Health officials are reminding those who are vaccinated for COVID-19 they still need to wear a facial covering and maintain social distancing.  Hood River County Health Officer Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg explains in a Facebook video released Sunday one of the reasons for that is the way the vaccine works, with people inoculated with the virus so the body recognizes it and fights it off.  Van Tilburg says they believe the risk of transmission is low, but not zero.  He also says while the efficacy of the vaccines are very high, they can fail, and there are worries about variants of the virus.

Opportunity Connections, which has provided support services for people with disabilities in Hood River, Wasco, and Sherman counties since 1967, has merged with a larger organization.  Opportunity Connections is now joining with Community Access Services, which serves the Portland metro area and will provide much of the administrative support to local staff.  The merger took effect on Thursday.  A release from Opportunity Connections indicates most of the changes won’t be apparent to the public, with the same staff and locations.  The Opportunity Connections name will be maintained, although it will be a division of Community Access Services.

The Dalles Public Works Department will be flushing fire hydrants throughout the city over the next few weeks.  Fire hydrants are flushed in order to clean out deposits, sediments and rust from distribution pipelines, help minimize water quality problems, test fire protection water pressures, exercise hydrant valves, and identify hydrants needing repair or replacement.  Motorists and pedestrians are asked to avoid driving or walking through the water coming directly from a hydrant while it is being flushed.  Occasionally main flushing causes water flowing from a tap to be discolored from stirred up sediment or milky white caused by tiny air bubbles.  Although discolored water won’t make you sick, you might want to flush the pipe by running the water for several minutes before drinking or washing.  If the water does not clear, contact The Dalles Public Works at 541-296-5401.

The Gorge Community Foundation is taking applications for its Gorge Community Grants program.  The Community Grants program provides charitable funds as the Foundation board determines are most needed and not limited to a single focus or exclusively to the interests of a particular constituency.  The total available for 2021 granting through GCF Community Grants is $14,000 and proposals will be accepted for any amount up to that total.  Applications are due May 10 and funding decisions and grants awarded the end of June.  The range of grants in the past has been $650 to $4,000.  Starting this year, GCF’s Joan Burchell Fund and the Riddell and Athalie Lage Fund have been combined into a single program to increase the amount of funding available.  For more information, go to gorgecf.org.

A bill in the Oregon House would require employers to pay farmworkers in Oregon overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week.  That has some in the agriculture industry concerned.  Oregon 26th District State Senator Chuck Thomsen testified on the bill in a House committee, and the Upper Hood River Valley orchardist thinks the bill would actually hurt many of his workers.  He uses harvest work as an example, when many workers are trying to work as much as they can and move on to other orchards to continue to pick.  Proponents say farmworkers should be afforded the same overtime pay provisions as other workers.

Shake Alert is now available in Oregon.  Althea Rizzo of the Oregon Office of Emergency Management says ShakeAlert uses science and technology to detect significant earthquakes quickly and sends a real time alert to people on compatible cell phones and other mobile devices through text-like messages.  Rizzo points out it does not predict earthquakes.  No sign up is required to receive ShakeAlert notifications, and no action needs to be taken other than enabling emergency alerts on your cell phone.

Boys Soccer Hood River Valley 1, The Dalles 1:  The draw nailed down first place in the Intermountain Conference for the Eagles. Seton Catholic 5, Stevenson 1   Girls Soccer The Dalles 0, Hood River Valley 0:  HRV dominated the chances in the game, but the Riverhawks were able to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.   Volleyball South Wasco def. Dufur 3-1 Sherman def. Bickleton 3-0   Football Sherman 40, Mitchell-Spray 32   Track and Field Stevenson won the girls portion of a four-school meet, while Adna finished first in the boys’ portion.  Jazmin Mendoza and Ryan Jackson won two events apiece for the Bulldog girls, while Garrett Bernt won a pair for the Stevenson boys.   Columbia was the boys’ winner and LaCenter took first in the girls’ standings in a three-school meet in White Salmon that also included Goldendale.  Goldendale’s Tiana Watson won a pair of events.   Baseball Winlock 6, Stevenson 5   Softball Winlock 13, Stevenson 8

The Oregon Health Authority and the Hood River County Health Department are going to hold two COVID-19 testing events on Monday and Tuesday.  Monday’s will take place at the Marine Park Pavilion in Cascade Locks, and then on Tuesday at the River of Life Assembly in Hood River, with both from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.  To make an appointment, go to doineedacovid19test.com.  Everyone is welcome, no insurance is required.  The tests are done with a quick and pain-free self-administered nasal swab.

The Hood River Police Department says there have been seven reports of catalytic converters being stolen from vehicles within the city limits since the start of the year, and another was reported by the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office this past weekend. Thieves target catalytic converters because they contain precious metals, like platinum, palladium or rhodium that are valuable to metal dealers. When the catalytic converter has been removed, your vehicle will make a loud roaring sound that will get louder as you push the gas pedal. It can cost on average up to $2,000 to replace a catalytic converter and it is illegal to drive your car without one. Police say to prevent catalytic converter theft, park in well-lit areas and close to building entrances or in a garage if possible, have the catalytic converter welded to your car frame to make it harder to steal, consider engraving your vehicle identification number on the converter, calibrate your car’s alarm to set off when it detects a vibration, or use video surveillance. New Oregon Senate bill, SB 803, has been proposed to curb the rise in catalytic converter thefts by prohibiting scrap metal businesses from buying or receiving catalytic converters, except from commercial sellers.

Sustained prices since the end of the last harvest season is bringing good prices to wheat producers in the Mid-Columbia.  OSU Extension General Agricultural Agent for Wasco and Sherman counties Jacob Powell says COVID had initially impacted the price of wheat, but prices have picked up thanks to high demand from customers in Asia.  Powell says the biggest concern for wheat producers is the dry spring, as they hope to see more moisture get into the ground before hot summer temperatures arrive.