North Wasco County School District 21 kicked off an effort to develop a strategic plan for the next five years.  At a short public meeting on Tuesday night, D-21 Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Bernal said the plan will guide decision making and investments.  The district plans to develop focus groups to meet via Zoom in the next two weeks made up of teachers, staff, families, students, and community partners.  Sign-ups for those groups will be available at the D-21 website, nwasco.k12.or.us.  A ten-to-fifteen question community survey will also be on the website from March 7 to April 1, and a community forum will take place in the spring or summer.  The goal is to have a strategic plan put together this summer.  Public Consulting Group has been brought on by the district to help facilitate the effort.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has approved an $80,000 grant to support the development of a community response plans in Wasco County for communicating about smoke from prescribed fire, agricultural burning, home woodstove and pile burning, wildfire, and other smoke sources.  OSU Extension will be the lead local agency to develop the plans.  Extension’s Lauren Kraemer says they also have received a $10,000 grant from the OHSU Knight Cancer Foundation to purchase ten air quality monitors to install at orchards in Wasco and Hood River counties, with a hope they will be hooked into the County’s emergency communication systems.  Because the funds must be received by a county government, the Wasco County Commission approved an intergovernmental agreement for the project with OSU Extension.

There will be single-lane closures of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge beginning at 8:30 on Thursday morning and continuing until work is complete, estimated to be around 5:30 p.m.  Port of Hood River officials say the single lane closure is required as the work will involve use of an inspection truck that will travel along the length of the bridge throughout the day to provide worker access underneath the bridge structure.  Flaggers will be on the bridge directing traffic around the moving work zone.    Motorists should expect delays of 20 to 40 minutes depending on traffic volume.

Mid-Columbia Medical Center has named two new members to its board of trustees.  One is former The Dalles City Manager Nolan Young, who recently retired as Fairview’s City Manager and continues to live in The Dalles.  The other is Suzanne Knapp, who recently served as Maupin City Councilor for two terms and is currently the chair of the board of directors for the White River Health District and Deschutes Rim Clinic Foundation where she is overseeing the capital campaign for and construction of a new clinic.  The MCMC board of trustees has elected Vice Chair Robb Van Cleave to serve as Board Chair to succeed Phil Brady, who has resigned to run for Wasco County Commission.  Brady served on the board for 7 ½ years, the last three as Board Chair.  Van Cleave has been part of the board for the past two years.  

Fishery managers from Washington and Oregon added additional white sturgeon retention days in Bonneville Pool and The Dalles Pool as catch rates slowed in February and harvest was lower than expected.  Wednesday, March 9 and Wednesday, March 16 were added to the season for the Bonneville Pool from Bonneville Dam to The Dalles Dam.  For The Dalles Pool from The Dalles Dam to John Day Dam, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays in the month of March were added.  Fishery managers had closed sturgeon retention fishing in Bonneville Pool in late January because catch projections indicated the harvest guideline was close to being met.  It was later determined that the actual harvest was lower than expected so additional opportunity can be added without exceeding allowable catch.  Catch rates in The Dalles Pool slowed significantly in February and overall catch is well below original projections, so additional opportunity can be added.  This is the second extension for the 2022 sturgeon fishery in The Dalles Pool.

A controversial bill to create overtime pay for farmworkers passed the Oregon House on Tuesday on a party-line vote.  The bill would phase in overtime pay, setting maximum hours without paying time-and-a-half at 55 per week through 2024, 48 per week the following two years, and 40 in 2027 and beyond.  Farms would be eligible for personal and corporate income tax credits to help offset added costs, with sponsoring Democrats claiming it is structured to support smaller farms, and opposing Republicans calling it tax breaks for large, out-of-state corporate farms.  Bill sponsor Representative Paul Holvey of Eugene says the bill will grant farmworkers protections they have long been denied, while opponent Representative Daniel Bonham of The Dalles said the proposal will result in job losses for farm workers.  The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Both the Oregon House and Senate signed off on legislation Monday that will designate Highway 35 from the Columbia River south to Highway 26 as the Oregon Nisei Veterans World War II Memorial Highway.  It would be the first state highway to honor Oregon’s Japanese American soldiers, who faced discrimination, battled prejudice, and fought for freedom both at home and abroad.  Hood River State Senator Chuck Thomsen introduced the bill early in the short legislative session, and Hood River Representative Anna Williams and Eugene Senator James Manning, Jr. also signed on as chief sponsors.  The bill is headed to Governor Kate Brown for her signature.  Signs will be privately funded at no cost to the state.  Donations are being accepted by American Legion Post 22 in Hood River.

Hood River City Councilors approved the first reading of an ordinance to change the zoning for the property at 780 Rand Road from R-1 low density residential to R-3 high density.  It’s the latest step in the City’s effort to construct an affordable housing development on the land.  There was some testimony expressing concern that a traffic study done in September of 2016 was used in preparing staff’s recommendation for approval, but municipal senior planner Kevin Liburdy pointed out that will be addressed in site plan reviews for a development.  Liburdy added that a signal light is to be constructed at the nearby intersection of Rand Road and Cascade Avenue in 2023 or 2024.

Traffic at a week-long COVID-19 vaccination clinic in The Dalles that concluded Monday was fairly steady, with about 50 people getting shots on the first day and about 30 to 40 each day after that.  North Central Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell says they will continue to emphasize the need to get booster shots.  McDonell says only about 40 percent of Wasco County’s residents have received a COVID-19 booster.  She added North Central Public Health District has in-home COVID-19 testing kits available.  

New guidance announced by the states of Oregon and Washington on Monday will lift masking requirements in most public indoor locations and for schools on March 12.  State officials cited improved modeling and changes in federal Centers for Disease Control recommendations in moving up the date to lift the face covering requirements for the second time.  Oregon Health Authority state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger explained the continued steep drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state is allowing the state to move forward.  Sidelinger said masks will continue to be an important tool for those most at-risk from COVID-19, adding he hopes local officials will make decisions based on their own situations.  Oregon Department of Education director Colt Gill said new guidance will be given to school districts later this week, noting this marks a shift in responsibility from the state to local public health departments and school districts.