A driver was arrested Sunday morning after a reported hit and run near 10th and Cherry Heights in The Dalles.  According to The Dalles Police Department, the suspect vehicle sideswiped another vehicle and continued to drive on 10th Street, weaving badly and leaving its lane.  With help from the victim, who continued to follow the suspect, officers intercepted the suspect vehicle and pulled it over.  The suspect was transported to NORCOR and took a breath test with a result of 0.29% blood alcohol content, which is over three times the legal limit.  The driver was booked into NORCOR on charges of hit and run with property damage and driving under the influence of intoxicants.  The incident occurred just before 9 a.m. Sunday.  The Dalles Police Department says it has made 28 DUII arrests so far this year.  

A 36-year-old White Salmon woman died in a one-vehicle accident on Highway 141 in Klickitat County on Sunday.  According to the Washington State Patrol, the pickup driven by 36-year-old Irina Jasiukonis was going southbound on Highway 141 at milepost 4 when it went over the center line.  The WSP says the vehicle went onto the northbound shoulder, and then overcorrected and traveled back across the lane and off the embankment.  Jasiukonis was pronounced deceased at the scene.  The accident occurred at about 12:25 on Sunday afternoon.

The Oregon State Police reports a motorist from Antelope who had not returned home as expected has been found dead in his vehicle off Highway 293.  According to an OSP statement issued Monday morning, the agency received the report that 35-year-old Nilton Vilchez Cardenas was missing on Thursday night.  The car was located off Highway 293 in a marsh area concealed by tall weeds, and Cardenas was found deceased in the vehicle.  Witnesses reported the driver passed them on the highway at a high rate of speed on Thursday morning around 3:00 a.m.  It appears the driver left the roadway shortly after passing the witness and rolled several times before coming to rest.  The OSP was assisted by the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The discharge to the Columbia River from The Dalles Wastewater Treatment Plant has returned to compliance with permit limits for E. coli as of Sunday morning.  The average of five samples taken throughout the day on Saturday at the City discharge point to the river were within limits.  The delay in reading out the test results was due to the 24-hour incubation time that the test requires.  Recent Columbia River samples show that E. coli levels at the sample locations were well below bacterial criteria set by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for freshwater recreation.  Signs which were placed at locations of public river access on the Oregon shore of the Columbia River on Thursday to warn of contaminated water were taken down Sunday morning.  The Dalles Public Works Department was in communication with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and local health department officials to coordinate demobilization.

With the June authorizations of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for both the 6 months to 5 years age group and the 6-17 age group, North Central Public Health District has switched to offering only the Moderna vaccine to everyone ages 6 months and up.  For both age groups, the vaccine is a two-dose series, given 28 days apart.  NCPHD officials say they opted to go exclusively with Moderna for two reasons.  One is to offer a vaccine choice to the community, since most other entities are offering only the Pfizer vaccine.  The other is to simplify the COVID vaccine system to maintain the agency’s track record of avoiding vaccine errors.  By offering only Moderna, NCPHD has just three vaccine formulations to consider.  With Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, it would have been eight.  NCPHD offers vaccinations free to everyone Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.  Please call 541-506-2600 to make an appointment.

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.