North Wasco County School District 21 will be doing a survey in the next few weeks asking about their support of a possible November school bond measure.  That is in the wake of a recently concluded series of facilities planning meetings with local community members that saw the group recommended the district focus first on a new high school.  D-21 Chief Financial Officer Randy Anderson says this will be a more specific survey than one that was done about a year ago that showed support for a new high school, including asking about a potential cost of over 80 million dollars.  D-21 owns land on the west side of town that could serve as a high school location.  Bond specialists are evaluating whether they can structure finances to make early high school construction affordable as the first step in replacing the district’s aging buildings.

The Hood River Valley Residents Committee is celebrating its 40th anniversary.  The group was put together with a goal of protecting farm and forest land in the mid- and upper-valley, and expanded to livability issues in the cities.  The group’s Jeff Hunter says supporting that third issue helps protect the resource lands.  The Residents Committee will celebrate its 40th anniversary on May 21 beginning at 3:30 p.m. at the Crag Rat Hut.  The public is invited to attend.

North Wasco County School District 21’s budget committee meets for the first time Tuesday to review the 2017-18 fiscal plan developed by district staff.  D-21 Superintendent Candy Armstrong says staff has worked with an assumption of statewide K-12 funding to be at eight-point-one billion dollars, and she says that means addressing long-standing personnel needs gets pushed back further.  Tuesday’s budget committee meeting begins at 6 p.m. in The Dalles Middle School Library.

The Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance and Travel Oregon are embarking on offering training sessions this month for frontline staff at businesses that deal with the public.  Hood River County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike   Glover says the “We Speak the Gorge” trainings looks to help get visitors directed to where they want to go, and spread them throughout the region.  The sessions were being held in The Dalles today, but are also planned for May 15 at Cascade Locks Marine Park Pavilion and May 22 at Hampton Inn and Suites in Hood River.  Information on attending the Cascade Locks and Hood River sessions is available at hoodriver.org.

Baseball Hood River Valley sweeps The Dalles 5-1 and 11-6:  The Eagles clinched a share of first place in the Columbia River Conference in taking both games of the doubleheader.  Adam Cameron had a two-run homer while Connor Coerper struck out eight on the way to the win in the opener, and in the nightcap Morgan Williams drove in three runs while Cameron and Caden Leiblein brought home two apiece.   Columbia split with LaCenter, losing game one 10-5 but winning the second contest 12-0. King’s Way Christian sweeps Stevenson 4-0 and 15-3. Dufur sweeps Pilot Rock 9-0 and 9-4:  The Rangers are now 17-0 on the season, and took sole possession of first place in Special District 6 by handing the Rockets their first two losses of the season. Lyle-Wishram split with DeSales, taking game one 4-1 but falling 12-2 in the second contest.   Softball Hood River Valley sweeps The Dalles 12-0 and 8-2:  HRV stayed tied for first in the Columbia River Conference with Pendleton with the two wins.  In game one, the Eagles took quick control with eight first inning runs while Hannah McNerney struck out 11.  In the nightcap, Kaylin Winans drove in two runs while Makena Zeller hit a two-run homer.   DeSales sweeps Lyle-Wishram 16-0 and 14-0. Cle Elum/Roslyn sweeps Goldendale 26-0 and 26-0.   Track and Field Hood River Valley’s boys were fifth and girls 13^th at the Dean Nice Invitational in Gresham.  Jesse Wiley won the boys’ 1500 meters for the Eagles.  The Dalles boys were 15^th and the girls 16^th.   Lyle-Wishram’s Brandon Montoya won three events and teammate Elijah McCullough was first in the two in the boys’ portion of the Jeff Agar Memorial Invitational in Glenwood.  Columbia’s Alondra Casarez-Garcia won a pair of events in the girls’ portion of the meet.   Goldendale finished second behind LaGrande in both the boys and girls team standing at the Nike Sherman Invitational in Moro.  Lyle-Wishram’s Brandon Montoya added two more first place finishes to his season in the boys’ half of the meet, and Goldendale’s Ellie Rising won twice in the girls’ events.   Stevenson’s Lincoln Krog won the high jump at the Panther Invitational in Washougal.   Dufur’s boys and South Wasco’s girls earned third place finishes at the Condon-Wheeler Invitational.  Asa Farrell won two events to lead the Ranger boys, while Ana Popchock won three for the Redside girls.   Boys Tennis Summit 8, Hood River Valley 0 Mountain View 6, Hood River Valley 2 Ridgeview 4, Hood River Valley 3   Girls Tennis Summit 8, Hood River Valley 0 Hood River Valley 6, Bend 2 The Dalles 5, Bend 3 Crescent Valley 7, The Dalles 1 The Dalles 5, Mountain View 3 Three Rivers Christian 4, Stevenson 1   Boys Lacrosse Oregon Episcopal 14, Hood River Valley 10   Girls Lacrosse Oregon Episcopal 13, Hood River Valley 11   Boys Soccer Columbia 1, Hoquiam 0

The Dalles Police Department says a man jumped from an Interstate 84 overpass into traffic, was hit by a vehicle, and died Thursday afternoon.  According to The Dalles Police Chief Patrick Ashmore, the incident occurred at about 2:50 Thursday afternoon.  Witnesses say it appeared the man jumped from the overpass at I-84 milepost 85 into oncoming eastbound traffic.  Police and medical personnel say the man was deceased when they found him lying in the roadway.  Eastbound Interstate 84 was closed for about 45 minutes while detectives conducted an investigation.

Four members of Oregon’s Congressional Delegation introduced legislation to create a new trust fund to help communities prepare for accidents involving rail cars transporting flammable liquids, including crude oil and ethanol.  Democrat Peter DeFazio is sponsoring the Community Protection and Preparedness Act, which is being co-sponsored by Republican Greg Walden and Democrats Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici.  The fund would be used for emergency response and clean up after rail accidents involving flammable liquids, and to issue grants to help prepare and protect communities along rail lines.  The legislation would also require the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to issue a final rule on oil spill response plans and information sharing for high-hazard flammable trains.  It also authorizes funding for the Federal Railroad Administration to hire additional track safety specialists and instructs the Transportation Secretary to study the effectiveness of track inspections.

The City of The Dalles Public Works will close West 7^th Street between Myrtle and Snipes Streets on Tuesday to repair a deteriorated section of road on West 7^th.  Crews will begin a full width surface repair on Tuesday at 7 a.m. with completion of the job expected by 4 p.m.  Motorists are encouraged to use alternate routes of Snipes to 6^th Street and Myrtle to 8th Street to avoid the work area.

The Hood River County School District continues to work on capital construction projects being funded through a bond measure approved by voters one year ago.  The largest of the projects, replacement of May Street Elementary School, is now in the design development stage, and District Superintendent Dan Goldman says the next step is to enter the permitting process.  The district aims to start construction on the school in February 2018 with occupancy planned for the fall on 2019.  Goldman said the new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math addition at Wy’east Middle School and building improvements for Hood River Middle School are to go out to bid in about two-and-a-half weeks.

Leaders in the Oregon Legislature are forming a temporary bipartisan committee to spend the next several weeks hashing out a business tax overhaul to go to voters for final approval in a special election.  House Speaker Tina Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney, both Democrats, said the Joint Tax Reform Committee will involve the 14 lawmakers on the House and Senate revenue panels.  Republican 52nd District Representative Mark Johnson says this will bring a conversation that has been going on behind closed doors out into the open, and says there is a realistic solution that business interests have indicated could work, involving a small increase for various business entitites and high wage earners to fully fund Measure 98 and invest in other education-related outcomes. Johnson says it would have a two-year sunset with the understanding during that time work would take place on a new business and personal tax system for the state.