Intermountain Conference Soccer Tournament Boys The Dalles 6, Redmond 3:  The Riverhawks visit Ridgeview in the semi-finals on Wednesday. Girls Hood River Valley 7, Crook County 0:  The Eagles advance to a semi-final match at The Dalles on Wednesday.   Boys Soccer Hood River Valley JV 1, Trout Lake 0   Volleyball South Wasco def. Klickitat-Glenwood 25-9, 25-18, 25-18   Baseball Toutle Lake 7, Stevenson 3   Softball Toutle Lake 21, Stevenson 3

The Hood River County Commission is starting to think about what it will do with what’s expected to be a sizeable amount of federal money from the American Rescue Plan.  County Administrator Jeff Hecksel told Commissioners they are still awaiting specific guidance from the U.S. Treasury.  Commissioners Arthur Babitz and Bob Benton were selected to be an ad-hoc task force to examine how the funds can be best used and make some high-level recommendations to the entire panel.  Babitz noted one of the difficulties will be while there are specific programs within the American Rescue Plan with a specific carve-out, but at the end money is assigned to local government to make determination as where to fill in gaps.  Commissioners plan to hold a worksession on the subject after the committee develops some recommendations.  

YouthThink of Wasco County will be offering a free virtual presentation of the film “Screenagers: Next Chapter” in late May.  The film is the sequel to “Screenagers” produced by Dr. Delaney Ruston, and discusses solutions for adolescent well-being in the digital age.  Debby Jones of YouthThink says the virtual presentation will include both the film and a Q-and-A session with Ruston.  The screening will take place May 25 at 6:30 p.m., and it will be free.  Jones says they will begin to provide sign up information at YouthThink.net soon.  

The Dalles Public Works on Wednesday will begin paving repair of the street cuts for installation of a sanitary sewer main on East Scenic Drive between the entrances to Columbia Gorge Community College and Sorosis Park.  Construction is expected to occur for two days with expected completion by Thursday.  The eastbound lane will be closed for repairs on a section of roadway.  Through traffic will be flagged to a single lane next to the construction zone, but expect delays.  Work hours will be 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Business and residential neighborhood access will be open during construction.  The sidewalk will remain open to pedestrian traffic during construction.

About 11 months after voters in Hood River County approved a five-year local option levy for public safety, Sheriff Matt English told County Commissioners they are moving forward with what they wanted to accomplish.  English said they felt an immediate impact from filling an administrative position to free up more time for deputies.  One deputy graduated from the Oregon Police Academy on Friday, and two more will do so at the end of the month.  English said they are back up to 20 hours a day of coverage, and the goal of 24/7 coverage is closing in on happening, either in the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022.  English did say there were early setbacks due to COVID-19, primarily involving training delays, but those have been overcome.

The Washington State Senate has unanimously passed and sent to the governor a bill authored by 14th District Representative Gina Mosbrucker that would create a task force on domestic violence and workplace resources to identify the role of the workplace in helping to curb domestic violence.  Under House Bill 1315, the Department of Commerce would convene a task force on domestic violence and workplace resources, getting input from representatives of various groups.  For the past three years, the bill has passed the House with a unanimous vote.  Mosbrucker originally introduced the legislation as House Bill 1056 in 2019.  The measure passed the House in 2019, but didn’t survive in the Senate in the first year.  In 2020, it passed both chambers of the Legislature, but was one of 147 bills to be vetoed last year by Gov. Jay Inslee in an effort to save money as the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning to spread across Washington.  Now in its second trip to the governor’s desk, Mosbrucker is optimistic it will be signed.

The Hood River County Health Department is planning a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the County Fairgrounds in Odell this Saturday that will targeted toward farmworkers.  County Health Department Director Trish Elliott told the County Commission that they plan to give out 1200 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and they have been doing targeted outreach into the agricultural community.  Sign-ups for the clinic are being taken at hrccovid19.org.  Elliott added they have received “significantly more” vaccine in the last couple of weeks.  She says they are about two months ahead of where they thought they would be.

Football Hood River Valley 24, The Dalles 6 Dufur 40, Adrian 38 South Wasco 45, Joseph 0   Volleyball Pendleton def. Hood River Valley 23-25, 25-8, 25-9, 25-15 Crook County def. The Dalles 25-13, 25-12, 25-7 Dufur def. Condon 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 17-15 South Wasco def. Sherman 25-16, 25-7, 25-18   Baseball King’s Way Christian sweeps Columbia 12-1 and 8-1

The Wasco County Planning Department is beginning the process to revise the County’s Land Use and Development Ordinance, building on the recently developed updates to the County’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan.  County Long-Range Planner Kelly Howsley-Glover says the LUDO updates are expected to take two years to put together, and they’ll start with some of the simpler work first like adopting state law that isn’t in the ordinance and procedural chapters to allow people to become familiar with the process.  A Wasco County Planning Commission worksession to kick-off the work will take place on-line Tuesday at 3 p.m.  It will be held on Zoom, and log-in information is available on the County Planning Department website.

While Klickitat County has not seen a major spike in COVID-19 cases, there were five reported last week, the most in a couple of months.  County Public Health Director Erinn Quinn says they are watching the numbers closely, and she is concerned about people letting their guard down and not taking the precautions they should.  Quinn does say 18 percent of Klickitat County residents have been fully vaccinated, with the state of Washington making anyone over the age of 16 eligible to receive one on April 15.  She adds that on average, the County is receiving at least 400 COVID vaccine doses per week.