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.

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.