Hood River’s Latino community demonstrates solidarity amidst growing deportation threats by gathering for the national “A Day Without Immigrants” protest on Feb. 3 outside of Mercado Guadalajara on 12th street.
An eagle, found sitting close to the roadway on the Washington side of The Dalles Dam Feb. 17, eyes local photographer Gary Elkinton in one of our favorite contributed photos of the year.
Hood River’s Latino community demonstrates solidarity amidst growing deportation threats by gathering for the national “A Day Without Immigrants” protest on Feb. 3 outside of Mercado Guadalajara on 12th street.
In response to actions and rhetoric from the White House, residents assembled outside Hood River’s Mercado Guadalajara and protested in support of the local Latino community on Feb. 3, and those on The Dalles followed suit on Feb. 8. At that point, Columbia Gorge News confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained at least one individual in Klickitat County and contacted the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office one time since Trump took office.
Oregon Minority Leader Sen. Daniel Bonham attended the signing of Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” the same week in Washington, D.C.
Beyond an uptick in immigration enforcement, the administration began its effort to dramatically reorganize the federal government in earnest this month. On Feb. 12, the Office of Personnel and Management offered all federal workers a voluntary resignation package, and then ordered agencies to terminate probationary employees across the board on Feb. 14.
Columbia Gorge News learned that the Bonneville Power Administration lost 14% of its 3,100 workforce as a result, including an estimated 60 power dispatchers responsible for balancing systemwide inputs on a four-second-by-four-second basis. Further, Oregon State University’s Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center lost half of its post-harvest fruit research team, and a total of 21 scientists were fired from the extension network statewide.
An eagle, found sitting close to the roadway on the Washington side of The Dalles Dam Feb. 17, eyes local photographer Gary Elkinton in one of our favorite contributed photos of the year.
Gary Elkinton photo
February did have some positives, however. Columbia Area Transit acquired two 35-person buses to be used on its express route to Portland, and Columbia Land Trust put nearly 30,000 acres of forest in conservation as the third phase of protecting 75,000 total acres sold to the nonprofit by Bingen’s SDS Lumber Company in 2021. Leslie Naramore, formerly with Washington Gorge Action Programs, was also named the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) interim executive director and later assumed the permanent position.
As for big asks, Hood River County requested $85 million from the state to upgrade its courthouse, which is ranked among the highest need in Oregon. Alongside several Skamania County officials, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington’s 3rd District urged Congress to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program during a press conference and ultimately came up short, directly impacting the Stevenson-Carson School District later this year.
For those who regularly travel up Oregon Route 35, you might remember that Grace Su’s China Gorge restaurant closed in February as well.
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