Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue responded to a house fire near East 8th and Harris Street just after noon Thursday.  MCFR officials indicated initial responders arrived to find fire at the back of the structure on 102 Harris Street was quickly spreading into the interior of the house and attic space.  No one was home when the fire broke out, and no firefighters were injured fighting the blaze.  A cat was rescued from the fire and was taken to a veterinarian for evaluation.   MCFR crews received assistance from their volunteers along with the Dallesport-Murdock Fire Department.

Softball

Hood River Valley 5, Dallas 2:  The sixth-ranked Eagles scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to get past the fourth-ranked Dragons.  Lizzie Weekly’s squeeze bunt scored Lauren Decker with the tiebreaking run, and the Aunika Yasui doubled in the insurance tally.  Makenzie Chambers continued her hot hitting, homering and driving in two runs.

The Dalles 6, Putnam 1:  The Riverhawks used a big second inning to knock off the eighth-ranked team in Oregon Class 5A.  The Dalles strung together five hits and were helped by an error to trigger the frame.

Baseball

Sherman 13, Stanfield 0

Boys Lacrosse

Hood River Valley 15, Newberg 3

Oregon 52nd District Representative Anna Williams is working on bills to direct funding to policies passed in earlier sessions.  The Hood River Democrat says one is to fund healthy relationship education in schools, health standards, and bully prevention through combining them with other ideas to get them to the Ways and Means Committee.  Another bill would increase the number of deputies in the long-term care ombudsmen program from seven to ten, which would create another 90 to 105 new volunteers to go out to long-term care facilities around the state and make sure the rights of the people who live in those facilities are met.  Williams says rural long-term care facilities struggle to get the volunteers they need.

Intermittent, single-lane closures of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge have been expanded to include this coming Friday and Monday.  The closures were originally planned for yesterday and today.  They will run between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. as crews complete preparation work required for the replacement of the lift span motors, and motorists should expect delays up to 20 minutes.  The actual replacement of the motors will close the bridge completely to all vehicle traffic for several nights in April.  This work requires a large crane lift of heavy equipment to the top of both lift span towers.  More information on the delays and closures are available at portofhoodriver.com.

Friends of the Columbia Gorge, the Mt. Hood and Columbia River Gorge Regional Tourism Alliance, the U.S. Forest Service, and Oregon State Parks are kicking off their second season of the Trailhead Ambassador Program to give Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and Mt. Hood visitors information they need for a safe, informed, and positive experience when hiking in the region.  The Trailhead Ambassador 2019 season will kick-off on April 20, and organizers are currently seeking volunteers.  Volunteer Trailhead Ambassadors will be placed at some of the busiest trailheads in the Mt. Hood National Forest and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, including Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls, Dog Mountain, Cape Horn, Timberline Lodge, and Mirror Lake, on weekends during peak season.  Volunteers will answer hiking and recreation related questions, promote responsible hiker ethics and steer people to useful resources.  To sign up volunteer go to gorgefriends.org.  A volunteer training session is scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Marine Park Pavilion in Cascade Locks.

Oregon State University Extension and the Hood River Library are partnering to provide loans of food preservation equipment.  Lauren Kraemer says they have about 15 to 20 pieces of equipment that will be available through the program.  Kraemer says the library will catalog the equipment, and there will be a display ready in about the next week, and people will be able to look from home on the library’s website to see what is available.  The equipment is available to residents throughout the region, but Kraemer says she would like to set up a similar program in Wasco County in the future.

The City of The Dalles is asking citizens to make a special effort to prevent unsightly damage to street trees that have low hanging branches.   The Dalles Municipal Code requires all trees growing near a sidewalk, street, or alley to be trimmed so the limbs and branches are not less than nine feet above the sidewalk and 14 feet above the street, allowing safe passage for pedestrians and large vehicles.  Trimming before a collision breaks branches is healthier for trees.  Tree trimming also prevents damage to tall vehicles like recreational vehicles, garbage trucks and school buses.

A Hood River County School District board member has resigned, citing his actions at a recent town hall conducted by Oregon Second District Congressman Greg Walden.  Benjamin Sheppard submitted his resignation from position 2 on the school district board on Tuesday.  In his resignation letter, Sheppard said his actions at the town hall were well-intentioned, but had “imperiled the integrity of the school board.”  In the letter he also said he extended a “sincere and heartfelt apology to the school board members, superintendent, employees, and students of the Hood River County School District.  District officials say they hope to fill the vacancy at their April 24 meeting.  Applications are available at the district’s website, with a deadline to file of April 17 at 4 p.m.  Position 2 represents much of the Westside area.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden pressed Energy Secretary Rick Perry on the Trump Administration’s latest proposal to sell the Bonneville Power Administration and its assets.  In an exchange during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Wyden called privatizing Bonneville “garden variety robbery for families in the Northwest” and Perry said he expects it to end up with the same result as previous proposals, with Congress removing it from the budget.  This is third time the Trump Administration has proposed privatizing the BPA, the Southwestern Power Administration in Oklahoma, the Western Area Power Administration in Colorado, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Previous attempts have been met by a strong opposition in Congress on both sides of the aisle.

The curtain raises on the 43rd Annual Mid-Columbia Lions Follies this weekend.  The theme of this year’s show is “That’s Country,” and Clinton Curtis plays the director of the “show within the show,” putting together a country music revue.  This year’s show will once again benefit the Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation, and also the Megan Perkins Scholarship Fund.  Shows will be this Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., and then next Thursday through Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m., all at the Hood River Middle School Auditorium.  Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for children in advance, and are available at Studio 10, Mid-Valley Market, Windmaster Market, Key Bank, Postal Annex, Waucoma Bookstore, Tallman Ladders, Columbia Bank, Klindt’s Bookstore, and any local Lions Club member.  At the door tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for children.