Excessive heat warnings and hazardous air quality advisories are in affect in various parts of the Mid-Columbia region, including Goldendale, White Salmon, Trout Lake, and Yakima until Monday. Towns under heat advisory only include The Dalles, Dufur, Maupin, and Hermiston.

Mt. Adams Buddhist Temple has begun the first phase of construction on a new temple in Trout Lake, WA. The new temple is being built to improve the temples ADA accessibility, make space for a children’s early learning program, and more.

“I’ve always loved helping others that have experienced barriers that my family has struggled with in the past,” said Lissette Rivera. She is a Community Health Worker with Bridges to Health. All CHWs within the Bridge. She helps clients with anything from making a dental appointment to accessing food, transportation, or housing.

When it comes to live music, Jim Drake can get you plugged in. Our local columnist for entertainment Gorge-wide has a good sampling of coming shows and events, including Gary Pryor of Mosier’s new release, Families in the Park Concert Series, an open mic, and a Pacific Coast Trail Party. Read more here. CCCNews.com Columbia Community Connection

“It’s a milestone for the LGBTQ community in Goldendale to celebrate their first Pride event,” said Kent Apostal, Goldendale Pride Organizer.

This year’s Wasco County fair will feature a rodeo, demolition derby, 4-H livestock and small animal showings and auctions, Kid’s Day, Farmer’s Fun Day, Cook’s Racing Pigs aka “the fastest bacon in the west”, old fashioned horse-drawn carriage rides, local artisans, agriculturalists, ClockTower Ales beer garden, and live music from Smock Dogs and The Rock Doctors.

CGCC is bringing a new aviation maintenance technician program to the Gorge to address a shortage in the industry. “The average starting annual pay for a certificated mechanic is $45,000,” and this is increasing every year. Experienced mechanics earn $70,000 per year or more. Read more here.

“This exhibition is a glance at what a common laborer lives during cherry season, it’s just a small slice of the story, but a story that not everyone in the Columbia River Gorge is aware of,” said Méndez.

CGCC is now taking applications for its new dormitory, Chinook Residence Hall. The building features some incredible views and good energy with blues, whites and light wood tones. The building will be able to house 50 students in its current configuration. Read and SEE more here.

600 goats descended on Maupin on Aug. 4th in an effort to restore Bakeoven Creek in its first two miles. Maupin’s Randy Klettke was able to build a team around the idea, bringing the Goat King from Pendleton and some pretty amazing Peruvian goat herders and their trusty guard and herding dogs. It’s the beginning of a long process, but one that could restore salmon spawning beds.

Cody Miller’s recent return to The Dalles to operate Grocery Outlet did not come without some hard-earned experience. The 33-year-old essentially has been moving for the past 15 years, learning how to motivate people to keep a clean well-stocked store. He also avoided a couple of fists on the way. Read more here.

When it comes to live music, Jim Drake can get you plugged in. Our local columnist for entertainment Gorge-wide has a good sampling of coming shows and events, including the classic horror movies, stand-up comedy and some Burgin Blues. Read more here.

“It’s been a hard year for the growers. We had some labor shortages early on because California’s harvest went later than usual, then we had several rain events that were scary, thankfully those events didn’t do too much damage to the crop. And then we had this heat event that really did damage to the crop,” said Ashley Thompson, Assistant Professor of Horticulture at Oregon State University.

Mid-Columbia Medical Center recently announced a new partnership with Adventist Health in Portland that will provide cardiology specialty services to local patients. Some patients are asking why the change was necessary while others have pointed out a potential conflict of interest.

Yakama Nation leaders, Columbia Riverkeeper, and over 40 people gathered at the mouth of the scenic Little White Salmon River to hold a Salmon Vigil. The vigil was to raise awareness about the ongoing deaths of sockeye salmon caused by hot water temperatures in the Columbia River and its tributaries.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality advisory Monday for Northeastern Oregon and the Central Columbia River Gorge due to smoke from fires in Washington, Idaho and Canada.

In a recent 8-day period, Wasco County had 62 cases of COVID-19 reported, the vast majority occurring in younger unvaccinated people. It appears the county is following national trends as a resurgence of the disease and its highly contagious Delta variant could bring as many as 300,000 cases per day this month.

Bikers descended upon The Dalles this afternoon for a ride thru at Route 30 on Second Street as the local restaurant and bar helped raise money for mental health awareness and prevention of youth violence in schools.

Electric Bikes are a new phenomenon and are quite exciting. You’d imagine that everyone including the bike community would love them. That isn’t true at all. There are some bicyclers who aren’t a big fan of them for many reasons.

Wasco County reported 44 COVID cases in just three days this week, 39 of them amongst unvaccinated people. The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 is surging in Oregon and is driving increasing cases and hospitalizations.