The City of White Salmon is about to embark on an effort to find illegal connections to the municipal water system.  An analysis of the City’s water loss percentage in recent years shows an increase in the percentage of water lost from the system in the summer months, when the reverse should be true.  Mayor David Poucher says they plan to use ground penetrating radar to find the unknown and unmetered connections.  The City plans to offer a one-month amnesty program to allow people with unauthorized connection to come forward and have the issue corrected without penalties.  Poucher says it costs the City one dollar per thousand gallons to produce water.  He added an expected crunch on summer water supplies have added some urgency to eliminating the unmetered connections.

While much of the focus in the Oregon Legislature has been on the controversy surrounding the K-12 education budget, community colleges are voicing some of the same concerns with proposals for their budget as K-12 officials are.  The Ways and Means co-chairs budget calls for community colleges to receive $535 million in the upcoming biennium, which is short of the $650 million those schools say they need to meet state educational and employment goals.  Republican Oregon 59th District Representative John Huffman is hopeful the CC budget can reach $550 million.  The Ways and Means co-chairs proposal is $35 million above what former Governor John Kitzhaber had allocated in his budget.

City of The Dalles officials plan a ceremony Friday morning to officially transfer ownership of the Elks Building to a developer planning to establish a neon sign museum there.  The Dalles City Council, acting in its capacity as the Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Board, approved purchasing the building for $240,000 and then turning it over to developer David Benko, whose group agreed to do an estimated $1,000,000 of improvements to the new building within two years to get the museum open.  The Portland Art Museum is taking part in the fundraising effort for the museum.  Mayor Steve Lawrence and Benko will sign the agreements for the deal on the steps of the building on Third and Court in downtown The Dalles Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Baseball Hood River Valley 4, Gladstone 3:  Riley Van Hoose scored Dallas Buckley with the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Eagles to the win.  Buckley started the frame with a single, followed by Patrick Harvey reaching base on a sacrifice bunt, and then Van Hoose delivered the RBI single.  Ryan Ward pitched five solid innings, giving up only two hits and striking out nine.   Softball Gladstone 10, Hood River Valley 5:  Gladstone took advantage of six Eagle errors to score in six of seven innings.  HRV’s Makenna Zeller had a three hit day, driving in two runs.   Track and Field Hood River Valley’s Sebastian Barajas set a school record in the boys’ discus to highlight the Eagles’ day at a meet in Oregon City.  Barajas, who also won the shot put, set the record with a toss of 181 feet, six inches.  Jestena Mattson led the HRV girls by winning the 200 and 400 meters.   Stevenson’s girls were fourth and the boys sixth at a Trico League meet in Kalama.  The Bulldogs’ Madison McCrum won both the girls’ long jump and triple jump.  Kalama finished first in the girls’ portion of the meet, while LaCenter won the boys’ competition. Baseball Hood River Valley 4, Gladstone 3:  Riley Van Hoose scored Dallas Buckley with the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Eagles to the win.  Buckley started the frame with a single, followed by Patrick Harvey reaching base on a sacrifice bunt, and then Van Hoose delivered the RBI single.  Ryan Ward pitched five solid innings, giving up only two hits and striking out nine.   Softball Gladstone 10, Hood River Valley 5:  Gladstone took advantage of six Eagle errors to score in six of seven innings.  HRV’s Makenna Zeller had a three hit day, driving in two runs.   Track and Field Hood River Valley’s Sebastian Barajas set a school record in the boys’ discus to highlight the Eagles’ day at a meet in Oregon City.  Barajas, who also won the shot put, set the record with a toss of 181 feet, six inches.  Jestena Mattson led the HRV girls by winning the 200 and 400 meters.   Stevenson’s girls were fourth and the boys sixth at a Trico League meet in Kalama.  The Bulldogs’ Madison McCrum won both the girls’ long jump and triple jump.  Kalama finished first in the girls’ portion of the meet, while LaCenter won the boys’ competition.

With competing budgets from House Democrats and Senate Republicans having been unveiled in the Washington Legislature, it appears both make strides toward making progress on fulfilling the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision mandating full funding of basic education.  Republican 14th District Representative Norm Johnson says they won’t get to full funding, but notes they have until 2018 under the ruling to get there.  The battleground will almost certainly involve taxation, and specifically a capital gains tax and a business and occupations tax increase that is in the House Democrat budget and vehemently opposed by Senate Republicans.

The Next Door, Inc. is partnering with the Northwest Marriage Institute to bring a fatherhood workshop to Hood River later this month.  It’s called “Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood,” and Tim Sybley of the Northwest Marriage Institute says the goal is to show men how they can be a better influence on their child’s life.  The workshop will be April 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hood River Middle School, and it is a free event.  To register go to northwestmarriage.org or call The Next Door for more information at 541-436-0319.

Baseball Redmond 4, Hood River Valley 1, 8 innings:  The Panthers scored three in the eighth inning to win a rainy pitchers duel at Traner Field.  Kam Walker pitched an outstanding six innings for the Eagles, giving up only one unearned run on two hits. Summit 7, The Dalles 3:  The Storm stay unbeaten on the season with the win. Dufur 12, Irrigon 3   Softball LaSalle at Hood River Valley, postponed by rain. The Dalles at Sandy, postponed by rain, makeup date on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at The Dalles   Track and Field South Wasco boys and girls finished second to Madras at the Culver Invitational.  Ally Muhleman won the girls’ 100 meter hurdles, 300 meter hurdles, and pole vault for the Redsides, while South Wasco’s Loreto Morelli won both the boys’ 100 and 400 meters.   Boys Soccer Toledo 5, Stevenson 1

Wasco County Commissioners will be in Tygh Valley Wednesday to hold a public hearing on an outdoor mass gathering permit application for a music and art festival this May.  The festival known as SOAK 2015 or “Burning Man Portland” is planned for May 21st to the 25th on land owned by Justesen Ranch Recretation in the White River Canyon along Jake Davidson Grade Road immediately south of Tygh Valley.  Estimated attendance is 1,300, including staff and volunteers.  County planning staff has recommended approving the application with twenty different conditions on everything from refuse storage to fire protection.  The hearing begins at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Tygh Valley Community Center.

There has been a recent jump in housing foreclosures in the region.  Dave Peters of Mid-Columbia Housing Resource Center says they get a report from the state of Oregon every month showing how many foreclosure notices are given in the region.  He says Wasco County received eight notices and Hood River County five in a two-week period last month, one of the highest months in the last two years.  Peters says banks will decide at given times to start filing foreclosures notices.  Peters notes Oregon passed a law two years ago requiring banks to give a notice to allow homeowners to talk to a moderator and a counselor in an effort to find a solution before a foreclosure can proceed.  Foreclosure avoidance information is available on-line at oregonhomeownersupport.gov or by calling Peters at 541-296-3397, extension 18.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the Columbia Gorge Children’s Advocacy Center will be marking it Saturday by tying blue ribbons up and down Oak Street in downtown Hood River.  Center board member Shelley Campbell says they are looking to raise awareness of the need to prevent child abuse in the community.  The Center has received a three-year grant from the Ford Family Foundation to provide child abuse prevention training to community members.  That will begin on April 15 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Hood River Library.  It’s a free event, but registration is required by calling 541-436-2960.  Boy Scout Troop 282 will be helping the Center in the blue ribbon effort.