The Port of Hood River’s recent spring planning session included considering what the agency would look like once the a new Interstate Bridge is in place and the Port is no longer receiving revenues from the current bridge.  That may be seven years away, but Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says it’s important to start considering it now.   Level of service, size of the agency, and areas to manage and areas to give up are all issues McElwee says need to be addressed in the upcoming years.  Without the bridge, the Port still has its real estate holdings that are leased to area businesses, the Ken Jernstedt Airfield, and recreational locations on the waterfront to operate.

Baseball

Hood River Valley sweeps Ridgeview 6-3 and 10-6

Pendleton sweeps The Dalles 9-7 and 6-2

Columbia 15, Castle Rock 14

Stevenson 6, Onalaska 4

  Softball

Hood River Valley sweeps Ridgeview 7-6 and 6-5

Pendleton sweeps The Dalles 5-0 and 3-1

Castle Rock sweeps Columbia 10-0 and 15-5

Napavine sweeps Stevenson 12-1 and 12-2

  Track and Field

Both The Dalles boys and girls finished second to Kelso at the Canby Invitational.  Connor Blair and Jaxon Pullen won two events apiece for the Riverhawk boys, and The Dalles girls won all three relays.

  Alden Williams won both the 800 and 1500 meters to help Goldendale’s boys to a second place finish at the K-Valley Rally in Kittitas.  Emma Olson won the triple jump and was second in the long jump for the Timberwolf girls.

  A third place finish from Elliot Hawley in the boys’ 1500 meters highlighted the Hood River Valley effort at the Wilsonville Invitational.

  Horizon Christian’s boys were second at the Catlin Gabel Invitational.  Alex Whitaker finished second in two events for the Hawks.  Augustina Decker was second for the Hawk girls in the 1500 meters.

  Boys Lacrosse

Oregon Episcopal 10, Hood River Valley 5

 

Columbia Gorge Community College will receive $1.2 million in federal CARES Act Recovery funding to expand healthcare workforce training across the region.   U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced the award Tuesday.  CGCC Dean of Nursing and Healthcare Occupations Lorie Saito says the grant will enable the college to upgrade healthcare training equipment and facilities.  Funding will provide faculty support for the Medical Assisting program, allowing the college to increase class capacity to 24 students and address an urgent need for medical assistants in the region.  The grant also supports the college’s plans to offer nursing students a part-time option, creating a three-year program in addition to the current two-year program, helping students who are not able to commit to full-time studies.  Finally, the grant will jumpstart the college’s development of paramedic and EMT training.  The proposed paramedic degree will be a nine-month, hands-on, skills-based program providing students with the technical skills for emergency medical and trauma situations.  The degree will prepare students for the Oregon State and National Registry of Paramedic exams.

North Central Public Health District and One Community Health are urging parents to schedule appointments for the long-established Human Papilloma Virus vaccine for their children and adolescents.  The vaccine can prevent nine types of cancer in later life.  Boys and girls ages 9 to 14 should get two doses, which are given 6 to 12 months apart. If waiting until over the age of 15, it takes 3 doses to be fully immunized.  While age 9 to 14 is the ideal age timeframe, the vaccines can be given up to age 26.  Every year in the U.S. there are 5.5 million new cases of HPV. Immunizations are available at NCPHD and OCH in The Dalles and Hood River, at the Hood River Valley High School-Based Health Center and at most healthcare clinics.  For more information, contact North Central Public Health District at (541) 506-2600, or One Community Health at (541) 386.6380.

Community members will be able to be directly involved in the fabrication of  a sculpture over Cherry Festival weekend.  Local artist Macrae Wylde and The People’s Forge Project will lead 250 community members working with blacksmiths to forge iron components of the project during the festival.  The pieces will be used in the final sculpture to be placed in a new pocket park on the corner of 2nd and Washington Streets.  This past fall artists in the Columbia Gorge from Cascade Locks to Biggs Junction were invited to participate in a Call for Artists to design the sculpture.  The Peoples Forge was founded in 2019 by Kellen Bateham, a highly skilled Oregon blacksmith.

A community survey is about to begin, and an open house is planned, surrounding providing input for the Heights Streetscape on 12th and 13th Streets in Hood River.  Part of the Heights Urban Renewal District, it’s a five block stretch of the two streets between May and Belmont.  Hood River City Planning Director Dustin Nilsen says this project is a hallmark project that will define the future of the Urban Renewal district.  A number of concepts have been posted on the City’s website, with an emphasis on addressing traffic, transit, bicycle and pedestrian safety, walkability, and the area’s local businesses.  The survey at cityofhoodriver.gov will be available soon, while an open house is scheduled on April 22 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and April 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hood River Armory.

The Hood River County Health Department is planning to hold COVID-19 vaccination events in May.  County COVID-19 Response Coordinator Daron Ryan says the aim is provide opportunities for people to get vaccinations outside of normal business hours.  Ryan notes workers will be coming into the region in the next few months, and will need opportunities to be vaccinated outside of weekdays.  She adds the health department is also planning to do pop-up events to provide shots.

Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in March, down from 4.0% in February, continuing its rapid decline of recent months.  The March unemployment rate is well below the 6.1% it reached a year ago and is the lowest since prior to the pandemic-induced recession two years ago, in March 2020, when it was 3.5%.  Oregon Employment Department Economist Gail Krumenauer says In March, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment rose by 5,600 jobs, following a revised gain of 9,700 jobs in February.  The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6% in March and 3.8% in February.

The Dalles City Council approved providing $500,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council for its proposed Navigation Center for homeless services and $400,000 to the Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District for phase one of its Sorosis Park rehabilitation project.  The Community Action grant was made contingent upon site plan approval.  Councilor Dan Richardson made that suggestion, noting while he supports the project as conceived there are still steps to move through.  In other business, the Council approved the contract with new City Manager Matthew Klebes, who starts on the job in May.

The Hood River City Council approved the municipal work plan for 2022. The plan includes six critical projects: continuing development of 780 Rand Road for affordable housing, formation of a Westside Urban Renewal District, implementing an affordable housing production strategy, participating in Safe Routes to Schools, communications projects, moving on Heights Streetscape planning, and cleaning up the zoning code. Another set of projects is listed as significant, and a third set was already underway or carried over from a previous year.