The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed a body located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in January has been identified as 24-year old Brian Bodle from Newberg, Oregon.  Sheriff Dave Brown says detectives believe Bodle was the victim of homicidal violence, but no other information about the investigation is being released at this time.  He had earlier confirmed an autopsy found the cause of death to be consistent with homicidal violence.  Bodle’s body was found on January 24 off a forest road about seven miles east of Cougar.  Detectives continue to ask that any person who was in the area of Ape Cave / Marble Mountain on or around January 23^rd and saw any suspicious activity to contact the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office. 

North Wasco County School District 21 is considering establishing a pilot dual language immersion elementary school program in which students are taught in both Spanish and English, but Superintendent Candy Armstrong says they have a number of questions to answer before moving forward.  Armstrong says the biggest concern is whether it can be sustained over a long period of time.  Part of the exploration is how much it would cost to start and continue the program.  The program being considered would begin at the kindergarten level, and Armstrong adds the district is involving pre-schools in the discussion.  She emphasized the district has a lot of work to do to be able to start a dual language program.

Two Republican Oregon State Senators who represent the Mid-Columbia are co-sponsoring a bill with Democratic Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney that would allow smaller Eastern Oregon counties more land use flexibility to help expand economic opportunities.  Senate Bill 2 allows ten counties, including Sherman, Gilliam, and Wheeler counties, that undertake economic opportunity analysis to designate up to 50 acres outside urban growth boundaries for industrial and other employment uses without requiring an exception to state land use planning goals.  29th District Senator Bill Hansell is one of the co-sponsors, and he says the bill would expand options for smaller rural counties.  30th District Senator Cliff Bentz is also a co-sponsor.  The bill is schedule for a committee hearing on Tuesday.

Boys Basketball

Hood River Valley 68, Crook County 57:  Carson Flores scored 31 points and Noah Webster tallied 20 as the Eagles remained a game ahead of Pendleton atop the Intermountain Conference standings.

Ridgeview 58, The Dalles 46: 

Horizon Christian 57, Dufur 42

Horizon Christian 47, South Wasco 41

Sherman 67, South Wasco 37

Sherman 52, Dufur 32.

Seton Catholic 83, Stevenson 60

Trout Lake 67, Bickleton 41

Sunnyside Christian 60, Trout Lake 43

Klickitat-Glenwood 43, Bickleton 34

Liberty Christian 71, Lyle-Wishram 66 (ECAC Playoff)

Zillah 79, Goldendale 32

Girls Basketball

The Dalles 60, Ridgeview 48:  Kilee Hoylman 24 points and Lauryn Belanger added 17 as The Dalles moved into a tie for third in the IMC.

Crook County 41, Hood River Valley 39

South Wasco 53, Sherman 30

Dufur 47, Sherman 26

Stevenson 72, Castle Rock 44

Sunnyside Christian 65, Trout Lake 49

Zillah 69, Goldendale 20

Girls Wrestling

Hood River Valley finished second to Hillsboro while sending three wrestlers to the state championships.  Emily Sullenger at 125 pounds and Grace Miller at 145 won four matches apiece to win their weight classes, while Elena Kroll was 2-1 to finish second at 140.  The state meet takes place on February 23 at Portland Memorial Coliseum.

Wrestling

Hood River Valley was second to Madras and The Dalles was fifth at the White Buffalo Invitational in Madras.  HRV’s Chad Muenzer and Cody Durham and The Dalles’ Andrew Richman and J.R. Scott won their individual weight classes.

Alpine Skiing

Hood River Valley’s Josie Petersen and Erica Anderson finished one-two in a Mt. Hood League girls’ slalom at Ski Bowl.  Lucy Booth was the top finisher for The Dalles in 19^th.   In the boys’ slalom HRV’s Nash Levy was the winner with Chris McElwee in fifth and Ezra Johnson eighth.  The Dalles’ Louis Redcloud was 15^th.

Oregon legislators are sorting through the Clean Energy Jobs Bill that would establish a “cap-and-invest” system on carbon emissions.  29th District State Senator Bill Hansell says he just received a 90-page draft of the bill and has not read it in its entirety yet, but notes one area of concern he has is the proposal to create a new department in the Governor’s office that would make decisions on standards, penalties and timelines instead of the Legislature.  He adds that takes away an accountability piece.  Oregon Environmental Council executive director Andrea Durbin issued a statement applauding the bill, saying it will cap greenhouse gas levels from the state’s largest polluters and makes them accountable for every ton of pollution they emit.

Law enforcement officials will be out all across Oregon over the next couple of weeks to help ensure children are in the right safety seat system during an enforcement campaign being funded by the Oregon Department of Transportation.  The Oregon State Police, 48 police departments, and 19 Sheriff’s Offices are participating in the campaign.  In 2016 in Oregon, lack of a safety belt or child restraint system was a factor in 89 deaths – or 26 percent of the 343 motor vehicle occupant fatalities.  Oregon law requires children to ride in a rear-facing safety seat until they are at least two years old.  A child over age two must continue to ride in a car seat with harness until 40 pounds and then in a booster until they reach age eight or 4’ 9” in height and the adult belt fits them correctly.

Beginning Monday and continuing through the month of February crews in The Dalles will be working on placing conduit and manholes along with hard surface restoration at several locations on West 6^th Street between Webber and Irvine Street.  There will be multiple traffic revisions along West 6^th Street and in the intersections between Webber and Chenoweth Loop Road along with traffic flaggers controlling traffic.  All local businesses and residents will have access.  Proceed with caution in that area during construction hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Washington State 14th District Senator Curtis King has been honored by the Washington State Good Roads & Transportation Association for his work on transportation issues.  King was named co-Legislator of the Decade this week, sharing the honor with former Representative Judy Clibborn, who served as the House Transportation Committee chair until retiring from the Legislature last year.  King was formerly chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and is currently its ranking Republican member.  King and Clibborn were the main architects of the Connecting Washington transportation package that was approved by the Legislature in 2015.

Wrestling

Hood River Valley 42, The Dalles 38:  The Riverhawks won four of the seven contested matches on the mat, but HRV won four of the seven forfeits.

Boys Basketball

Castle Rock 51, Columbia 27

Liberty Christian 64, Klickitat-Glenwood 48

Girls Basketball

Stevenson 80, Seton Catholic 42:  Katilyn Wenz scored 17 points, pulled down 17 rebounds, and had five assists as the Bulldogs maintain a shot at second place in the Trico League.

Castle Rock 53, Columbia 28

Liberty Christian 62, Klickitat-Glenwood 40

The History Museum of Hood River County will open an exhibit later this week called “Salmon Connections.”  Museum executive director Lynn Orr says the exhibit looks into the different sectors of society that converge around salmon.  The exhibit opens on Saturday and will be up through the end of May.  The History Museum of Hood River County is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Port Marina Park.