Mother Nature powder coated The Dalles this morning, Thursday, Feb. 11. Forecasters apparently pegged this one right with snow expected today and Friday. Accumulations are expected to be between four to 10 inches in the next two days. And temperatures are predicted to drop into the 20s and stay there during the next three days.

Jeff Rahier, 38, spent months living in his pickup and then with friends before securing a rental home here in The Dalles. He’s not alone. A recent survey by CCCNews found a total of 22 units available in Wasco County. A boom in housing prices and a lack of buildable land are not making things easier. Locals can spend years trying to find a home and then struggle to come up with the entrance fees. Read more.

For almost as many times as I had split these waters with unsteady feet, I had come away with more angst and bitterness than when I had started. Steelhead are hard to catch. I was 38, and the Gods of the Deschutes were laughing.

Jeff Teel has been hired as the new Chief Operating Officer at Northern Wasco County PUD, working under PUD General Manager Roger Kline. The PUD and Teel face large challenges as the customer-owned utility continues to provide local residents with inexpensive electricity in an ever-changing environment of power policy.

In an effort to better inform residents, the North Central Public Health District has created a new website page that provides additional information about the vaccine and its distribution. The site will be updated periodically explaining how vaccines will be administered to locals in the coming days and months.

On Thursday, Sara Hearn won the coveted Diamond General Manager of the year honor out of a field of more than 1,000 other national and international Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott. “I was not even looking to change jobs”, the Lyle High School grad said of taking a position with the company in The Dalles in 2014. . “I just went to see what they had, and I met Patrick the owner, and it was golden.”

Harper Kane shows off some fancy footwork at a recent Riverside Gymnastics Academy outdoor practice. The statewide freeze on athletic clubs is putting the kibosh on indoor activities. So coach Audrey Hinatsu took it outside. Closures, however, are sacking revenue generators for nonprofit clubs such as Riverside as well as privately run athletic clubs. The Oregon Health and Fitness Alliance is asking Gov. Kate Brown to allow limited reopenings.

The Wasco County Sheriff’s Office is working through a series of reports involving a stolen vehicle from Washington, stolen license plates in Mosier, multiple car prowls in Dufur, and one man fleeing from police in Madras on Saturday afternoon. No one is in jail. But people are missing a lot of their belongings.

Twelve more shelters will be added to the current village for the houseless at the end of Bargeway Road in The Dalles. Once the units are delivered and erected in weeks to come, the shelter village will have grown from 6 units to 18, with the ability to house, at maximum, 36 houseless people from The Dalles.

Local health officials are not expecting coronavirus vaccines to be available in Wasco County this week, but rather, are likely to come in on a second shipment on Dec. 22.

Local businesses hurting from the pandemic can now apply for grants that need to be awarded by the end of the month. MId-Columbia Economic Development District- MCEDD- turned on the online applications this morning.

The City of The Dalles has done it again. City officials are granting $10,000 to Windy River Gleaners so that they can continue to distribute food to local families hard hit by the coronavirus. It is the second such donation in as many weeks.

CCCNews recently got a hot tip from Lynn Smith Gannon when we went to the old electronic mailbag. She said a friendly guy named “David” was volunteering at Sorosis Park seven days a week. She did not have his last name, but we here at CCCNews had our suspicions.

Project ELFF could use a little of Santa’s magic tonight in the form of canned food, dry goods and cold hard cash. Firefighters will have their lights flashing at local schools as well as at fire stations in Columbia View Heights as well as West The Dalles. They will be collecting between 6 and 9 p.m.

Dakota Weitman of Hood River Sand, Gravel & Ready Mix performs an air test on a batch of concrete in east The Dalles this morning, Wednesday, Dec. 2. Weitman, a quality control supervisor, said, the test ensures that there is enough air in the concrete so that water can freeze and thaw in the mix without doing damage.

A little Christmas spirit had Tom and Lindsey Giamei putting up this DIY tree on the side of their business, The Workshop at 201 E. 2nd St. this morning, Black Friday, Nov. 27. The couple is also supporting the Festival of Trees program, inviting community members to decorate an ornament for a donation that will help support the Celilo Cancer Center at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles.

Days of hard work and organization came to fruition in the form of succulent turkey, stuffing and mash potatoes drenched in gravy. It is the best time of the year, my friends. And our hats here at CCC News are off to those that make it so!

US postal deliveries this week have already rivaled volume during the week before Christmas last year. Our hats are off to our mail carriers this Thanksgiving. This also reminds us to shop local whenever possible. Like Dean Dollarhide said in a letter to the editor last week, we all need to support our neighbors and friends as we push into the new year as we hope for new beginnings and greater health for all.

The Dalles Community Thanksgiving Meal aims to feed some 700 on Thursday as volunteers are prepping, stirring and cooking for the big day. The annual feed will be different this year with the community meal being replaced with take-out and home delivery. Volunteers are still needed.

While an inversion has The Dalles under some thick gray this morning, Sol made a spectacular showing on Friday afternoon. This photo was shot from State Route 14 at 3:30 p.m., looking south toward Mount Hood. While were a bit gray this morning, it is a good time to check out The Radio Play Disaster on Demand by The Dalles High School Drama Department. Click here for link.