Oregon and Washington law enforcement officers will once again meet on the football field in the annual Pig Bowl this Saturday evening at Sid White Field on the Wahtonka campus in The Dalles.  This year’s game once again benefits three families in the Mid-Columbia facing financial challenges due to medical bills.  Michael Holloran of the Oregon State Police says they are once again taking pre-purchased points for each team, noting the community support is very strong.  Last year’s game raised $42,000.  Contributions can be made at pigbowl.net.  The game will be Saturday at 7 p.m. at Sid White Field.

The City of White Salmon has pushed back water main repairs and a moratorium on non-essential uses of water to next Tuesday, September 24.  The repairs had been originally scheduled for this Thursday, but city officials say a delay in the arrival of supplies forced the change.  The moratorium will be for 13 hours starting at 8 a.m. on September 24.  The water moratorium does not affect essential uses like drinking, cooking or water for flushing toilets.  It will include irrigation, car washes, laundry, and showers.  All irrigation systems need to be turned off by Monday evening, September 23.  Restaurants and other commercial establishments that use water for their business are asked to reduce usage on the 24th where possible.  The City of White Salmon will be repairing the city’s 14-inch water main after it was discovered two weeks ago to be leaking 30 gallons per minute along Highway 141 at Bald Mountain Curves.  For additional information, contact City Administrator Pat Munyan at 509-493-1133, extension 202.

Klickitat PUD will formally dedicate the new H.W. Hill Renewable Natural Gas facility at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill on Wednesday.  Washington Governor Jay Inslee and 14th District State Senator Curtis King will be the keynote speakers during the event.  Klickitat PUD General Manager Jim Smith says this project gives them revenue diversity with a sales contract in place with BP North America to pay off the debt on the plant in five years, and in the sixth year of operation that revenue could go to reduce other costs.  Wednesday’s dedication begins at 10 a.m. at the Roosevelt facility, with tours to follow.  The PUD will hold a public open house and facility tour on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  For more details go to klickitatpud.com.

Hood River County Commissioners have approved a utility easement that will bring with it $100,000 for the County’s forest trails program.  Commissioners approved the application from the Zayo Group for the easement along Pinemont Drive within County forestland as part of the installation of a fiber optic line from Sandy to The Dalles.  County Administrator Jeff Hecksel says the Zayo Group will provide $100,000 for the County’s forest trails program that has been in question as part of the County’s budget shortfall issues.  He says it doesn’t fully cover the trail program’s costs for the next two years, but it does move them toward what is needed.  The County’s timberland fund will realize over $75,000 from the easement.

White Salmon City Councilors will hold a public hearing on a short-term rentals ordinance during their meeting on Wednesday evening.  Mayor David Poucher says the main purpose of the ordinance is to help the City figure out how many STR’s are actually operating in White Salmon.  Property owners who do short-term rentals of a home they actually live in would be charged $75 for a permit.  Property owners who do not live in the home and rents out a single unit would be charged 300 dollars, while there is a third tier for those who rent out multiple units.  Wednesday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. in White Salmon City Hall.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is awarding $554,509 to Hood River County fire agencies.  The regional grant will assist county agencies in purchasing 89 Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus with spare bottles and masks.  Hood River Fire & EMS Chief Leonard Damian says the grant will be used to replace aging equipment over fifteen years old.  Hood River County’s grant was the single largest in Oregon during this year’s round of federal assistance to the Firefighters Grant Program.  That program was created by Congress in 2001 and is now administered by FEMA, and is a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.   Through the program, FEMA will pay for 90 percent of the equipment costs with the county agencies responsible for the remainder.

A couple of weeks into classes the Hood River County School District’s enrollment is about where officials thought it would be.  New Superintendent Sara Hahn-Huston says the district is only three students over its projection from the start of the year, leaving it right around 4,000 students.  The district’s enrollment has been flat to slightly declining for a number of years.  More formal numbers on student counts will be put together at the end of the month.

Two veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars from The Dalles will be taken to Washington, D.C. as part of the Honor Flight program.  David Tuttle, an Army Corporal who saw action in Korea and received two Bronze Battle Starts for his participation in the Battle of Christmas Hill, and Robert “Max” Maxwell, who served in the Navy and Naval Reserves during both the Korean and Vietnam wars, will be making the trip this week.  The national Honor Flight Network program takes World War II, Korean, and Vietnam veterans to Washington, D.C. free of charge for a four day trip to visit the national memorials to their service along with the White House, Capitol, and other attractions there.

Motorists on U.S. Highway 26 between Madras and Mt. Hood should pay close attention to driving conditions as the Oregon Department of Transportation deploys robotic flaggers and rumble strips on a highway maintenance project northwest of Madras.  Traffic control for the project was set up Tuesday morning between mileposts 75 and 81, and will be in place for about three weeks.  Many motorists are encountering the automated flaggers for the first time and should be aware that the lowered arm across the travel lane is the signal to come to a complete stop until the arm is raised.  The rumble strips will be placed ahead of the automated flaggers to alert drivers to the upcoming work site.  The automated flaggers are operated by ODOT workers who are close by, but out of the traffic pattern, to keep them safe during such operations.

Two people died in a motor vehicle accident involving a wrong-way driver early Sunday morning on Interstate 84 in Gilliam County.  According to the Oregon State Police, a preliminary investigation revealed that a car driven by 29-year-old Josue Amando Lopez-Munoz of Prosser was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes.  His car struck an eastbound vehicle driven by 33-year-old Anita Dugger of Salem.  Both Lopez-Munoz and Dugger sustained fatal injuries.  A 13-year-old boy in Dugger’s vehicle was taken by air ambulance to The Dalles and later by ground to Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital in Portland.  The accident occurred at around 5:45 a.m. Sunday.  The OSP was assisted by North Gilliam Fire Department, Lifeflight, Morrow and Benton county sheriff’s offices, the Gilliam County District Attorney and Medical Examiner, and the Oregon Department of Transportation.