Hood River’s Overwatch Imaging received a Business Oregon matching grant of more than $45,000, backed with Oregon Lottery funds, to help design, build and test upgraded search and rescue technology for maritime environments.  The grant is part of a larger state program to leverage federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grant awards.  Founded in 2016, Overwatch Imaging designs and manufactures imaging systems with custom onboard artificial intelligence software for both piloted and unmanned aircraft.  By helping organizations of all kinds move to autonomous aerial detection, Overwatch Imaging assists in improving efficiencies, reducing costs and enhancing safety.  The $45,590 grant was awarded by Business Oregon and the Oregon Innovation Council as part of a larger state grant program to help innovative small businesses leverage the federal grants.

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest is proposing to charge new or increased fees at numerous developed recreation sites.  The Northwest Forest Pass and the full suite of interagency passes will be honored at, U.S. Forest Service, day use sites.  The public is invited to review the fee proposal and provide comments, with the comment period running through September 16.  Even if proposed changes are implemented, about 70% of the 234 developed recreation sites on the Forest would remain non-fee.  The forest currently waives fees at all Forest Service managed day use sites six days throughout the year.

It does not appear it will take significant structural work to bring the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge’s weight limit back up to 80,000 pounds.  The Oregon Department of Transportation dropped the limit to 64,000 pounds in March of 2021 after an ODOT structural evaluation identified deficiencies in some bridge components.  Port of Hood River Executive Director Michael McElwee says its engineering firm’s preliminary conclusion has found major structural work will not be needed to get the weight limit back up.  There is some lateral bracing in the south approach ramp that needs to be done, but McElwee says Port crews can do that and it should be done by the end of July.  McElwee says once the work is done, then the Oregon Department of Transportation will have to do an analysis, so a change in the weight limit would not happen until after that.

A motorcyclist was taken to a Portland hospital after an accident on Highway 142 in Klickitat County Wednesday afternoon.  According to the Washington State Patrol, the motorcycle was westbound on Highway 142 at milepost 21 east of Wahkiacus prior to 5:30 p.m. when the driver lost control of the motorcycle, and it rolled to the shoulder.  The 67-year-old man operating the motorcycle was transported to Legacy Emanuel Hospital with undisclosed injuries.

Oregon’s statewide wildfire risk maps are now available for viewing through the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer tool online, and mailed notices from the Oregon Department of Forestry to owners of parcels in the wildland urban interface rated as high or extreme risk will go out next week.  It’s all in preparation for the Oregon Defensible Space Code that is under development and will take effect in 2023.  Oregon State University Extension Forester Glenn Ahrens says three different factors were used to assess risk, including burn probability, fire intensity, and most importantly the potential impact to structures.  It is estimated about five percent of the taxlots in Oregon could be subject to new codes and standards.  Ahrens says OSU Extension is available to help people prepare for wildfire regardless of their risk classification.

AARP has given a $20,000 Community Challenge grant to a community kitchen project in Mosier.  Marie Mourou is a chef involved with the community kitchen.  She notes that about 35-percent of Mosier’s population is age 50 or older, and one in three people in the Columbia River Gorge are food insecure.  The plan is to build a community kitchen in the city’s community center to provide space to prepare free weekly meals, plus host a food pantry and some commercial uses.

With Wasco, Hood River, and Sherman counties all currently meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards for being at high risk of COVID-19 infection, the CDC is recommending people resume mask-wearing indoors in public and on public transportation.  North Central Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell says while the recent variants are more contagious than others during the pandemic, we have many more tools to combat COVID-19 masks are effective in reducing transmission, and masks are one of those.  McDonell also emphasized the importance of vaccinations to help reduce the impact of COVID-19.  The latest NCPHD statistics show just 42.5 percent of Wasco County residents have received a booster shot.

Wasco County will include rules dealing with the potential for the location of psilocybin grow and service centers in its land use ordinance revisions that are currently being developed.  Voters in Oregon approved setting up the controlled use of psilocybin mushrooms for treatment in 2020.  County Planner Kelly Howsley-Glover told County Commissioners it’s important to get the rules in place by the end of the year, after which the state will start taking licenses for the facilities.  Proposed local ordinances include codifying state rules for the manufacture of psilocybin, similar to what is place for marijuana, and adding local provisions for the service centers to be indoors in commercial zones only, with buffers from residences and schools.  These rules would only impact the unincorporated areas of Wasco County.

The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a pair of armed robberies of cannabis retail locations in Carson and Stevenson.  The first occurred just after 11 p.m. on May 26 when two men wearing dark clothing and masks entered the Forbidden Cannabis Club on 1171 Wind River Highway, with the Sheriff’s Office saying one appeared to be armed with a semi-automatic handgun ordered the clerk to empty the cash register and safe at gunpoint.  The suspect with the gun is described as a heavy set male, wearing a blue jacket, gray hoodie, black gloves, black mask, jeans, and dark colored boots.  The second suspect was a smaller adult male wearing a two-tone blue jacket, blue shorts over blue sweats, wearing a gray hoodie and mask.  The other robbery occurred the night of June 26, when an adult male, wearing dark clothing and mask, entered the High 5 Cannabis store in Stevenson.  The suspect presented a semi-automatic handgun and ordered the clerk to empty the cash register and then the safe.  He was described as light skinned with a medium build, wearing a black hoodie, black mask, black gloves, and carrying a dark colored backpack.  If you have any information on these subjects, contact the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office at (509) 427-9490.    

A 25-year-old man was sentenced in Wasco County Circuit Court to 140 months in prison for his role in a violent robbery and kidnapping in February in The Dalles.  Judge Janet Stauffer issued consecutive 70 month sentences for the robbery, burglary, and kidnapping charges to Dakota James Christopher Glenn, plus another 13 months for a previous charge of failing to perform the duties of a driver.  Of the 153 total months, Glenn must serve 140 months with no possibility of a reduction under Oregon’s Measure 11 statute.  The Wasco County District Attorney’s office says that on February 9, Glenn and another person confronted the victim at gunpoint, ransacked his home, stole some of the possessions he had, and then forced him from his home by threatening him with a gun and making him accompany them across town.  Glenn fled to California after the incident, where has was apprehended.  Stauffer remarked that Glenn had committed a terrifying crime, has repeatedly shown that he has no respect for the law, and is a danger to the community.