The filing deadline for Oregon’s 2021 Special Districts election has passed, and there are a number of contested seats, including three on the North Wasco County School District 21 board.  Incumbent Rebecca Thistlethwaite and Mary Morehouse are the candidates for the Zone 1 seat, current board chair John Nelson and Carla McQuade are the choices for Zone 4, and Holly Gove and Brian Stevens are seeking the Zone 5 position.  Both positions on the ballot for the Port of The Dalles Commission have two candidates, incumbent Robert Wallace and Jack Hay for position 1, and John Willer and Marcus Swift running for position 3.  There is one contested race for the Hood River County School District board, with Heidi Parr and Jennifer Kelly seeking the at-large position.  The Port of Hood River Commission has two people seeking position 3:  Michael Fox and Lach Litner.

Klickitat County reports it has only two active COVID-19 cases, and has had only four new cases in the past fourteen days.  The County issued the update as the state of Washington enters into Phase 3 of reopening on Monday, allowing all indoor spaces to open at a 50% occupancy or 400 people maximum, along with allowing in-person spectators at events as well as participation for indoor events with capacity limits specific to the size of the event.  The County says required metrics to remain in phase 3 include maintaining 30 or fewer COVID-19 cases in a fourteen day period and three or fewer hospitalizations in a seven day period.  Klickitat County officials also emphasize that vaccines are an important aspect of maintaining the low case counts, and almost 10,000 have been given out in the county so far.

The U.S. House has passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021 with bipartisan support, sending it to the Senate.  Oregon Second District Congressman Cliff Bentz was joined by 29 other House Republicans in passing this legislation, which seeks to address the labor shortage faced by many food and fiber producers.  The bill looks to help streamline and reduce costs in the H-2A visa program, which has been criticized for being cumbersome, inefficient, and slow.  But many in the agriculture sector rely on H-2A visas to help fill gaps in their workforce.  The legislation would also institute a mandatory E-Verify system for all agricultural employment.  

The Dalles Public Works on Monday will begin installation of a sanitary sewer main on East Scenic Drive between the entrance to Columbia Gorge Community College and the entrance to Sorosis Park.  Construction is expected to take about a week, with expected completion by March 29.  A full road closure will be in effect 24 hours a day.  A detour to East 14th Street between Lincoln and Jefferson streets will be in place until the project is complete.  The sidewalk will remain open to pedestrian traffic during construction.  The purpose of this work is to increase sanitary sewer capacity.

There will be intermittent, single-lane closures of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. weekdays starting on Monday through April 2 for semi-annual maintenance and repair welding to the steel grate bridge deck.  Multiple Port crews will be on the bridge during those hours and flaggers will direct traffic around the moving work zones.  Motorists should expect delays of approximately 15-20 minutes.  Since the bridge’s narrow traffic lanes and lack of shoulders create a very compact work zone, motorists are urged to drive slowly and with extreme caution for worker safety, and to avoid looking directly at the welding arc light as they pass the work shield.

Boys Soccer Hood River Valley 3, Ridgeview 2:  Jaden Dubon scored three goals in the final ten minutes to lead HRV to a comeback win. Trout Lake 5, Willamette Valley Christian 1   Girls Soccer Hood River Valley 0, Ridgeview 0   Volleyball Pendleton def. The Dalles 25-12, 25-15, 28-26 Sherman def. Ione 25-12, 23-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-9 South Wasco def. Trout Lake 3-0   Southwest Washington Class 1A Volleyball Tournament Goldendale def. Castle Rock 3 games to 1:  The Timberwolves play King’s Way Christian in the championship match on Saturday.   Football Stevenson 39, Toutle Lake 6

With the cherry harvest season coming in a couple of months, North Central Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell talked with Wasco County Commissioners about preparations for agricultural workers coming to the area from a COVID-19 perspective.  McDonell says a number of systems were built up in the last year for this, with communication between western states and the Mexican consulate to do messaging with workers that if a vaccine is available to them, they should get it, and if they only get one dose of a two-shot vaccine bring their information so they can be matched up with the correct vaccine.  McDonell said the Oregon Health Authority has said they will direct doses to the area for seasonal agricultural workers if needed.

Even without the census data that will be needed to make decisions, Oregon legislators continue to hold virtual public hearings on redistricting for legislative and Congressional districts.  Oregon 59th District Representative Daniel Bonham notes even though the data is delayed, it would not have been available right now had it been on time.  So he says this is an opportunity for citizens to give their thoughts on what should be consider in redrawing the lines, .and he hopes to hear from more me during another session for the current Congressional District 2 on Saturday.  The next hearing is Saturday at 1 p.m.  For information on how to take part, go to oregonlegislature.gov/redistricting.

White Salmon Valley School District Superintendent Jerry Lewis is retiring at the end of the school year.  Lewis has been with the district for 24 years, the last 12 as superintendent.  He says it’s been a wonderful career, adding he had actually considered retiring last year.  The district has begun the process to search for a replacement.  

Cracking found in a downstream gate of the navigation lock of The Dalles Dam during its annual inspection will require the Army Corps of Engineers to extend is closure to April 1.  A planned, system-wide outage of all the locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers is scheduled to end March 21.   Corps officials believe vibration, improper sealing and gate misalignment likely caused the damage.  The Corps plans to update the status of the lock every Monday and Thursday until it is back in service.  On an average day, around six commercial vessels pass through The Dalles Dam navigation lock.