Baseball LaSalle 5, The Dalles 3 Dufur 8, Country Christian 0   Softball Sandy 8, The Dalles 7   Boys Soccer Stevenson 4, LaCenter 3

A mild winter and an early spring have led to the early emergence of insects in area orchards.  Peter Shearer of the Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center says they are advising orchardists to be watchful for earlier than normal insect activity.  He says the mild conditions can have different impacts on different populations of insects.  The Hood River Experiment Station reported bloom in their orchard on March 26, twenty days earlier than the historical average.

The North Central Livestock Association is bringing back the Bull Tour after several years absence.  The association is in its third year, a combination of the former Sherman and Wasco county cattlemen’s associations.  Association president Rory Wilson says anyone is welcome to take the Bull Tour on April 10, which will visit several working ranches in both Wasco and Sherman counties to learn about modern methods now in use.  The Bull Tour will start and end at the Wasco County Fairgrounds in Tygh Valley at 8:30 a.m.  Registration $45, and includes lunch and a steak dinner.  To take part, call the Sherman County Extension Office at 541-565-3230.

Wasco County Commissioners approved a mass outdoor gathering permit for the SOAK 2015 Burning Man Festival in Portland scheduled this May on Justesen Ranch property in the White River Canyon.  County Commissioner Scott Hege felt those who expressed concerns at the hearing in Tygh Valley got responses to their issues, and he noted fire issues were the biggest concerns of many, with part of the festival involving the burning of some of the art.  Hege said there are a lot of conditions in the permit on that subject, adding if there are high winds they won’t be able to do any burning.  Hege added many in attendance were supportive of the arts festival, with previous events bringing economic benefits to the south part of the county.

The City of White Salmon is about to embark on an effort to find illegal connections to the municipal water system.  An analysis of the City’s water loss percentage in recent years shows an increase in the percentage of water lost from the system in the summer months, when the reverse should be true.  Mayor David Poucher says they plan to use ground penetrating radar to find the unknown and unmetered connections.  The City plans to offer a one-month amnesty program to allow people with unauthorized connection to come forward and have the issue corrected without penalties.  Poucher says it costs the City one dollar per thousand gallons to produce water.  He added an expected crunch on summer water supplies have added some urgency to eliminating the unmetered connections.

While much of the focus in the Oregon Legislature has been on the controversy surrounding the K-12 education budget, community colleges are voicing some of the same concerns with proposals for their budget as K-12 officials are.  The Ways and Means co-chairs budget calls for community colleges to receive $535 million in the upcoming biennium, which is short of the $650 million those schools say they need to meet state educational and employment goals.  Republican Oregon 59th District Representative John Huffman is hopeful the CC budget can reach $550 million.  The Ways and Means co-chairs proposal is $35 million above what former Governor John Kitzhaber had allocated in his budget.

City of The Dalles officials plan a ceremony Friday morning to officially transfer ownership of the Elks Building to a developer planning to establish a neon sign museum there.  The Dalles City Council, acting in its capacity as the Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Board, approved purchasing the building for $240,000 and then turning it over to developer David Benko, whose group agreed to do an estimated $1,000,000 of improvements to the new building within two years to get the museum open.  The Portland Art Museum is taking part in the fundraising effort for the museum.  Mayor Steve Lawrence and Benko will sign the agreements for the deal on the steps of the building on Third and Court in downtown The Dalles Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Baseball Hood River Valley 4, Gladstone 3:  Riley Van Hoose scored Dallas Buckley with the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Eagles to the win.  Buckley started the frame with a single, followed by Patrick Harvey reaching base on a sacrifice bunt, and then Van Hoose delivered the RBI single.  Ryan Ward pitched five solid innings, giving up only two hits and striking out nine.   Softball Gladstone 10, Hood River Valley 5:  Gladstone took advantage of six Eagle errors to score in six of seven innings.  HRV’s Makenna Zeller had a three hit day, driving in two runs.   Track and Field Hood River Valley’s Sebastian Barajas set a school record in the boys’ discus to highlight the Eagles’ day at a meet in Oregon City.  Barajas, who also won the shot put, set the record with a toss of 181 feet, six inches.  Jestena Mattson led the HRV girls by winning the 200 and 400 meters.   Stevenson’s girls were fourth and the boys sixth at a Trico League meet in Kalama.  The Bulldogs’ Madison McCrum won both the girls’ long jump and triple jump.  Kalama finished first in the girls’ portion of the meet, while LaCenter won the boys’ competition. Baseball Hood River Valley 4, Gladstone 3:  Riley Van Hoose scored Dallas Buckley with the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Eagles to the win.  Buckley started the frame with a single, followed by Patrick Harvey reaching base on a sacrifice bunt, and then Van Hoose delivered the RBI single.  Ryan Ward pitched five solid innings, giving up only two hits and striking out nine.   Softball Gladstone 10, Hood River Valley 5:  Gladstone took advantage of six Eagle errors to score in six of seven innings.  HRV’s Makenna Zeller had a three hit day, driving in two runs.   Track and Field Hood River Valley’s Sebastian Barajas set a school record in the boys’ discus to highlight the Eagles’ day at a meet in Oregon City.  Barajas, who also won the shot put, set the record with a toss of 181 feet, six inches.  Jestena Mattson led the HRV girls by winning the 200 and 400 meters.   Stevenson’s girls were fourth and the boys sixth at a Trico League meet in Kalama.  The Bulldogs’ Madison McCrum won both the girls’ long jump and triple jump.  Kalama finished first in the girls’ portion of the meet, while LaCenter won the boys’ competition.

With competing budgets from House Democrats and Senate Republicans having been unveiled in the Washington Legislature, it appears both make strides toward making progress on fulfilling the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision mandating full funding of basic education.  Republican 14th District Representative Norm Johnson says they won’t get to full funding, but notes they have until 2018 under the ruling to get there.  The battleground will almost certainly involve taxation, and specifically a capital gains tax and a business and occupations tax increase that is in the House Democrat budget and vehemently opposed by Senate Republicans.

The Next Door, Inc. is partnering with the Northwest Marriage Institute to bring a fatherhood workshop to Hood River later this month.  It’s called “Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood,” and Tim Sybley of the Northwest Marriage Institute says the goal is to show men how they can be a better influence on their child’s life.  The workshop will be April 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hood River Middle School, and it is a free event.  To register go to northwestmarriage.org or call The Next Door for more information at 541-436-0319.