Oregon Second District Congressman Greg Walden says while Congress must carefully review details of the agreement restricting Iran’s nuclear development in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against Tehran, he will do all he can to stop a bad deal that threatens the safety of American troops, allies, and citizens.  The Hood River Republican thinks the Obama Administration is rewarding bad behavior with permanent benefits in exchange for a temporary delay in their nuclear program.  Congressional Republicans are openly hostile to the deal, while some Democrats are also skeptical.  After receiving a copy of the agreement…Congress will have 60 days to study it before voting it up or down or taking no action, and President Obama says he will use his veto to overturn an outright rejection by Congress.

The North Central Public Health District has scheduled a second T-dap vaccine clinic for this Thursday to deal with a pertussis outbreak.  District officials say 80 people attended the first clinic last week to administer the vaccine that fights against tetanus and diptheria along with pertussis.  This Thursday’s clinic will run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at The Dalles Middle School.  T-Dap vaccine is also available at your doctor’s office and pharmacy.  Since the first case of pertussis was reported to the North Central Public Health Distirct last month, the number of reported cases has grown to 17.

Hood River City Councilors awarded the contract for the May Street Safe Routes to School project to Crestline Construction for close to $500,000.  City Manager Steve Wheeler says work on the project could begin as early as next week.  It is intended to improve the intersection at 17th and May and make changes to parking and bicycle lanes to improve safety.  The project is being paid for primarily through a state grant, with some local matching monies involved.

Fire officials expect to complete mopping up the Riley and Horseshoe Fires in the Mt. Adams Complex on Friday.  The complex is now 83 percent contatined.  Washington Incident Management Team commander Brian Gales says firefighters are working to establish a good perimeter around the Riley Fire, with the rugged terrain slowing progress.  The 63-acre Riley Fire is the focus of three firefighting crews that are mopping up abundant hot spots throughout the burned area.  The crews are finding them, spraying water over charred logs and turning over smoldering duff.  One crew and a faller group remain at the Horseshoe Fire to seek out and mitigate remaining heat.  A crew has been identified for initial attack on any new fires.  The Spiral Fire, which burned an acre of timber in the Big Lava Bed 15 miles west of the Complex Sunday, was also suppressed by firefighters from the incident and Mt. Adams Ranger District.

Washington 14th District Republican state legislators Curtis King and Norm Johnson made a swing through Klickitat and Skamania counties Tuesday, meeting with various local governmental officials and media.  Both are talking about the just completed 175-day marathon session.  Johnson said while the session took too long, in the end he felt both the state and the district saw gains, and King had similar feelings.  King and Johnson both particularly pointed out the passage of a transportation package and significant cuts in public college tuitions as key measures to come of the session.  

The Dalles City Council, acting in its capacity as the Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Board, directed staff to give Rapoza Development a “notice of default” in its agreement to redevelop the Granada block into a hotel and conference center, giving Rapoza 60 days to provide information in two specific areas of the project.  City Manager Nolan Young said the notice is a legal term to indicate work needs to take place to show the project’s viability, as Councilors want their representative Gary Rains to meet with representatives of Hilton Hotels about Rapoza’s branding application, and give Rains more information about their “capital stack” to fund the project.  Rapoza’s Michael Leash said he understood why the City took its action, and they would get the information to Rains.  Mayor Steve Lawrence says the action was a reminder that Rapoza has some significant requirements to meet by a September 30 deadline in the Disposition and Development Agreement.  Leash says his confidence level to get the deal done is about 100 percent.

After a lengthy discussion, The Dalles City Council gave the Riverfront Trail Committee the go-ahead to explore if it is feasible to finish the eastern end of the trail on the south side of Interstate 84.  The north side of the freeway has been ruled out due to tribal archaeological and cultural concerns.  The decision came after a lengthy Council discussion.  Councilor Russ Brown said he wasn’t very happy about going to the other side of the Interstate, but noted with one-point-seven million dollars of state grant money and donated matching funds in hand the Council really couldn’t justify telling the committee to stop its work.  A tentative plan would take the path from the Port of The Dalles Marina over the freeway to the access road, follow the old levy road up to Three Mile Creek, build a bridge to go over the creek, then go under Highway 197 and follow I-84 to the railroad bridge underneath the freeway, and to the south side of Bret Clodfelter Way to connect to the trail to The Dalles Dam.

Two athletes who competed for Columbia Gorge high schools had top twenty finishes in the Pan-Am Games in Toronto over the weekend. Trout Lake’s Spencer Paxson was sixth in the men’s cross county mountain bike event.   Paxson finished in a time of 1:36:37, 5:23 behind gold medalist Raphael Gagne of Canada. Hood River’s Erin Jones took 19th in the women’s triathlon in a time of 2:05:52. Barbara Riveros of Chile was the gold medalist in that event.

The Mt. Adams Complex of fires now has a listed containment level of 63 percent.  Firefighters who have been batting the quartet of fires on the west flank of Mt. Adams found heat remaining in the larger Horseshoe and Riley fires.  Crews Monday will evaluate the perimeter of the Horseshoe Fire and extinguish remaining heat sources.  Three Hotshot crews are working to mop up the Riley Fire perimeter, with the remaining heat scattered through the northern portion of that fire.  No heat was detected in the Canyon or 7 Lakes fires, so they have been converted to patrol status.  In addition, the Spiral Fire was detected Sunday afternoon burning among lava beds west of the Mt. Adams Complex.  One crew and a helicopter from the complex assisted with initial attack, and work continues today to suppress that fire.

NORCOR and federal Department of Justice officials are talking about bringing more of a mental health component to the four-county regional jail facility.  Local stakeholders and federal representatives held an initial mapping session two months ago, with another planned for this month.  Hood River County Commission Chair and NORCOR board member Ron Rivers says the goal is to change incarceration at the regional jail to help people get better.  Rivers noted this kind of program could also bring in revenue for NORCOR by making it available to other counties.  He did emphasize the four NORCOR counties don’t have the money to establish it, and the federal government would have to provide some kind of grant to make it happen.