Ballots in Oregon’s special districts’ election are due in County election offices or designated drop-boxes by 8 p.m. Tuesday.  In Wasco County, ballots can be taken to the County Courthouse in The Dalles.  The Dalles Rotary will be hosting the Ballot Drive-Thru collection from 7 am – 8 pm on Election Day, which is the same hours the County elections’ office is open.  Wasco County also has ballot boxes in Dufur, Mosier, Maupin and Simnasho.  In Hood River County, ballots can be dropped at the County Election Office on 601 State Street in Hood River or at Cascade Locks City Hall.    

A full week of lift-span inspections on the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge was completed, and Port of Hood River Executive Director Michael McElwee says the results were good.  McElwee says this was the first year in a significant amount of time that all the ropes were fully inspected.  McElwee did say there were a couple of anomalies, including a deformation of a small portion of one of the northeast corner cable ropes, that will be monitored.

The City of Hood River will hold a community meeting on its City Manager recruitment process on Thursday, and a community survey is available through Friday.  The survey and community meeting are facilitated by Jensen Strategies, the recruitment firm selected by the City to help with the process.  The community input meeting will be held Thursday at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.  Community members may register for the virtual meeting by sending names and email addresses to sandy@jensen-strategies.com by Wednesday.  A link to the online survey is available in English at surveymonkey.com/r/HR-community.

Track and Field Hood River Valley finished second to Crook County in the girls’ portion of the Intermountain Conference track and field championships, while The Dalles was fourth.  HRV’s Chloe Bullock won both the 800 and 1500 meters, while teammates Simone Tillman won the 200 meters and Poppy Miller the pole vault.  HRV also won the 4 by 100 meter relay.  For The Dalles, Emily Johnson took first in the 3,000 meters and Zoe Dunn won the long jump.   In the boys’ competition The Dalles had a pair of double event winners on the way to a sixth place finish.  Jaxon Pullen won the 100 and 200 meters, and Juan Diego Contreras won the 1500 and 3,000 meters.  HRV was fourth with Josh Haynes winning the 800 and Steven Stanley the pole vault.  Pendleton won the team title.   Arlington was the boys winner and South Wasco took first in the girls standings at the Sherman County Invitational.  Remington Sheer of South Wasco and Mercedez Cardona of Sherman were triple event winners.   Dufur was the girls’ winner and Bickleton the boys’ victor in the Pirate Invitational at Bickleton.  Lyle-Wishram’s Aaron Smith won three events.   Baseball Hood River Valley sweeps The Dalles 9-1 and 11-1 Dufur sweeps Heppner-Ione 2-0 and 13-3 Sherman sweeps Riverside 12-0 and 17-2 Irrigon 10, Lyle-Wishram-Klickitat 0   Softball The Dalles 9, Hood River Valley 5 Hood River Valley 16, The Dalles 5   Boys Basketball Toledo 52, Stevenson 35 Kittitas 62, Goldendale 52   Girls Basketball Goldendale 51, Columbia 40 Goldendale 60, Kittitas 23 Adna 68, Stevenson 14

Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced the state will follow guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention easing indoor mask-wearing and social distancing for fully vaccinated people.  Brown said in a video statement Thursday that the new CDC guidance means Oregonians who are fully-vaccinated no longer need to wear masks or social distance in most public spaces.  She also said the guidance makes clear that vaccines are the fastest way to get back to a sense of normalcy.  The federal guidance issued Thursday still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.  Brown added mask requirements also will remain in place in Oregon schools this school year.  She says the Oregon Health Authority in coming days will provide updated guidance for businesses.

The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center is looking for volunteers.  Discovery Center Marketing Manager Mikey Goyette says there are a number of opportunities available for volunteers.  If you are interested in volunteering at the Discovery Center, e-mail the Center at volunteers@gorgediscovery.org.

Boys Basketball Goldendale 60, Columbia 56 Adna 71, Stevenson 33   Boys Lacrosse Oregon High School Lacrosse Association Metro Tournament First Round Lake Oswego 15, Hood River Valley 4   Girls Lacrosse Lincoln 15, Hood River Valley 6

Crystal Springs Water District is no longer under a boil water order.  The district says test results from water samples taken yesterday after repairs to a break in a main line came back as normal.  Tuesday night the district suffered a major mainline break on a 10-inch main line located south of Booth Hill Road and Highway 35 in the Mt. Hood community area.  That section of pipe has been replaced.

Fire season will begin for The Dalles Unit of the Oregon Department of Forestry as of Saturday, the earliest start in more than forty years.  District officials say limited precipitation across the region this spring has affected down woody fuel moisture content as well as the condition of live vegetation fuels and their susceptibility to fire ignition and spread, leaving unseasonably dry conditions and at an increased risk of fire spread.  In addition to the on-set of Fire Season in The Dalles Unit, MH-4 west of Highway 35 in Hood River County and MH-1 east of Highway 35 in Hood River and Wasco counties will move into Industrial Fire Precaution Level 1, which includes restrictions on the use of fire or power-driven machinery in any forest operation unless in compliance with all fire prevention requirements.  Also, ODF says Hood River and Wasco counties will be implementing county-wide burn bans on June 1 to reduce the risk of wildfire from escaped debris burns.

Hood River County School District board members heard about summer school plans at their Wednesday meeting.  District curriculum and instruction director Bill Newton says the state is allocating much more funding for summer school this year to deal with interrupted learning.  Newton told the board the plan is to focus on academic learning and interventions for identified students, continued support for migrant students, and at the high school level supporting students facing academic credit loss.  The district is planning summer school programs July 6-30 at Mid-Valley and May Street elementary school, Wy’east Middle School, and Hood River Valley High School, along with a migrant pre-school program and supplemental K-12 support for migrant students.  Newton noted they are starting to compile data to put together a list of students they plan to invite into the program.