The Bridge of the Gods will be closed overnights Mondays through Thursdays from April 13 to May 12 for repair work.  The Port of Cascade Locks says the bridge will be closed from 9:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on those nights to allow for bridge truss repairs needed after an overhead strike by a truck.  The bridge will remain open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights throughout the project.  Emergency response personnel will be allowed to access the bridge.  Updates on the project and closure schedule will be available at portofcascadelocks.org.

Two people are in custody following a shooting Thursday night in the area of West 10th and Perkins in The Dalles.  The Dalles Police Chief Pat Ashmore said their investigation is continuing, but confirmed that two suspects are in custody and no one suffered life threatening injuries.  Police dispatch logs indicate it was a drive-by shooting, which Ashmore confirmed.  The logs also showed the shooting occurred around 8:50 p.m. on Thursday.  Ashmore indicated more information will be released by police and the Wasco County District Attorney’s office at a later time.

The Oregon State Police is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying a person who illegally entered a wildlife area in the southern part of Wasco County in late March.  According to the OSP, cameras on March 21 observed two people approaching the closed White River Wildlife Area near Tygh Valley.  Photos show one man and one woman approach the closed area and then the male, armed with a rifle, crosses over the fence and into the wildlife area.  The wildlife area is managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and at the time was closed to all entry.   Anyone with information on this are asked to contact the Oregon State Police Command Center at 1-800-442-0776, *OSP, or the Oregon State Police Area Command in The Dalles and leave information for Senior Trooper Justin Frazier.

North Wasco County School District 21 Superintendent Candy Armstrong says while Governor Kate Brown’s decision to close in-person classes for the rest of the school year wasn’t what anyone hoped for, it does give certainty moving forward.  In a letter to D-21 families, staff, and community members, Armstrong said the district has been preparing to the make the best of the situation.  She said the “Distance Learning for All” effort carries significant challenges, and remote learning cannot replicate the traditional school day.  Armstrong says district staff is working on learning options to support families, and information on them will be coming to students from D-21 principals and teachers.   She said families with questions can call their student’s school.  Contact information is available at nwasco.k12.or.us.  In a statement on its website, the Hood River County School District said it will move forward with beginning distance learning as planned, and parents will continue to receive updated information from their school.

Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles has been working on surge planning in recent weeks in case they get a rush of COVID-19 cases.  MCMC incident commander Don Wenzler says their newly opened immediate care facility at Water’s Edge gives them another location to see patients with non-COVID-like urgent conditions while keeping COVID patients in the hospital’s emergency department.  He says they have a number of waivers from the state to use areas in the MCMC building as overflow for patients if necessary.  Wenzler also points out they have tents near their main facility that are not currently in use, but they’ve done drills to be ready to screen people as they enter the building.  Wenzler says MCMC has looked at a couple of off-campus sites for alternative care options in preparation for a surge they hope never happens.

Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital says it is operating in a “green” status, which means they haven’t seen a surge of patients, and the total census for the hospital and emergency room traffic is down with no elective surgeries taking place.  Providence spokesperson Susan Frost says their auxiliary field tent remains up, and they did a simulation earlier this week to run through everything they might deal with in a surge situation, and identified changes to make.  Frost says the hospital is working on plans to deal with the backlog of cases they will have once the COVID-19 crisis passes.

Skyline Hospital in White Salmon has implemented virtual visits and continue to be prepared should a surge of COVID-19 cases come its way.  Skyline’s Jenna Newcomb says they are in a similar state of readiness as other regional hospitals, collaborating with them and Portland-area hospitals.  She notes their current data does not have them anticipating a bed or ventilator shortage.  Newcomb says emergency room traffic at Skyline is significantly down, which means people are heeding social distancing advisories.  She adds if someone needs to be seen in person with an emergency, the hospital will see them and it is safe as they screen people entering the building and utilizing negative pressure rooms, which pull circulating air out of the room to keep the patient safe and allows isolation of respiratory patients.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is closing recreational hunting, fishing, crabbing and clamming to non-Oregon residents due to concerns about travel to the state to participate in outdoor activities.  ODFW officials say they are hearing concerns from rural communities about people visiting to hunt and fish and placing additional burdens on the communities’ limited resources.   The closure will go into effect on Friday at 11:59 p.m., and will extend until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and it is deemed safe to travel into Oregon.  The order does not apply to anyone living in Oregon for less than six months who has not yet established residency.  ODFW monitoring has shown that while Oregonians are still participating in fisheries, clamming, shed hunting, and wildlife viewing it is in significantly lower numbers and that the majority of participants are doing it close to home and practicing social distancing.  ODFW field staff monitoring participation in the field say they have seen out of state license plates and out of state angling and shellfish licenses in use.  Department staff is also fielding numerous calls from non-residents inquiring about plans come to Oregon to hunt or fish.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown said the state’s K-12 schools will remain closed though the end of the academic year due to the coronavirus outbreak.  That leaves school districts and their teachers and students trying to plan for weeks of remote learning that they haven’t done before.  Brown said seniors who had passing grades and were on track to graduate when the state’s stay-at-home order began in mid-March will be able to graduate.  Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill said school districts are being pushed to work closely with seniors who did not have passing grades when the schools closed to help them earn credits needed to graduate.  He said those students will have until August 31 to improve their grades and graduate with the Class of 2020.   Proms, graduation ceremonies and other year-end celebrations will be put on hold or held online.  Gill says districts are being asked to work with students and parents to come up with an alternative ways to celebrate.