LifeFlight should be moved in and operating within a couple of weeks at the new spec building in the new industrial park adjacent to the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport in Dallesport.  Klickitat County officials recently held an open house at the building, the first to be built at the location, and County Commissioner David Sauter says it is generating interest in the rest of land, as they hoped it would.  Aerospace businesses have been a target for the County to bring to the park, which has 65 buildable acres in its first phase.  Sauter says the other half of the spec building has been leased out.

The City of Hood River is going to be studying parking over the course of the upcoming summer season.  City Manager Steve Wheeler says they also have done a small off-peak parking study that the results of which will be available soon.  City Councilor Kate McBride says the last time the City did a parking study about a decade ago, it indicated eventually something would have to be done to provide more parking, and that point may be arriving.  The potential for more residential uses downtown is becoming a factor, with McBride noting several entities want to put apartments in the upper floors of downtown buildings, but cannot because they are unable to provide parking.

The North Wasco County School District 21 Board talked about emergency procedures at its latest meeting.  They held the same discussion as many districts have done since the recent shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.  Superintendent Candy Armstrong was joined by local law enforcement and fire officials to go over the Wasco County Crisis Response Team, which has been meeting on a regular basis for a number of years.  She emphasized various agencies work together to be prepared to deal with an emergency situation.  Armstrong adds their plans have been put into use during major fires in recent years, along with the oil train derailment in Mosier in 2016.

Baseball Hood River Valley 4, Reynolds 0:  Five different pitchers combined to strike out 14 and deliver a four-hit shutout of the Raiders in HRV’s final game before heading on its spring trip to Arizona.   Ryan Gray drove in two of HRV’s runs. Homedale (Idaho) 7, Sherman 6 Sherman 13, Nyssa 0 Naches Valley swept Goldendale 14-1 and 8-0   Softball Hillsboro 11, The Dalles 1 Naches Valley swept Goldendale 17-0 and 19-2   Boys Lacrosse Hood River Valley 12, Oregon City 8   Track and Field Lyle-Wishram’s Brandon Montoya won the boys’ 100 and 200 meters and long jump at the Tiger Invitiational in Battle Ground.   Trout Lake’s Liz Fink won the girls’ javelin and was third in the shot put.   Kinley Troh was second in the girls’ discus and Brooklyn Emerson second in the girls’ pole vault for Glenwood at the Ramos Relays in Selah.   Ellie Rising had a second place finish in the girls’ 1600 meters and Dillon Rising a fifth in the boys’ 1600 meters for Goldendale at the West Valley Invitational,   Boys Soccer LaCenter 3, Columbia 1 King’s Way Christian 2, Stevenson 1

While many members of the Northwest Congressional delegation were lauding restoration of two years of funding for the Secure Rural Schools program for counties with federal forest lands, it won’t be a panacea for Hood River County’s budget issues.  The County currently faces a need to cut one-point-six million dollars to balance its 2018-19 budget.  Administrator Jeff Hecksel says they don’t have any kind of local numbers on the SRS payments at this point, but he doesn’t expect them to fill much of that hole.  The last time Hood River County received an SRS program payment, it was for $125,000.  In 1989-90, the County’s share of federal forest receipts was over $1.9 million.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is hailing the inclusion in the omnibus spending of provisions to end the practice of “fire borrowing,” the Forest Service taking funds from its fire prevention budget to pay for fighting large wildfires.  Wyden says he and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo have been trying for years to make large wildfires eligible for disaster relief funds.  Oregon Second District Congressman Greg Walden said while there is much more work to be done, the move marks an important step forward on key solutions to reform federal forest policy and improve forest health.

The Oregon and Washington transportation departments have extended studded tire season in the two states until the end of the day on April 15.   Travelers normally can use studded tires from November 1 through March 31.  State laws grant each state’s transportation department the ability to extend the studded tire season when necessary based on projected weather forecasts.  ODOT Maintenance and Operations Engineer Luci Moore says the forecast suggests mountain passes will receive some significant snow in the next few weeks, but they do ask if you don’t plan to travel in those areas, don’t wait until the last minute to remove studded tires.  This is only the fifth time in the past 16 years that ODOT has extended the studded tire season past March 31.  Three of those extensions occurred from 2010 to 2012.

The Dalles Public Works Department will kick-off the 2018 utility service improvement season on East 12^th Street between Kelly Avenue and Dry Hollow Road.  No parking zone signs are being placed today ahead of street closures on Monday.  Motorists are asked to park vehicles outside of the work zone during work hours.  On Monday crews will begin to replace galvanized pipe with copper pipe from the main to the meter on both sides of East 12^th Street from Kelly Avenue to F Street.  Homes affected will be contacted directly about temporary water outages.  A full road closure will be in effect there from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday.  Meanwhile, transportation crews will prepare the street surface for chip sealing this summer on East 12^th Street between Dry Hollow Road and H Street.  Rolling road closures will take place east to west from Dry Hollow toward H Street.

Track and Field Hood River Valley’s boys grabbed eight first place finishes at at meet in McMinnville on Thursday.  Chad Klaas and Jonah Tactay won two events apiece for the Eagles.  HRV’s girls won three events, including two by Katie Kennedy.   Columbia won the boys portion of five-school meet at Seton Catholic, while Trout Lake was third.  Columbia’s Alex Medina won both the shot put and discus.  In the girls’ half of the meet, Trout Lake was third and Columbia fourth.   Softball Hood River Valley 8, Reynolds 3:  The Eagles run their season opening winning streak to five straight.   Baseball Sherman 13, Bonanza 2   Girls Lacrosse Hood River Valley 14, Central Catholic 4:  Abigail Bartles scored three goals to lead a balanced Eagle offense.  

The Community Action Program of East Central Oregon, or CAPECO, has been designated as the Area Agency on Aging to serve Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler counties.  The Oregon Department of Human Services’ Aging and People with Disabilities program sought a new entity to assume the role of the AAA in the five counties when the Mid-Columbia Council of Governments announced it would cease providing services under all its programs this past fall.  CAPECO currently administers the AAA in Umatilla and Morrow counties and provides many other services to Gilliam and Wheeler counties as the Community Action Program serving that area.   The state assumed administration of the AAA on February 1, and will continue until the program is transitioned to CAPECO on or about September 1, 2018.  Public meetings will be held on the change in service area boundaries inclusive of the seven counties.