With several key aspects of the renovation now complete, the vision of a true Community Food Center is finally coming to fruition — offering a significant boost to efforts to end hunger and its root causes throughout Sherman, Wasco and Hood River counties.

For two decades, the Celilo Center’s oncology service has been a game changer for locals staring down a fight with cancer. That will end on Feb. 28 as MCMC is stopping oncology treatment due to staffing issues. Locals seeking chemotherapy and immunotherapy will now have to find treatment elsewhere, which will require the sick to travel to Portland, Vancouver, Wash., Yakima, Tri-Cities, or Bend.

Hydro agreed to plead guilty to negligent endangerment when it melted scrap aluminum coated in a mineral-oil-based mixture that, when combusted, produced hazardous smoke to its employees and the community. It occurred between 2018 and 2019. As part of its plea agreement, Hydro has agreed to pay $550,125 prior to sentencing in April.

“Far too many of our neighbors continue to struggle to afford the cost of housing in Hood River and surrounding areas. We’re anxious to advance our efforts at Rand Rd. and bring this important affordable housing development to a  reality for our community,” said Joel Madsen, Executive Director of Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation.

With a major uptick in flu cases, the U.S. Center for Disease Control has sent out a Health Advisory to healthcare providers regarding the importance of prescribing antiviral medications for patients with the flu this year. Flu shots are available. Click here to find out more.

The Steltzer family recently purchased the former Chronicle building at 315 Federal Street with the intent of renovating the building for a natural food grocery and deli as well as creating space for six other like-minded businesses. The project will transform the building which has been shuttered since the summer of 2018. They hope to be open in late spring or early summer of 2023.

From the Columbia River Gorge Commission:

For the first time in the history of the Columbia River Gorge Commission, a member of a federally recognized tribe will lead the organization. During the November 8, 2022, Commission meeting, Carina Miller, of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, was elected as Chair of the Commission.

I-84 is closed in eastern Oregon eastbound between Exit 216, six miles east of Pendleton, and Exit 265 east of La Grande, and closed westbound between Exit 302 in Baker City and Exit 216. The closures are due to multiple truck crashes and icy conditions west of La Grande.

Mid-Columbia Community Concert Association presents The Four C Notes on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at The Dalles Civic Auditorium in The Dalles. Doors open at 6 p.m., show begins at 7 p.m. Lectures, art, music, comedy and entertainment are in good supply during the next few weeks. Check it all out here.

Music, comedy, film, aerial artists, auditions - it’s all here. Check out what’s happening in arts and entertainment in The Gorge.

Put your hand in the Candy bowl, but don’t get a sucker- find some real entertainment in this week’s entertainment guide for the Gorge. We got venues covered up and down the Mid-Columbia - Music, Entertainment, Art, parades, comedians and some jumpers.

Life is in the details. And this week’s column by Sarah Cook calls out many of those in our own backyard. It’s easy to get tunnel vision and want to just get from A to B. But Cook shows us, if you take your foot off the gas for a moment, and grab a local guide app, there is some pretty cool stuff we walk past in TD without even noticing.

All things must come to an end. And such is the state of the journey for TD’s Emily Peterson who will hit Canada shortly. Fires ended her hiking journey on Monday as the last 30 miles of the trail remained closed. But she was not to be deterred. She and hiker friend Sandals rented a canoe and are paddling the last 22 miles via Ross Lake.

Sharon and Kevin Chrisman should be superheroes with the power to transform. Wonder Twins Unite! That’s because they have transformed their home at 1527 E. 9th St., The Dalles.

The City of The Dalles has removed the ‘no water contact’ signs along Mill Creek and the Columbia River on Thursday, Sept. 29. after water tests showed the water had returned to normal conditions. Vandals blocked a sewerage pipe and it was discovered on Friday, Sept. 23. Human waste, urine and feces had been spilling into the creek.

The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) has officially ended Perennial Power Holdings, Inc.’s efforts to build a 415-megawatt fracked gas power plant near the Columbia River in western Umatilla County.

A ‘no water contact’ warning has been posted along Mill Creek and Columbia River after vandals plugged a sewer, causing it to overflow into Mill Creek near 9th Street in The Dalles on Sept. 23.

In the Columbia River Gorge, alternatives to chemical insecticides are being used in the battle against pests.

“It’s old,” said Juliet Jacobsen a few years back. “It’s really old. It has a bunch of trunks twisting together. It reminds me of an old children's horror book with old twisty trees - that’s what it reminds me of.”