Hood River City Councilors will be discussing the best way to use about $200,000 in federal CARES Act funds during their meeting Monday evening.  Among possible uses for the money:  increasing child care availability, mobile shelters for the homeless, grants to hotels that lost business during a temporary lodging ban, small business aid, utility payment assistance, and supporting the United Way Community Assistance Fund.  City Manager Rachael Fuller said the City will be looking for partners to help administer funding distribution.  The CARES Act monies are separate from a local economic relief fund established in the City’s fiscal year 2020-21 budget.  Monday evening’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. online, and log-on information is available at the City of Hood River’s website.

The U.S. Forest Service placed containment of the White River Fire in the Mt. Hood National Forest at 5% today.  Officials reported Monday that the size of the fire was dropped to 1,102 acres after resolving a mapping error and new infrared data.  Fire officials say firing operations have started along both the east and west ends of the fire toward the White River, and work to improve contingency lines will continue.  The fire is expected to be active Monday, with short runs up steep slopes where slope and wind align and short range spotting probable to the north and east expected to test established lines and making creating line to the east a challenge.  Preparation and burnout operations are taking place along both the east and west flanks of the fire, continuing to remove unburned fuels between Forest Service Road 48 and the main fire.

Klickitat County is expecting to see less revenue from the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in 2020 than they expected to.  County Commissioner Rex Johnston says it appears landfill revenues will be down about $1.5 million in 2020, but added they have reserves on hand to deal with that.  Johnston said for budget purposes the County is currently looking at planning for a similar year in 2021 as they start the process of preparing their annual budget while hoping for a bounce back once the pandemic subsides.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown told a press briefing Friday that at the current rate of COVID-19 spread it would take about 200 days to get students back into classrooms at the current one-to-one transmission rate, but it could happen in as little as six weeks if it drops to .75.  Brown said she told a group of city and county officials this week to step up their efforts to ensure face covering, workplace, and social gathering restrictions are observed.  The governor said she has heard reports of law enforcement on some communities not wearing masks, which she called “unacceptable.”  Brown said the other way to speed the reduction of virus spread would be to bring back business restrictions and perhaps institute travel restrictions, but also said those come with economic costs.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has taken Wasco County off of the state’s COVID-19 watch list.  Brown made the announcement in a statement released Thursday.  Both Wasco and Marion counties have been removed from the watch list.  Wasco County data for the week ended August 9 had shown a substantial decrease in most COVID-19 metrics.  Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege says he’s happy the county is off the list, but at the same time that doesn’t mean they can let down in COVID prevention efforts.  Hood River County remains one of eight counties on the list.  It had been placed there three weeks ago.  Jackson County was added to the list that also includes Baker, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, Multnomah, and Umatilla counties.  Counties are placed on the watch list when public health officials cannot trace COVID-19 spread to specific sources, and the Oregon Health Authority is to increase monitoring and communication, and deploy additional technical assistance and resources.

The Oregon Health Authority’s Thursday numbers reported two new positive COVID-19 cases in Hood River County and one in Wasco County.  Hood River County is now at 223 total cases for the pandemic, with the County latest listing of what it terms “released from quarantine at 199. Wasco County’s total is at 206, with the County listing 128 as recovered using a 30-day standard.  Sherman County has seen 17 total COVID-19 cases, with eight recovered.  Gilliam County remains at four total cases, with two recovered.  The OHA reported 259 new and presumptive COVID-19 cases on Thursday, moving the state’s pandemic total to 24,421.  Two deaths that occurred Wednesday were listed, moving that total to 414.  In Washington, Klickitat County reported one new case on Thursday to run its total to 180, 39 of which are active, which is down six from Wednesday.  Skamania County did not report any new cases in its Thursday update, leaving them at 59, of which 55 are listed as recovered.  Statewide, 700 new COVID-19 cases with 15 deaths were reported on Thursday, putting the statewide total at 69,389, with 1,837 deaths.

A federal judge denied an emergency motion sought by three Christian schools in Oregon, including Hood River’s Horizon Christian School, that want to reopen this fall, finding Governor Kate Brown’s executive order for K-12 schools during the coronavirus holds up constitutionally.  The Oregonian/OregonLive reports U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman ruled Thursday after hearing nearly two hours of testimony.  The judge found the Christian schools made it clear that they have been and will be “irreparably harmed,” but Mosman said he needs to examine the law in place and finds the state’s public health concerns due to the pandemic outweigh the schools’ interests.  Attorney John Kaempf, representing Horizon Christian School, McMinnville Christian Academy and Life Christian School in Aloha, had urged the judge to grant a temporary restraining order that would have halted the governor’s order and allowed the three schools to reopen with in-person classes this fall.  Governor’s Attorney Marc Abrams argued that health concerns are paramount and the temporary limitations on in-school learning are necessary to avoid the potential loss of life and a “potential super spreader site.”

The Dalles Kiwanis Club announced it will not hold its annual Steak Feed at Sorosis Park in September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Steak Feed has been sponsored by the Kiwanis Club for 64 years to help raise funds for various community projects to support local children and families.  The Club indicated in an announcement Thursday that they look forward to bring back the event next year.  They are also taking donations to help the local programs and projects they support.  Those donations can be mailed to The Dalles Kiwanis Club Foundation…P.O. Box 604 in The Dalles…zip code 97058-0604.

The Northern Oregon Correctional Facility Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday to discontinue housing federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.  NORCOR officials say they made the decision as the overall number of those placed in the facility has declined over the past year, decreasing NORCOR’s budgetary reliance on the ICE contract.  NORCOR managers say they will initiate the contractual requirements to terminate the ICE agreement, and give an update to the NORCOR board in September.  NORCOR’s agreement to house ICE detainees has been the subject of protests, hunger strikes, and a lawsuit over the course of the past four years.

A man has died in a single-vehicle accident on Highway 97 Thursday morning just north of Goldendale.  According to the Washington State Patrol, a pickup truck was southbound on Highway 97 at milepost 15 around 8:50 Thursday morning when it drifted off the roadway to the right, struck an embankment, spun around, and rolled multiple times, ejecting the driver.  The vehicle came to rest on its top facing the wrong way on the southbound shoulder.  The driver, 26-year-old Michael Mathias of LaPine, was pronounced deceased at the scene.  The WSP report indicated the man was not wearing a seatbelt.