The Dalles City Council’s regular meeting Monday night will be a town hall on marijuana issues.  Presentations are scheduled by City Attorney Gene Parker and League of Oregon Cities legal counsel Rob Bovett.  In the Council’s packet of materials for the meeting, Parker outlines seven areas of marijuana activities requiring license or registration with the state, including growing, production, processing, and wholesale and retail distribution.  He also says the City has three options, including referral of a ballot measure to municipal voters to opt out of the business portions of legalized recreational marijuana, issuing a ballot measure to establish a local tax on recreational marijuana, and adopting local regulations or deferring to state rules.  The meeting begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday evening in The Dalles City Hall.

Klickitat County Commissioners are trying to decide how best to handle an update of the county’s shoreline management plan.  The County is the only one in Washington to have not completed an update, and the Yakama Tribe has asked the state Department of Ecology to step in and do it.  Commissioner Rex Johnston says Ecology has offered the County up to a 250-thousand dollar grant to do it, but he notes they are worried it they accept the money, the state would want more control.  Johnston says the current County plan is similar to the state’s plan, with 100 foot riparian buffers along most shorelines.

Boys Basketball Pendleton 82, Hood River Valley 54 Hermiston 78, The Dalles 44 Horizon Christian 55, Spray-Mitchell 29 Horizon Christian 62, Ione 33 Dufur 75, Condon-Wheeler 37 Dufur 55, Arlington 40 Sherman 75, Arlington 40 Sherman 78, Condon-Wheeler 42 South Wasco 60, Mitchell-Spray 35 Lyle-Wishram 70, Open Door 47 Bickleton 54, Klickitat-Glenwood 27 LaSalle 68, Goldendale 33 Cle-Elum/Roslyn 65, Goldendale 45   Girls Basketball Hermiston 44, The Dalles 32 Pendleton 81, Hood River Valley 34 LaCenter 55, Stevenson 9 Columbia 54, Castle Rock 23 Horizon Christian 40, Mitchell-Spray 33 Ione 33, Horizon Christian 30 Condon-Wheeler 52, Dufur 26 Dufur 41, Arlington 40 Ione 51, South Wasco 50 South Wasco 47, Mitchell-Spray 43 Arlington 48, Sherman 45, overtime Condon-Wheeler 48, Sherman 42 LaSalle 70, Goldendale 23 Cle Elum/Roslyn 54, Goldendale 37   Swimming Hood River Valley won the girls’ portion of their 11 school meet at the Hood River Aquatic Center.  LaGrande won the boys’ half of the meet, with HRV finishing fifth.  The Dalles’ girls were seventh and the boys tenth.   Wrestling The Dalles freshman J.R. Scott won the 160 pound division at the White Buffalo Classic in Madras.  Scott won all three of his matches by fall on the way to the win.  The Dalles finished in a tie for ninth as a team with Ridgeview.   Girls Wrestling Hood River Valley finished fifth at the Grandview Invitational.  Katerina Vackova earned a second place finish, while Payton Rigert and Joanna Endow each grabbed third place finishes.

Fire damaged a home in The Dalles on Thursday afternoon.  Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue Chief Bob Palmer says the fire in the back portion of a home on 223 West 9th occurred during the noon hour.  Palmer says firefighters were able to contain the fire to a back room that had been added on to the structure as a storage room.  He said the fire appears to have been started by a heating device installed in the wall, adding there were a number of stored items in the room.  No one was home at the time of the fire, and a passer-by spotted smoke coming out of a window and called 9-1-1.  Palmer issued a reminder that people should keep at least a three-foot space between any heating device and combustibles.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has launched an online public survey to help develop new transit options that will address congestion in Gorge.  The online survey will be available through January 31 at gorgetransitstudy.org.  The survey is seeking ways to improve access, reduce congestion and improve safety for all users.  ODOT is working on this project with local, state and federal officials; Gorge-focused organizations; private sector groups; recreational outlets and transit providers.  Popular destinations such as Multnomah Falls are often overwhelmed with traffic, forcing closure of the parking lot, parking at other sites cannot meet the public demand, and few public transit options connect recreational and tourist attractions with population centers.

The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce presented its Distinguished Citizens Award at its annual banquet.  Andretta Schellinger was selected as Woman of the Year, Anthony Pereira was named Man of the Year, Patti Blagg was chosen as Volunteer of the Year, Outstanding First Responder went to Roger Howe, Wahtonka Community School administrator Brian Goodwin was tabbed as Educator of the Year, The Dalles High School senior Max McClennon received the Outstanding Youth Award, Crestline Construction was named Business of the Year, and Bob Durham received the Outstanding Ag Achievement Award.  The recipients were chosen by a panel of community members, past winners and Chamber staff.

Wrestling Pendleton 51, Hood River Valley 20 Goldendale 42, Highland 30 Naches Valley 51, Goldendale 30   Boys Basketball LaCenter 75, Stevenson 57

The Dalles City Council spent one hour in executive session Thursday, but no announcement was made about the selection of a new City Manager.  Mayor Steve Lawrence said after the meeting that no decision has been made, and the process toward hiring someone for the position continues.  Lawrence added they are still reviewing candidates and possible people they may want to still interview.  Lawrence said he does not feel they are in any kind of time crunch to fill the position, noting they had a total of eight months to fill the City Manager’s job that was vacated when Nolan Young’s contract was terminated in September.  That includes the 60-day notice of contract termination before a six month requirement to fill the job under the City Charter kicked in.  Four finalists for the job were interviewed last week.    

The Bonneville Power Administrator put the modernized Celilo Converter Station into service Thursday.  Construction on the 370 million dollar project began in the fall of 2014, and the station had been out of service since October for final installation and testing.  Modernization of the converter station, including six massive new transformers, each weighing more than a Boeing 747 airliner, anchors a $498,000,000 package of BPA-funded grid upgrades to the northern leg of the Pacific Direct Current Intertie, which connects the Northwest with Los Angeles.  When the final phase of the overall project is completed this fall, the BPA transmission-line upgrades will raise the capacity of the intertie from 3,100 to 3,220 megawatts.  BPA, which funded the improvements, is also in the process of upgrading the 265-mile portion of intertie that it owns from the Columbia River to the Nevada-Oregon border.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is calling for immediate funding of a gun violence research agenda at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Joining a group of Democratic senators and national researchers, Wyden claimed a 1996 Republican appropriations rider prohibiting federal funds from being used to advocate or promote gun control has been misconstrued as a ban on funding scientific research into the causes of gun violence.  The author of the original rider, former Arkansas Representative Jay Dickey, now supports funding CDC gun-violence research and has stated that the 20-year-old rider should not stand in the way.