Columbia Gorge Community College’s Pre-College programs will be launching a new website on Tuesday.  The address is ged.cgcc.edu.  CGCC pre-college programs director Matt Fitzpatrick says they have been preparing the website for the last six months using grant funding, and he says one of its features is an initial needs survey for potential students.  The site will also include general information on the pre-college programs at CGCC.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland and Walla Walla districts will close all Corps navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers this Saturday at 6 a.m. for regularly-scheduled annual inspections, preventative maintenance and repairs.  Navigation locks on the Columbia River are located at Bonneville Dam, The Dalles Dam, John Day Dam, and McNary Dam.  Navigation Locks on the Snake River are located at Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite dams.  Corps officials anticipate all Columbia River locks along with those at Lower Monumental and Little Goose dams on the Snake River will return to service March 22.  The other Snake River navigation locks will be put back into service by March 29.

The state of Oregon’s new COVID-19 risk levels go into effect on Friday.  Wasco County drops from the “extreme risk” category all the way to the “lower risk” designation, while Hood River County moves from “high risk” to “moderate risk.”  Health officials emphasize the need for people to continue to practice public health measures.   In Wasco County, when the designation change takes place Friday, in-person dining at restaurants and bars in Wasco County can resume at 50 percent capacity with a closing time of midnight.  Churches in Wasco County can operate at 75 percent capacity indoors, theaters, museums, and gyms can operate at 50 percent capacity, long-term care facilities can have inside visitation, offices can have limited in-person work, retail stores can operate at 75 percent capacity, and indoor social gatherings can have up to ten people with a recommended limit from up to four households.   In Hood River County, in-person dining at restaurants and bars in Hood River County can resume at 50 percent capacity with a closing time of 11 p.m.  Churches in Hood River County can operate at 50 percent capacity indoors, theaters, museums, and gyms can operate at 50 percent capacity, retail stores can operate at 75 percent capacity, and indoor social gatherings can have up to eight people with a recommended limit from up to two households.

The state of Oregon’s latest revenue forecast is now saying the state will take in hundreds of millions of dollars more in the current budget cycle than expected, to the point where there is a possibility of $570 million of “kicker” payments could go back to citizens.  The kicker comes into play if state revenues are two percent above initial projections.  Democrat 52nd District Representative Anna Williams says the forecast still leaves budget questions, adding while the “kicker” payments go out they could still be facing cuts to human services and public health care that she believes need to be invested in for the state to make a full recovery from the pandemic.  Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod pointed out the forecast shows how the state has benefited from federal coronavirus relief funds, and warned against the legislature instituting new taxes or rollbacks of COVID-19 relief.

The Washington State House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill authored by 14th District Representative Gina Mosbrucker that seeks to provide greater security against data breaches within the Employment Security Department and the Department of Labor and Industries.  Mosbrucker says House Bill 1455 contains two important components to increase security and avoid hackers:  examining practices individual Social Security numbers are disclosed in agency correspondence with third party entities, and requiring those agencies, whenever possible, to institute procedures to replace the use of a full nine-digit Social Security number.  Mosbrucker owns and operates several businesses in Goldendale, including a motel.  She says many businesses discontinued the use of full nine-digit Social Security numbers in transactions many years ago, and it makes sense for state government to do the same.  

Consumer groups are warning people to watch out for COVID-19 vaccine scams.  Oregon Attorney General’s office director of consumer outreach and education Ellen Klem says she is grateful there hasn’t been a significant number of scams reported to her office yet, but there are some things folks should watch out for.  She says “If somebody contacts you out of the blue and makes promises, says things like they can ‘get you to the head of the line for a small fee,’ that is a big red flag that it is a scam.” Klem notes people don’t have to pay for the vaccine, and it’s only being offered through federal and state partners, and was recently expanded to certain pharmacies. Scams took their toll on consumers last year.  The Federal Trade Commission reports Americans lost three-point-three billion dollars to fraud in 2020.

North Central Public Health District announced a sharp decrease in COVID-19 cases will drop Wasco County all the way to the state’s “Lower Risk” category beginning on Friday.  Wasco County recorded just 27 COVID cases for the 14-day period that ended Saturday, which will make the County just the second to drop by three categories at once since Oregon’s four-category risk framework was introduced last November.  NCPHD Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell said there were a number of factors involved in the move, including vaccinations in high-risk populations, less traveling coming out of the holidays, and people practicing public health measures.  McDonell emphasizes that people still need to wear masks and practice social distancing.  When the category change takes effect on Friday, in-person dining at restaurants and bars in Wasco County can resume at 50 percent capacity with a closing time of midnight.  Churches in Wasco County can operate at 75 percent capacity indoors, theaters, museums, and gyms can operate at 50 percent capacity, long-term care facilities can have inside visitation, offices can have limited in-person work, retail stores can operate at 75 percent capacity, and indoor social gatherings can have up to ten people with a recommended limit from up to four households.

Hood River County will move from “high risk” to “moderate risk” as Oregon does its every two-week update of COVID-19 guidelines that will take effect on Friday.  Oregon Health Authority statistics show Hood River County had 30 COVID-19 cases during the time period that ended on Saturday, just short of the number needed to drop to “lower risk.”  When the category change takes effect on Friday, in-person dining at restaurants and bars in Hood River County can resume at 50 percent capacity with a closing time of 11 p.m.  Churches in Hood River County can operate at 50 percent capacity indoors…theaters, museums, and gyms can operate at 50 percent capacity, retail stores can operate at 75 percent capacity, and indoor social gatherings can have up to eight people with a recommended limit from up to two households.

The Secretary of Agriculture has given concurrence that the revised Gorge 2020 Management Plan for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is consistent with the National Scenic Area Act.  In approving the revised plan in October, the Columbia River Gorge Commission focused on updates to increase protections in the Scenic and Natural Resources chapters, as well as Economic Development, Land Uses, Urban Area Boundary revisions, and Recreation chapters.  There is also a new Climate Change Chapter, and the Gorge Commission will begin developing a climate change action plan in 2021.  With the concurrence determination, the Gorge Commission will now formally transmit the revised Management Plan to the counties in the National Scenic Area to incorporate into their county ordinances.

Oregon and Washington fishery managers adopted recreational spring Chinook salmon and steelhead seasons for the Columbia River Tuesday during a joint state hearing.   The season from Bonneville Dam to the Oregon/Washington border will run from March 16 to May 5, with a bag limit of two adult hatchery Chinook or Steelhead per day, but only one may be a Chinook.  Below Bonneville Dam the season will run from March 1 to April 4, with the same bag limit.  The overall forecasted return of adult spring Chinook to the Columbia River mouth of 143,200 fish is similar to last year’s actual return of 142,500.  However, the season-setting process is driven by the forecast for upriver-origin spring Chinook of 75,200 fish, which is lower than last year’s actual return of 81,300.