Highway 26 is closed in Manning near Jim Dandy Farm Market following a fatal crash.

State Senator Betsy Johnson, a Democrat who serves the northwest corner of Oregon in the state legislature, including Gales Creek and Banks, will run for governor under no party’s banner in 2022, Johnson said in an email to supporters.

Those interested in the development of the Salmonberry Trail can follow along at a regularly-scheduled Salmonberry Trail Intergovernmental Agency (STIA) meeting, scheduled for October 15 from 9 to 11 a.m.

According to the county’s mobile vaccine team schedule, two Forest Grove clinics are scheduled for Wednesday, October 20. The first of those clinics is scheduled for 12 to 2 p.m. at the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center (2037 Douglas Street), followed by the regular clinic at the Forest Grove Famers Market (2030 Main Street) from 4 to 7 p.m.

"...The employee reported that the male went to his pick up truck, found a plastic grocery or garbage bag and put it on as a shirt..." reads the September police log in Banks. This and more, as written by deputies with the Washington County Sheriff's Office assigned to Banks.

Lucille Marie Bernards, age 89, passed away September 29th in Beaverton. Lucille was born on October 22, 1931 in Roy, Oregon to parents Francis and Hermina (Vandecoevering) Vanderzanden.

An election scheduled for Tuesday, November 2 will see few measures in Washington County to vote for; for those within Banks’ city limits, those in Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue's service territory, and that small sliver of Lake Oswego in the county, a handful of local measures will be determined. Voters elsewhere can instead look forward to the May 17, 2022 Primary Election.

100 years ago: A hog and dairy show is planned in Banks, and news of a new bridge in Gales Creek is "joyfully" received. This week, the clips in this history column come from the September 22 & 29, 1921 editions of the Washington County News-Times.

A summary of calls from August 2021, and a message from the Banks Fire District.

The latest information on vaccination clinics in far western Washington County, cases in local schools, and vaccination statistics by zip code in Banks, Gales Creek, Timber, and beyond.

A search at a property outside North Plains resulted in the seizure of more than 800 pounds of dried cannabis, 5,719 cannabis plants—Oregon law allows four plants for personal use at any given residence—half a million dollars in grow equipment, and $22,000 in U.S. currency.

Following reports of a rabid bat in Multnomah County, it turn out more of the same has been found further west. “Washington County also had a rabid bat,” disclosed Washington County Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Wendy Gordon in an email to local media organizations Wednesday afternoon.

An Oregon City man is the latest killed on Highway 6 after a Sunday evening crash near the Coast Range summit. Forest Grove Fire & Rescue's Matt Johnston described the scene.

A crash near the Coast Range summit has resulted in the closure of Highway 6.

Oregon’s legislators will head back to Salem following Governor Kate Brown’s call to convene a special legislative session to tackle congressional and legislative redistricting.

Details remain scant after a late night shooting in the Parson Road and Highway 6 area in Gales Creek Thursday night closed the highway between Banks and Gales Creek into the very early morning. No one was injured after a homeowner reported up to six shots struck his driveway near where he was standing.

Washington County's Mobile Vaccine Team has scheduled several Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination clinics in western Washington County in the coming weeks as the county works to combat the surging Delta variant.

A helicopter crashed in a remote area in the Tillamook Forest area in Tillamook County Wednesday morning, the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office said. It is believed that the pilot—who survived without apparent injury—struck BPA powerlines, sparking a small fire.

The Banks Fire District and Chief Rodney Linz agreed to pay a $250,000 sum after a former employee of Banks Fire District #13 sued the district last year, alleging that Banks Fire District Chief Rodney Linz and the district retaliated against her after she raised concerns over nepotism and violations of district policy with the elected officials on the board of directors that govern the district. The funds will be paid by the Special Districts Association of Oregon.

Marie Boman-Davis has been promoted to lead Washington County Public Health as the public health division’s manager following the retirement of Tricia Mortell, who led the division for seven years.

The Tillamook Forest Center will remain closed through the rest of the year, the Oregon Department of Forestry said Tuesday. Last open for less than two weeks in early 2020, the interpretive center is expected to reopen in March 2022.

Adding to an earlier order to mandate masking in indoor public settings, Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued an order on Tuesday that will mandate outdoor mask wearing in settings where social distancing cannot be maintained starting Friday, August 27.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which now will be marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of the coronavirus in individuals 16 years old or older.

All teachers, staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools statewide will be required to become fully vaccinated, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced today during a press conference. Vaccines will be required by October 18 or six weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives full approval of one of the coronavirus vaccines, whichever is later.

In an email sent Wednesday afternoon to county commissioners and mayors of most Washington County cities, Chair Kathryn Harrington added an idea to her initial concept of closing indoor dining for four weeks. Instead, Harrington said, the county could require that diners provide proof of vaccination to eat inside. A decision on the fate of indoor dining in the county during the current Delta variant surge is expected at a board meeting Tuesday, August 24.

Washington County's Mobile Vaccine Team has scheduled several Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Banks, the first on Tuesday, August 24 at Jim’s Market (12350 NW Main Street) from 5 to 7 p.m. followed by another on Friday, August 27 at the Banks Fire District in Banks from 12 to 2 p.m. As an incentive, the vaccine team is offering $50 gift cards to recipients of the first COVID-19 dose.

Washington County's Mobile Vaccine Team is taking a trek to Timber to offer a Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccination clinic Friday, August 27 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Timber Fire Station. Vaccine recipients will receive a $50 gift card. The clinic is among several scheduled in August and September in the wider Banks region.

The Washington County board of commissioners may vote on a measure by August 24 to ban indoor dining for four weeks at Washington County restaurants. “What I do want us to do is strive to reduce the pressures on health care workers and hospitals,” County Chair Kathryn Harrington said during a Tuesday work session. “As far as I know, policy-wise, the only thing we can do to help that is to restrict dining to outdoor-only for the next four weeks. Pure and simple."

100 years ago: 1,500 people are expected at a picnic in Manning, and a new route to Tillamook is planned. This week, the clips in this history column come from the July 28, 1921 edition of the Washington County News-Times.

Satoru Kamoshita, 61, of Beaverton, went under the water at Hagg Lake while swimming Saturday afternoon. His body was recovered nearly three hours later by divers with the Lake Oswego Fire Department.

The Cedar Butte Fire is now 74 acres, crews have fully lined the fire, and are now focused on containment and mop up, the Oregon Department of Forestry said in what will likely be their final update on the fire.

Over the weekend, more ground crews are expected to join the fight at the Cedar Butte Fire to aid in containment and mopping up. The aircraft support will be released to fight other fires at the close of today's shift.

The Banks Fire District will honor former Chief Clarence Sweere on Saturday, August 14 with a procession from St. Francis in Roy to Banks’ Union Point Cemetery to transport the remains of the man who co-founded the Tri-Cities Rural Fire Protection District—later renamed Banks Fire District #13—in 1954.

The July 2021 police log, as presented to the Banks City council on Tuesday, August 10.

The Cedar Butte Fire, burning west of Highway 6 near Cedar Butte Road in the Tillamook State Forest, is now estimated to be 60 acres in size where it burns in a freshly logged unit that completed a timber harvest last month. Hagg Lake closed at 8 a.m. to allow two Single Engine Air Tankers to scoop water from the lake to fight the fire.

A summary of calls from July 2021, and a message from the Banks Fire District.

Citing the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, Governor Brown announced during a press conference that an indoor mask order in public spaces would be effective Friday.

A new wildfire called the Cedar Butte Fire, estimated at 25-30 acres, is burning in the Tillamook State Forest 18 miles east of Tillamook and north of Highway 6.

Facing another heat wave, the Oregon Department of Forestry will move fire danger to “extreme” in the eastern portion of the Tillamook State Forest and surrounding ODF-protected areas, and prohibit a number of activities in areas of the forest starting early Wednesday morning.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown will reinstate an indoor mask mandate for the entire state, the governor's office announced Tuesday afternoon. The governor will also require state employees to become vaccinated, with exceptions only for medical reasons or religious beliefs. More details are expected Wednesday. The Oregon Health Authority reported 635 patients in hospitals with COVID-19, an all-time high.