The U.S. Census will be taken in 2020, and outreach has begun to emphasize the importance of the national enrollment county.  Marc Czornij is a partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau, and says April 1 will be the official census day, but for the first time people can begin to be counted online on March 12.  This will be the first time the census will use an online component, but Czornij says there will still be phone and paper options.  Census data is used in many ways, including drawing up legislative district and guiding the distribution of billions of dollars worth of federal funding.  More information about the upcoming census is available at 2020census.gov.

Volleyball

Ridgeview def. Hood River Valley 25-18, 25-19, 25-9

Crook County def. The Dalles 25-13, 25-11, 25-21

Dufur def. Ione 25-16, 25-19, 27-25

Klickitat-Glenwood def. Stevenson 3 sets to 0

Goldendale def. Granger 25-16, 25-17, 25-17

 

Boys Soccer

Franklin 3, Hood River Valley 0

 

Girls Soccer

Franklin 3, Hood River Valley 1

Mountain View 0, The Dalles 0

The U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory will install three new volcano monitoring stations on the flanks of Mount Hood next week.  The Observatory’s Seth Moran says they have a seismic network on Mt. Hood, but these stations will go on to wilderness land within two-and-a-half miles of the summit, with the main goal of detecting signs of ground deformation.  Because of the significant hazards the volcano poses to nearby communities and infrastructure as well as aviation, USGS researchers designated Mt. Hood as a very high threat volcano in the 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment.

Preliminary results of studies of elk movement funded by Hood River Valley orchardists shows they are not moving into public lands in higher elevations during the summer as they have in the past.  Kaly Adkins of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says there are a number of potential reasons why, but she notes elk are extremely secretive creatures that don’t like to be disturbed, and increased recreation on the public lands they have historically gone to is one possibility.  Another possibility is an increase in fencing put up in response to orchard damage could have blocked some of the traditional migratory corridors.  ODFW is planning to reinstate a controlled elk hunt on private lands next year as a way to drive them back up into the public lands.

The White Salmon City Council has sent a proposed ordinance dealing with short-term rentals back to its Community Development Committee for revisions after a two-hour public hearing on Wednesday.  Mayor David Poucher says the Council and the committee received a lot of input, some of it surrounding the tiered fee structure, but also a number of other issues.  He felt it was a good discussion that left plenty to consider, and it’s the right move to have the Committee go through it again and then get more public input.  The expectation is the Community Development Committee will bring it back to Council sometime in the next month-and-a-half for another public hearing.

 

The annual Hood River Hops Fest will take place this Saturday evening in the Columbia parking lot.  The festival is an annual celebration of beer’s bitter friend, freshly harvested hops.  The event features more than 40 breweries with more than 60 fresh-hop beers, plus a variety of food vendors, live music, and a collectable mug.  It is open to all ages from noon to 5 p.m., and to those 21 and over from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Ticket information is available at hoodriver.org.  The Hood River County Chamber of Commerce is looking for volunteer pourers.  To sign up, go to hoodriver.org/hops-fest.

 

 

Cross Country

Columbia placed five runners in the top 14 to hold off Trout Lake and finish first in the boys’ portion of a Trico League meet at Vancouver Lake Park.  Dylan Beneventi finished sixth and Thomas Ziegler seventh to lead the Bruins.  Justin Peck of Trout Lake won the race, with Mason Stock of the Mustangs in fourth.  Abiy LaCombe of Stevenson was eighth as the Bulldogs finished sixth in the team standings.  Columbia was third in the girls’ run with Trout Lake fourth.  Joules Hope of CHS ran fifth, while Stevenson’s Isabella Spencer was seventh.

 

Girls Soccer

Hudson’s Bay 3, Stevenson 0

SAIF, Oregon’s non-profit workers’ compensation insurance company, has announced it will send over three million dollars back to its policyholders in the area.  Policyholders in Hood River County will be receiving more than $1.7 million when the checks are mailed next month, while Wasco County policyholders will receive more than $1.6 million.  Earlier this month, SAIF announced two dividends for more than 48,500 employers in Oregon: a $120 million primary dividend to be paid to SAIF’s policyholders, and a $40 million safety performance dividend to be paid based on each policyholder’s safety results.  The repayment figures do not include state agencies or public universities.

 

Washington Governor Jay Inslee helped dedicated the new H.W. Hill Renewable Natural Gas Facility at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill on Wednesday.  Inslee was joined by 14th District State Senator Curtis King in giving keynote remarks at the event.  Klickitat County Commissioner David Sauter said the RNG plant, which has a sales contract in place with BP North America, is an important addition to the County’s growing renewable energy portfolio.  Inslee affirmed that in his remarks.  He also visited the site of a proposed pumped storage facility near Goldendale, met with those seeking to put data centers in Klickitat County, and saw some of the wind turbines located on the route from the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport in Dallesport to Roosevelt.

White Salmon Valley School District enrollment in the first month of the year is down slightly from one year ago.  Superintendent Jerry Lewis says last year they had the unusual experience of seeing student numbers actually go up in October before stabilizing.  He notes that pattern has occurred before, adding the number is very close to what they projected going into the school year, coming within five students.  Lewis says the district is seeing a changing demographic, with the number of students living below the poverty level decreasing in the past few years.