A portion of Thompson Street in The Dalles between East 16th and East 14th will be closed to thru traffic Wednesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The City Public Works Department will be installing new water lines in preparation for street paving this spring.  Motorists are encouraged to use Quinton Street or Morton Street as alternate routes.  Access to residences in the area will be maintained.  Some parking on Thompson Street will also be restricted.

Washington 14th District State Representative Gina McCabe has been appointed to serve as the assistant ranking member of the House Business and Financial Services Committee.  The committee considers issues related to licensing and regulation of businesses, insurance, state banks, credit unions, as well as consumer protection issues.  The Goldendale Republican was also recently appointed to the Council of State Governments – West, Public Safety Committee.  CSG – West is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization serving state legislators of both parties in 13 Western states.  The committee expects to be looking at strategies for dealing with the high cost of incarceration, operating a new prison, indigent defense standards, and private contractors versus government employees in the public safety sector.

Fort Dalles Days is being temporarily discontinued.  The Fort Dalles Days steering committee made the decision in the wake of the Fort Dalles Rodeo Association announcing in August 2015 they would suspend plans for its annual rodeo due to the sale of the rodeo grounds in west The Dalles.  That organization is looking for a location to build new rodeo facilities.  The Fort Dalles Days committee said once the rodeo resumes, there will be a call for people to meet and plan a new Fort Dalles Days event.  The Dalles Main Street is evaluating its major events during 2016, with a goal is to make sure these events are helping to accomplish Main Street’s mission of making downtown a vibrant place to live, shop, work and play.  The Main Street Board of Directors also hopes to identify a new promotion committee chair and volunteers to help accomplish event-related goals.

The Port of Hood River is involved in the closing of a sale of a number of Waterfront properties, with a pair having wrapped up and a third coming soon.  Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says sales have closed on the first phase of the former Expo Center property, effectively the parking lot west of the building, and land at the intersection of Second and Riverside that will be a new home for farm equipment retailer Sheppard’s.  He adds next up is the second phase of the Expo Center property sale, probably within three weeks.  McElwee adds work continues to prepare the Lower Hanel Mill site for development, with most of the material from the log pond having been stockpiled and likely will be available to be taken away as clean fill at some point in the next couple of months, and then utility installation will begin.

Tourism throughout the Gorge will be the subject of a summit on Wednesday in Hood River.  It’s the kickoff of the Gorge Tourism Studio, a series of workshops being put on by Travel Oregon designed to assist communities interested in stimulating their economies through sustainable tourism development, while protecting and enhancing local resources.  The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Lisa Farquharson says part of this will be finding ways to spread the wealth throughout the region and build on what the Columbia River Gorge Visitors Association does.  Another goal is to make each community aware of what the others are doing so they can promote each other and keep visitors in the Gorge for a longer period of time.

Wrestling Joe Linebarger of The Dalles notched another tournament championship over the weekend, winning the 220 pound division of the Bob Beisell Tournament in Forest Grove.  Linebarger won all four of his matches, defeating Jacob Garibaldo of Century 9-1 in the final.  Riverhawk teammate Glenn Breckterfield finished fourth at 145 pounds, as The Dalles finished ninth as a team.   Hood River Valley was 13^th in the Class 5-A division of the Oregon Classic in Redmond.  The Eagles won three of their five dual matches in the tourney, going 1-2 in round robin competition before topping both Ridgeview and Summit on Saturday.  Noah Wachsmuth and Jason Shaner both won five matches for HRV.   Boys Basketball The Dalles 69, Redmond 65 Heritage 56, Hood River Valley 53 Kalama 74, Columbia 51 Mountain View (WA) 89, Columbia 69 Coupeville 64, Stevenson 60 Dufur 56, Horizon Christian 45 Dufur 63, Ione 33 Horizon Christian 48, Arlington 39 South Wasco 70, Condon-Wheeler 52 Sherman 86, Spray-Mitchell 34 Sherman 54, South Wasco 52 Bickleton 70, Lyle-Wishram 55 Yakama Tribal 79, Lyle-Wishram 44 Yakama Tribal 76, Trout Lake 39 Sunnyside Christian 75, Klickitat-Glenwood 32 Granger 53, Goldendale 38 Connell 69, Goldendale 52   Girls Basketball The Dalles 57, Redmond 37 The Dalles 69, Union 65 (overtime) Horizon Christian 45, Dufur 43 Arlington 42, Horizon Christian 18 Ione 55, Dufur 47 Condon-Wheeler 49, South Wasco 27 Sherman 59, Spray-Mitchell 27 Lyle-Wishram 56, Bickleton 43 Yakma Tribal 45, Lyle-Wishram 30 Sunnyside Christian 62, Klickitat-Glenwood 22 Granger 64, Goldendale 18 Connell 66, Goldendale 48

Northern Wasco County PUD experienced an outage this morning (Friday) at approximately 8 a.m. due to a down power line.  Repairs were made and when the crew went to reenergize the line it caused a failure of a second line.  In order to repair the second line the crew will need to isolate that segment of line to safely make the needed repairs.  Power will need to be shut off to customers located in the following areas from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. today:  along Scenic Drive between Jefferson Street and Garrison Street, which includes Sorosis, Columbia Gorge Community College and Radio Way.

North Wasco County School District 21 has reached tentative agreements with both its teacher and classified employees unions.  Superintendent Candy Armstrong says both contracts are for the current school year and for 2016-17, adding there was some hard work done by all parties to reach deals with the district in a difficult financial situation.  The agreements still are subject to ratification votes.  Armstrong noted the importance of having everyone in the district working together as D-21 works toward eventually putting forward a bond measure for new facilities.

No word yet from city officials in The Dalles on the results of Thursday’s interviews with four candidates for City Manager.  The interviews with the Council and other City officials took place throughout the day on Thursday.  Meanwhile, The Dalles’ former City Manager has found a new position in Oregon.  Nolan Young has been hired as Fairview’s new City Administrator.  A statement on Fairview’s website says Young was hired from a field of six finalists.  Young, who served as The Dalles City Manager for 18 years, will begin his new job on January 25.

Wrestling Mountain View 45, Hood River Valley 18:  Dylan Peterson and Mark Reyes won their matches by fall for the Eagles, while Ryan Zeller and Jason Shaner also recorded wins. Girls Basketball Kalama 66, Columbia 45