YouthThink has been awarded a $10,000 American Medical Association Foundation Healthy Living Grant to educate youth about prescription medication safety.  YouthThink is one of ten national organizations chosen to support prescription medication safety through the Healthy Living Grant Program.  The project entitled “Just the Facts” has been designed to comprehensively educate people on prescription medication safety and enhance the efforts of proper prescription drug use and decreasing the rate of prescription medication misuse.  The strategy focuses on youth age five to eighteen with an additional environmental effort of assisting adults as they help kids understand the benefits of prescription medications and also the dangers when used improperly.  An emphasis will be placed on prescription drugs that are opioids and stimulants.   The program will also focus on the dangers of mixing medications with alcohol.

Girls Basketball Woodburn 39, Hood River Valley 35 Stevenson 45, Lyle-Wishram 40   Boys Basketball Lyle-Wishram 61, Stevenson 58

Hood River County Commissioners have approved updates to the codes for farm and forest zones, including revisions they had requested to deal with agri-tourism events on farm lands.  The changes set up three different levels of events, starting with a one-time event for 50 people that could be permitted by the planning director, and moving on to needing a conditional use permit for larger multi-day events or a series of up to six events on a minimum of ten acres of land.  County Administrator David Meriwether says people need to ask if they are considering agri-tourism events.  In other business, County Commissioners approved a less than one percent rate increase for Hood River Garbage, and issued letters of support for irrigation districts seeking grants to do improvement projects.

The Dalles-Wasco County Library breaks ground on the John and Jean Thomas Children’s Wing on Wednesday morning.  Corliss Marsh of the Library Foundation says members of the Thomas family will take part in the ceremony.  Marsh says the new 24-hundred foot wing will provide the library much more room to conduct children’s activities.  Construction is expected to be completed sometime this coming summer.  The groundbreaking starts at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

As the City of The Dalles establishes its goals for 2016, work on the Dog River water pipeline remains at the top of the list.  Mayor Steve Lawrence says it remains his top priority because it loses a million gallons of water a day during peak flow.  Lawrence says construction is unlikely to take place in 2016, but he would like to clear many of the hurdles leading up to that point, including permitting and design.  Cost of the project would be eight million dollars.

After the holidays it will be time for small business owners to gather their financial records and prepare for tax time.  But it can also be a time to develop plans to improve the business for 2016.  Rick Leibovitz of the Columbia Gorge Community College Small Business Development Center says the end of year tax exercise can be used to help create better performance.  Leibovitz adds business owners should consider going over their long-term plan once a quarter, and create a time budget to help determine how much time to spend on various tasks to help keep the business moving forward.

Girls Basketball The Dalles 63, Ridgeview 40:  Brooke McCall scored 18 points and converted on four three-pointers as the Riverhawks ran their record to 5-2 on the season.  The Dalles used a big second quarter to take a 22 point lead at halftime. St. Helens 64, Hood River Valley 53 Stevenson 47, Riverside 44 Nixyaawii 62, Dufur 25 Lyle-Wishram 50, Wahluke 23   Boys Basketball The Dalles 75, Mac-Hi 42:  The Riverhawks win their second game in seven this season. Stevenson 50, Riverside 39 Nixyaawii 62, Dufur 52 Stanfield 59, Horizon Christian 42 Wahluke 60, Lyle-Wishram 44

It was a blustery afternoon and evening yesterday in the Gorge, but other than some power outages it appears the area avoided major damage issues when high winds roared through the region.  The lingering issue is in Cascade Locks, where power had not been restored Tuesday morning after it went out early Monday afternoon.  Hood River County Sheriff Matt English says the City of Cascade Locks is expected to have electricity restored around noon today, but some users of that system to the west of the City may not have power until late tonight or tomorrow.  Power outages occurred throughout the Hood River Valley and Mosier on Monday, along with Klickitat County, but nearly all were resolved by late Monday night.

Pacific Power reports 691 customers without power in the Hood River/Parkdale area, with estimated restoration at 6:30 p.m., and 668 customers without power in the Mosier area, and they have an estimated restoration time of 8 p.m.   Klickitat PUD reports 400 customers are without power in the Wishram area, 200 in the Bickleton area east of the Cleveland substation, and 60 have lost power in the Oak Ridge, Mt. Adams Orchards, and east of the Gilmer substation.  There are also isolated outages in Trout Lake, Glenwood, Lyle, Snowden, and Appleton.

The Columbia River Gorge is in the grips of winter, but projects on the Port of Hood River waterfront area continue on.  Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says the first construction on the former Expo Center property in the waterfront area is about to take place, commencing the first of the year.  In addition, McElwee says Key Development has received land use approvals for a 60-thousand square foot building on another portion of the Expo Center property, and closing on that property should occur in March.  McElwee also said the sale of property on Riverside and Second Street to Sheppard’s for a new location at the entry to the Waterfront should close in the next two to three weeks.