looking and speaking to his son in the right front passenger seat at the time of the accident, had been aware of traffic ahead of him was slowing but unaware it had stopped.  The driver of the car the pickup hit was taken by Life Flight to Portland’s Emanuel Hospital for a damaged pacemaker, while a passenger in that car, the driver of the pickup, and five juveniles in the truck were all transported to Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles for evaluation.  The driver of the pickup received a citation for following too closely and careless driving.

A truck driver was injured Tuesday morning when the log truck he was driving rolled on Highway 141 Alternate north of White Salmon.  According to the Washington State Patrol, 59-year-old Lawrence Jackson of Brookings, Oregon was southbound in his log truck on Highway 141A just after 8:15 a.m. Tuesday when he crossed the center line.  The WSP says he overcorrected, causing the load to shift and the vehicle to roll on its side.  The truck left the roadway to the right, struck a tree, and came to rest blocking both lanes.  Jackson was transported to Portland’s Emanuel Hospital for treatment of injuries.

The Gorge Community Foundation awarded more than $190,000 in scholarships and grants in May and June, benefiting students from several local communities as well as a wide range of public service initiatives across the bi-state region.  Foundation board members awarded a total of $77,000 in scholarships to 11 students, including the newly-created Corwin Hardham Memorial Fund established through Gorge Technology Alliance.   The board also created, through the gift of an anonymous donor, the Gorge Youth Community Leadership Alliance Fund, with an initial combined fund level of $71,000.  Separately, the Foundation board awarded over $43,000 in a series of grants from endowed funds, representing the original intent and general guidance of myriad fund donors, some of which date to the beginnings of the Foundation more than 15 years ago.  Individual grants awarded this spring benefit Celilo Cancer Center, Central Gorge Master Gardeners, Hood River County Library Foundation, HAVEN, The Next Door, Friends of Wonderworks Children’s Museum, Providence Hospice of the Gorge, FISH Food Bank, Rowena Wildlife Clinic, Columbia Gorge CASA, Helping Hands Against Violence, Cooper Spur Race Team and Columbia Gorge Habitat for Humanity, and other groups.

A continued effort to reduce recidivism at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility is moving from community services and jail programming to the judicial sector.  Hood River County Commissioner Karen Joplin says Circuit Court Judge John Olsen is leading a “call to action” to form an ad hoc task force involving judges, district attorneys, defense lawyers, parole and probation departments, and law enforcement to look at incarceration decisions before trial and how long parole and probation violators stay in jail.  She says the goal will be to agree on protocols on how to better use the jail, adding the focus is on non-violent offenders.  Joplin noted the current matrix jail officials use to release inmates during times of overcrowding can be used as a starting point and NORCOR has recently adopted a new screening tool to assist in that process, and one possibility is to create a system where that information is given to a judge before an initial court appearance.