The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area plans to conduct prescribed burning on Tracy Hill starting Wednesday, if weather conditions allow.  Fire officials say prescribed burns reduce excess fuel from building up and minimize the potential for large scale wildfires while improving the overall health and resiliency of ecosystems.  Smoke may be visible on Highway 14 and Interstate 84 at times during the burns.  When smoke is present, motorists should reduce speeds and turn on headlights.  In order to minimize impacts from smoke, management officials from Oregon and Washington determine burn dates based on weather conditions.  Once dates are confirmed, details will be posted on the Scenic Area’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.  Those with asthma can request to be on an advance call list by contacting the National Scenic Area office at 541-308-1700.

The Columbia Gorge Community College Small Business Development Center has launched a new Disaster Recovery Guide for businesses impacted by the recent wildfires.  The guide helps business owners understand and assess their situation so they can make the best decisions in the recovery process.  The Disaster Assistance Guide is based on the experiences of Small Business Development Center advisers both nationally and in Oregon responding to disasters throughout the United States.  The guide is structured as a workbook, with specific steps to take to understand the state of the business’s finances, inventory, marketing, customers and employees.  The workbook is intended to be used with no-cost business advising from the Small Business Development Center to help business owners make the best decisions during this recovery.  Businesses may contact the CGCC Small Business Development Center by calling (541) 506-6121 or visiting https://oregonsbdc.org/centers/columbia-gorge-sbdc/

A 65-year-old Carson woman was injured in a hit and run accident Monday morning at the intersection of Highway 14 and NE Lutheran Church Road in Skamania County.  According to the Washington State Patrol, a car was southbound on NE Lutheran Church Road after earlier driving around police vehicles attempting a felony traffic stop on the north end of that road.  That vehicle ran the stop sign, driving on to westbound Highway 14 and driving into the side of the utility vehicle driven by Connie Callahan of Carson, causing her vehicle to roll.  The car did not stop and continued westbound.  The WSP said Callahan was taken to Peace Health Southwest in Vancouver with undisclosed injuries.  The WSP has not indicated if the other vehicle has been found.  

Hood River County Health Department Director Trish Elliott told County Commissioners on Monday there has been a big arrival of COVID-19 point of care testing materials.  It’s called Binex Now, which Elliott says is an all-in-one test kit that comes with re-agent and provides rapid results.  Elliott says school-based health care centers in the state will be receiving the kits, along with long-term care facilities.  She said One Community Health has received one-thousand and Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital has received 520, and the health department has received 2,000.  Elliott said they will be providing some of the test kits to local providers, and more will be coming.  She did add the wide distribution of the tests will provide a challenge in making sure results are reported to the state as it tracks COVID-19.  

The election cycle is entering its final hours.  Ballots must be in to Oregon election offices or official drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, while in Washington they must be postmarked by Tuesday.  In Oregon, processing of ballots has been underway since the middle of last week.  Wasco County Clerk Lisa Gambee says a first set of election returns will be posted shortly before 8 p.m., and then updated later in the night, noting they won’t be certified until 20 days after the election to allow for dealing with ballots that are challenged in some way.  Gambee says some of that involves dealing with ballots with challenged signatures or no signature at all.  Those voters will be notified and will have 14 days to rectify the issue.  She does say that national results may take longer than usual because of some states using both absentee ballots and polling places.  

The annual Christmas tree lighting celebration in Hood River County will be done in a virtual manner this year.  Chamber interim director Ashley Huckaby May says the lighting at Overlook Memorial Park will take place on Friday, December 4 at 7 p.m., but people are encouraged to watch from home.  May said there will be Facebook event page and a link on hoodriver.org.  She adds a mailbox for Santa will be next to the tree for kids to drop their letters to Santa during the holiday season.  The traditional holiday parade down Oak Street will not happen, but May says the Chamber is working with local fire departments to hook into their annual lighted fire truck parades around the County.  Those schedules will be announced later.  

A COVID-19 outbreak has been identified at the Oregon Veterans’ Home in The Dalles.  The North Central Public Health District said on Friday that nine cases are identified currently, and include staff, residents, and household contacts of staff.  The initial case was confirmed last Sunday and the latest was confirmed Friday.  None were hospitalized as of late Friday.  All staff and residents at the facility have been tested.  The District says the Veterans’ Home responded immediately to notifications of the first case and have taken all appropriate measures to ensure the safety of their residents and staff, including isolation of positive cases.  All residents and staff who tested negative will be re-tested weekly until there are two consecutive weeks of all negative tests.  The Oregon Health Authority’s Urgent Epidemiology Response Team is collaborating with NCPHD to monitor the outbreak.

Both Hood River and Wasco counties went into the weekend with about two-thirds of ballots having been returned.  Hood River County had seen 68% of ballots returned as of Friday afternoon, up from 52.8% at the same time in 2016.  Wasco County as of the end of Friday was at 62.1%, compared to 46.4% four years ago.  Ballots in Oregon must be returned to County election offices or designated drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Hood River County School District said it is reviewing new school reopening metrics issued on Friday by the Oregon Department of Education, and is awaiting Tuesday’s Oregon Health Authority weekly COVID-19 report.  Last week, the district announced the possibility of returning to in-person instruction for grades K-3 on November 23 or 30, and a district statement on Friday said it does not plan to reopen schools earlier than these dates.  District Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn had also stated earlier that the district would not return students in grades 4-12 to classrooms any earlier than after the conclusion of the first semester.  

The body of a climber missing on Mt. Hood since Tuesday was found by searchers in a crevasse at the 9,400-foot level on the north side of the mountain.  The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said the body of 27-year-old Austin Mishler of Bend was found at about 2 p.m. on Thursday.  Mishler is described as an experienced climber and wilderness guide, and was reported to be camping on the mountain Monday night and climbing in the Eliot Glacier area on Tuesday, and was supposed to return home Tuesday night.  Mishler’s tent was spotted from the air on Wednesday evening at about the 8700-foot level on Mt. Hood’s north side…but searchers that reached it Thursday found it to be empty.  The Sheriff’s Office says climbing conditions prevented searchers from bringing down Mishler’s body on Thursday.  Searchers plan to recover Mishler’s body on Friday.  The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office oversaw the search with assistance from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.  Search teams were from the Crag Rats, Portland Mountain Rescue and communications assistance from Mountain Wave Search and Rescue, with members of the Oregon Air National Guard 125th Special Tactics Squadron and Air Force 304th Rescue Squadron involved as well.