The Dalles Bridge will close at 8 p.m. this evening and be shutdown until 6 a.m. Monday in the first of a series of closures that will occur every weekend through Memorial Day of next year as the Oregon Department of Transportation does a bridge deck replacement project.  ODOT’s Peter Murphy says doing the re-decking in winter is not ideal, but it does avoid impacting tourist and harvest seasons.  ODOT has worked with the Army Corps of Engineeers to allow emergency vehicles to cross the Columbia River at The Dalles Dam when necessary.

An out-of-season outage will close The Dalles Dam’s navigation lock this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says a specialized rope-access, or climbing, inspection team will be performing an assessment, which is part of a required five-year cycle.  The Corps has a requirement to periodically and thoroughly inspect all hydraulic steel structures to ensure they are still safe to work behind.  The Corps says this outage is separate from the miter gate issue discovered during the annual lock outage and unanticipated extension in March 2021.  Portland District engineers plan to leverage any information gained from this inspection to better inform and optimize the repairs to be done in next year’s planned outage.

Hood River County is nearing having 80 percent of those 18 years and older vaccinated against COVID-19.  Oregon Health Authority statistics heading into the week put Hood River County at 78.7 percent of those above 18 having received at least one dose, with nearly 74 percent fully vaccinated.  The County is 268 people away from the 80 percent mark.  County COVID-19 Response Coordinator Daron Ryan says they are continuing to push to get more people vaccinated.  Ryan says case numbers are high with the Delta variant circulating in the community, adding the health department is asking people to adhere to state masking mandates to slow the spread of the virus.

The White Salmon Valley School District and the White Salmon Valley Education Foundation have recently received a variety of grants to support student achievement and well-being.  The district’s free after- school program for at-risk youth, A-List Adventures, received $347,000 of additional 21st Century Community Learning Center funding for the next two years for a new high school program and additional after-school support for existing programs.  A $23,800 “No Child Left Inside” grant from the Washington State Office of Recreation and Conservation will enable students in sixth to eighth grades to attend outdoor education programs.  A $15,870 grant from both the Washington State Arts Commission and the White Salmon Arts Council will provide artists-in-residency programs in the district.  A $5,000 grant from the Boeing Company will provide mental health and wellness support for students, while a $2,000 grant from the Klickitat County Community- Clinical Linkages Group via the Cambia Health Foundation will help fund Sources of Strength, a suicide prevention program, at Columbia High School.

As students return to Oregon classrooms for another school year, state health and education officials are asking people to do their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 so students can stay in school.  Appearing in a Tuesday press conference with Governor Kate Brown…Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill said everyone holds some responsibility to achieve a full-time in-person school year.  He asked Oregonians to wear a mask and get vaccinated to help achieve that goal.  Dr. Dana Braner, physician-in-chief at Oregon Health & Science University children’s hospital, said a return to in-person school is essential, not only for children’s education, but for their physical and mental health as well.  Although the school year has just begun, a few Oregon schools have already had to close or delay their start due to student and staff quarantines because of COVID-19 cases.

The Oregon Health Authorty’s newest modeling offers some encouragement that the spread of COVID-19 is slowing, but it requires more adult Oregonians to get vaccinated and following statewide safety mandates.  During a Tuesday press conference with Governor Kate Brown, state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger says decisions made in the next few weeks will determine whether COVID numbers actually do go down.  He continued to push for everyone to get vaccinated, wear masks in public settings, and practice social distancing.  Sidelinger says hospitals are reaching a saturation point where health systems are not able to provide care to everyone arriving at their doors.

Volleyball Hood River Valley def. Columbia, 3-1 Dufur def. Ione-Arlington 25-8, 25-12, 25-20 South Wasco def. Mitchell-Spray-Wheeler 25-14, 25-22, 25-15 King’s Way Christian def. Stevenson, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23 Klickitat Glenwood def. Condon-Wheeler, 3-0   Girls Soccer Scappoose 6, The Dalles 0 Trout Lake 8, Umatilla 0  

Starting this weekend, The Dalles Bridge will be closed from Thursday nights at 8 p.m. through Monday mornings at 6 a.m. through Memorial Day weekend 2022 to facilitate a bridge deck replacement project.  Peter Murphy of the Oregon Department of Transportation says a number of different closure options were considered for the project, but this was determined to cause the least disruption.  Murphy added ODOT has worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to allow emergency vehicles to cross at The Dalles Dam when needed.  ODOT is recommending the Biggs Junction Bridge to the east to provide access across the Columbia River when The Dalles Bridge is closed.  

Columbia Gorge Community College has decided to postpone its Saturday ribbon-cutting for two new facilities on its campus in The Dalles.  CGCC ‘s Dan Spatz said with hospitals at capacity and new infections anticipated to peak in the next week or two, there is too much risk in gathering people together to hold a formal opening ceremony for the Columbia Gorge Regional Skills Center and the Chinook Residence Hall.  He added based on RSVPs to date, the event would already be well past the maximum number of attendees recommended by health officials even with masks and social distancing.  The college will reschedule a recognition or dedication event for the two facilities when conditions allow.  The buildings themselves will still open on time.

Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association is staring a new monthly music series called Music from the Global Village.  Association artistic director Mark Steighner says the inspiration for the series came from an online class he taught on world music.  The first concert will be this Sunday featuring Boka Marimba performing music from Zimbabwe and southeastern Africa.  It will take place at 2 p.m. outdoors at Hood River Valley Christian Church.  No tickets are required, but donations will be accepted.