With the return of spring and warmer, dry weather, work to construct a new Satus Creek Bridge on Highway 97, located between Indian Service Road and Wilson Charley Road in Klickitat County, is set to restart next week.  The Washington State Department of Transportation says work will continue on Wednesday to replace the existing two-lane concrete slab bridge with a new wider concrete structure that will meet current bridge standards and removes the existing freight traffic weight restriction.  Because bridge construction work is weather dependent, this project was paused in late fall 2021, until dry, warmer weather returned.  Travelers should expect intermittent single-lane closures Mondays through Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with potential delays up to 20 minutes.  Travelers should anticipate the delays to continue through fall 2022.  

Softball

Pendleton 14, The Dalles 1: The Buckaroos scored all of their runs in the final three innings to complete a sweep of the three-game series. Keilani Crichton-Tunai hit a home run in the third inning for the Riverhawks.

Toutle Lake 10, Stevenson 0

Track and Field

Aaron Smith of Lyle-Wishram won four different events at the Mt. Adams Invitational in Glenwood. Smith took first in the boys’ 300 meter hurdles, long jump, triple jump, and javelin. In the girls’ portion of the meet, Julie Hull and Holly Miles of South Wasco each won three events.

Girls Lacrosse

Lincoln 15, Hood River Valley 8

Baseball

Seton Catholic 6, Stevenson 3

  Track and Field

Hood River Valley’s Simone Tillman won three events, while Zoe Dunn of The Dalles and Ashley Bailey of Dufur won two apiece in a seven-school meet at Henderson Stadium.

Jessica Polkinghorn swept the throws as Columbia’s girls won a five-school meet at LaCenter.  Chanele Reyes and Ella Zimmerman won the hurdles races for the Bruins.  In the boys portion of the meet, Calvin Andrews took first in the 300 meter hurdles.

Wasco County Commissioners voted to approve a multi-governmental agreement on distribution of Community Service Fees that will be due from Google when it constructs new data centers on former aluminum plant property as agreed to in a Strategic Improvement Plan.  The agreement calls for the payments to be divided between the taxing districts involved based on each jurisdiction’s proportionate share of their non-debt tax levy or levies in the current tax year.  But County Administrator Tyler Stone noted that negotiations did lead to including North Wasco County School District 21, which by state regulations on Strategic Investment Plans was not required to be a part of the disbursement.  D-21 will receive a 30 percent share, which Stone said he hopes the district can use the dollars to leverage a future bond measure.  Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue and the Wasco County Library District approved the agreement this week, with other agencies to follow, including The Dalles City Council, which will address it at their Monday meeting.  Payments do not begin until the projects are completed.

Deputy Oregon state epidemiologist Dr. Tom Jeanne said a press conference today that COVID-19 cases are showing a steady rise in large part due to the BA.2 variant and the lifting of mask requirements, but he also said any peak will be substantially lower than seen with Delta or Omicron variants.  Jeanne says that’s because the state is in a much different situation than a year ago, with a large part of the state vaccinated.  He added Oregon Health Sciences University modeling at this time projects only a slight increase in hospitalizations.  Jeanne also said the proportion of cases reported has likely declined in recent weeks with the wide-spread availability of in-home testing.

Wasco County Commissioners Wednesday approved a memorandum of understanding with the Columbia River Gorge Commission and the Port of The Dalles, calling on the three agencies to meet at least once a year to discuss growth management planning, particularly in regard to The Dalles urban area.  County Commissioners expressed hope the agreement can create a pathway toward a future working relationship, with Commissioner Steve Kramer noting much has changed since the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area was established in the 1980’s.  Local officials were unhappy with NSA management plan revisions that they feel severely limited options for growth of The Dalles’ urban area.  The agreement also calls for Wasco County to join the Gorge Commission in seeking funding for a review of The Dalles Urban Area if it is not provided in the Gorge Commission’s biennial budget from the Oregon and Washington legislatures.

The White Salmon Valley School District has established a set of district priorities for the 2022-23 school year.  They are focused in six areas:  academic success, college, career, and post-secondary success, the whole child, fiscal management, resource management, and taking actions through a lens of equity.  District Superintendent Sean McGeeney says the priorities are meant to be long-term visions.  The priorities are posted on the district’s website:  wsvsd.org.

One of the goals of this year’s Northwest Cherry Festival in The Dalles is to get people into area businesses.  Part of that is the Little Music City listing in the festival schedule.  The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Lisa Farquharson says a number of locations are hosting live music throughout the weekend, and the Chamber is using its community calendar to provide a schedule.  Farquharson is encouraging music venues to inform the Chamber of their schedules this weekend to be placed in their on-line community calendar.

Home At Last Humane Society is gearing up for an upcoming walkathon fundraiser.  The animal shelter in The Dalles will hold its Dimes for Dogs Walkathon on May 21 to help meet the rising costs of operating the facility.  But the organization’s Erin Foote Morgan says before that, they are planning a major volunteer clean-up day of their facility at 200 River Road on Saturday, April 30.  To take part in the clean-up that will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 30, go to homeatlasths.org to get signed up.

Klickitat County is establishing a ban on outdoor burning for Klickitat County Burn Ban Zone One as of May 1. That zone is defined as lands east of the Klickitat County Fire District #7 eastern boundary to include but not limited to Klickitat County Fire Districts #2, 9 and 10, and outside the jurisdictions of the Yakama Indian Nation and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. The ban prohibits the issuance of burning permits except for authorized agricultural burning. Residential barbecues will be allowed. The ban will continue through September 30. Information for Klickitat County Burn Ban Zones 2 and 3 will be released as soon as the 2022 dates are finalized. Burn ban maps can be viewed online at klickitatcounty.org.