Port of Hood River Commissioners voted to proceed with applying for a $195 million dollar multimodal projects discretionary grant for replacement of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge.  That would be a major cornerstone towards the estimated $500 million that would be needed to replace the bridge.  Port Commissioner Mike Fox says they are trying to take advantage of a decision by officials working on replacement of the Interstate 5 Bridge in the Portland metro area not to seek funding during this grant cycle.  There is a short turnaround time to submit the application, which is due on May 23.  A conceptual finance plan would include the $195 million federal contribution, $110 million each from Oregon and Washington, and local Port contribution funded by tolls of $85 million.      

Wasco County Commissioners approved moving forward with having a market and feasibility study for a potential youth sports complex on former aluminum plant property it would receive from Google as part of a Strategic Improvement Plan for two new data centers.  Mid-Columbia Medical Center has proposed using the current Kramer Field for a new hospital, and replace it with a new youth sports facility.  County Administrator Tyler Stone says doing the feasibility study will be part of the due diligence process.  Stone says they are seeking to have some of the study costs covered by the Brownsfields grant that the City of The Dalles has received, as the property qualifies with not only by having been former aluminum plant land but also a City landfill.  

As the White Salmon Valley School District does its budget work for 2022-23, the good news is it is about the same as it was last year.  But with reduced enrollment since the pandemic, state legislators have been telling school officials they will need to adjust in future years if that trend continues.  District Superintendent Sean McGeeney says White Salmon schools are down 150 students from before the pandemic.  McGeeney says they will be watching their kindergarten numbers to see if the decrease in enrollment continues.  McGeeney adds housing costs in the Gorge are a factor in the drop in students.

The Oregon Trail Rally returns to the region this weekend, with racing planned in the Goldendale area on Saturday and the Dufur area on Sunday.  This is the 26th year of the Rally, and their will racers from around the world for the race that is part of the American Rally Association National Championship.  The Rally’s Karen Jankowski says the race involves “real cars that are real fast.”  For spectator information, go to oregontrailrally.com.  

Washington Fourth District Congressman Dan Newhouse and Oregon Second District Congressman Cliff Bentz joined with 19 other House Republican colleagues in introducing the Trust the Science Act to strengthen state management of the gray wolf.  The bill requires the Department of the Interior to reissue the 2020 final rule which delisted the gray wolf from the list of endangered species in the lower 48 states and ensures that the reissuance of the final rule will not be subject to judicial review.  Newhouse says gray wolves have been successfully recovered through effective state and local species management plans.  In Washington state alone, there are at least 206 known wolves in 33 known packs, including at least 19 breeding pairs.      

A Warm Springs man pleaded guilty in federal court for sexually assaulting a woman on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in August of 2020.  27-year-old Jerome Albert Stanley, Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact.  According to court documents, Stanley entered a bedroom occupied by an adult woman in a residence and sexually assaulted the woman.  The documents say that later, during a recorded call with the victim, Stanley admitted to the abusive sexual contact and acknowledged it should not have happened.  Stanley faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years’ supervised release.  He will be sentenced this August before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman.

A Goldendale man was killed in a motor vehicle accident Tuesday morning on Highway 97 near Goldendale. According to the Washington State Patrol, the pickup truck driven by 61-year-old Stephen Hyrniak was southbound on Highway 97 near milepost 27 when it veered into the oncoming lane and collided with a tractor-trailer driven by 55-year-old Erasto Castellanos Ruiz of Visalia, California. The WSP says Hyrniak was pronounced dead at the scene. Ruiz was not injured. The accident occurred at 11:30 Tuesday morning.

Hood River County Commission District 1

Leti Valle Moretti 1,315 70.5%

Kathleen Sanders 545 29.2%

Hood River County Commission Chair

Jennifer Euwer 3,737 63.1%

Ron Rivers 2,127 35.9%

Wasco County Commission Pos. 1

Scott Hege 3,841 70.8%

Cynthia Bearss 1,566 28.9%

Wasco County Commission Pos. 3

Phil Brady 3,169 51.7%

Rod Runyon 2,936 47.9%

7th District Circuit Judge

John Wolf 6,503 53.6%

Caleb Berthelsen 5,603 46.2%

Dufur Recreation District 3-year local option

Yes 232 59.2%

No 160 40.8%

City of Shaniko 5-year local option No 7

Yes 5

State Senate District 26 GOP

Daniel Bonham 76.7%

Steve Bates 14.5%

Michael Nugent 8.5%

State House District 52 GOP

Jeff Helfrich 87.4%

James Born 9%

Britt Storkson 3.2%

U.S. Senate GOP

JoRae Perkins 32.2%

Darin Harbick 30.3%

Congressional 2nd District-GOP

Cliff Bentz 75.9%

Mark Cavener 18.6%

Congressional 2nd District-Democrat

Joe Yetter 69.4%

Adam Prine 28.7%

Congressional 3rd District-Democrat

Earl Blumenauer 94.6%

Jonathan Polhemus 5%

Softball

The Dalles sweeps Hood River Valley 9-8 and 4-2:  The Riverhawks scored six runs of the top of the seventh inning of game one to keep their playoff hopes alive, and then held off a Hood River rally in the bottom of the seventh in game two to advance to the state Class 5A playoffs and eliminate the Eagles.  Despina Sefualemua doubled in the winning run in game one, and hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run third inning in the nightcap.

  EWAC Softball Tournament

Goldendale 11, Mabton 9:  The Timberwolves advance to a second round game with Kittitas on Friday.

  Baseball

Hood River Valley 7, The Dalles 2:  The Intermountain Conference champion Eagles scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for the win, with Kyle Smiley’s two-run double bringing home the go-ahead runs.

Grant Union sweeps Lyle-Wishram 34-0 and 23-0

  Boys Soccer

Washington Class 1A First Round

Bridgeport 2, Columbia 0

  Boys Golf

The Dalles finished eighth at the Oregon Class 5A boys’ golf tournament at Trysting Tree in Corvallis.  Joe Codding finished in a tie for 22^nd for the Riverhawks.  Hood River Valley’s Kiernan Chown finished in a tie for 31^st.

  Girls Golf

Katelyn Vasser of The Dalles finished in 13^th at the Oregon Class 5A girls’ golf tournament at Emerald Valley in Creswell.

With the new “Postmark Rule” in Oregon, winners of a number of races in the primary election won’t be known for a few days.  Under the new rule in Oregon, any ballot postmarked by Election Day is considered on time even if it arrives at elections offices up to seven days after the election.  Wasco County Clerk Lisa Gambee says they will still do a first release of results after 8 p.m., then collect ballots from drop boxes and publish updated tallies later tonight, and then take ballots over the next seven days.  Results won’t be officially certified until mid-June.