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.  

The Hood River County Christmas Project will begin to take registrations from those who need assistance with food and children’s gifts on Sunday.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Project’s Bruce Holmson says they will be doing all of their sign-ups online at hoodrivercountychristmasproject.com or by phone.  Holmson added they will be trying to contact families who signed up last year by phone over the next week to see if they want to sign up again.  Those without access to the Internet can call 541-490-9581.  Families who live in Hood River County that currently meet State of Oregon low income eligibility standards can apply to receive assistance from the Christmas Project.  This year that will come in the form of a food gift card and toy gift cards for each child.

Due to a better-than-expected return of B-Index summer steelhead and low cumulative impacts to wild ESA-listed fish, Oregon and Washington fishery managers are easing steelhead regulations for the ongoing fishery in the mainstem Columbia River above The Dalles Dam.  Beginning Sunday until the end of the year, anglers may retain up to one hatchery steelhead within the two-fish daily adult bag limit in the mainstem Columbia River from The Dalles Dam upstream to the Highway 395 Bridge near Pasco.  This regulation change will provide some late fall steelhead retention opportunity for anglers upstream of The Dalles Dam for the first time since 2017.  The change also applies to the lower John Day River downstream of Tumwater Falls where one hatchery steelhead per day may be retained from Sunday through the end of the year.  The B-Index run is doing better than expected with the return now projected at 32,300 fish, compared to the preseason expectation of 9,600 fish.  Winter steelhead retention was already scheduled to reopen from the mouth of the Columbia upstream to The Dalles Dam on Sunday.

Searchers continue to look for a 27-year-old Bend man who was reported missing on Mt. Hood on Tuesday.  According to the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, aircraft on Wednesday evening located a tent believed to belong to Austin Mishler at about the 8700-foot level on Mt. Hood’s north side, but searchers that reached it this morning found it to be empty.  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.  Aircraft and ground searchers are being coordinated by The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.  Search teams consist of crews 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.  The search base is at Cloud Cap on the north side of Mt Hood, and the public is asked to stay clear of this area to allow searchers access in and out of the base.  Entrance will be regulated from the Tilly Jane Trailhead near Cooper Spur Ski Area.

The “All Together The Dalles” mural will be unveiled online Saturday morning.  The mural, which is going up on the South wall of the old Tum-A-Lum building on 2nd Street in downtown The Dalles, is a collaborative project between The Dalles Art Center, The Mural Society, The City of The Dalles, Eagle Publishing and numerous volunteers.  The Dalles Art Center Executive Director Scott Stephenson says the mural will serve as an entrance to the east end of the City.  The mural is based on a print created by artist Beth Kerschen featuring the historic landmark list of buildings.  The livestream of the unveiling will be on The Dalles Art Center Facebook page Saturday at 11 a.m.  The website alltogetherthedalles.com provides a history of each building in the mural and the story project, the artists and the collaborators.

Ballots continue to flow into county election offices throughout the region over the past week at a record pace.  As of Thursday morning, 10,006 of 15,726 ballots distributed in Hood River County have been returned, 63.6%.  And in Wasco County the return rate is 55.3%, 10,056 out of 18,196.  As a comparison, at the same time in 2016 47.4% of ballots had been returned in Hood River County and 41.9% in Wasco County.  In Oregon ballots must be returned to county election offices or official drop boxes by Tuesday at 8 p.m.