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Good morning, Northwest.

We reported this week about the budget crisis facing timber counties in the Northwest. Congress has yet to renew the Secure Rural Schools program, which was designed to replace declining timber revenues that once bolstered county budgets.

The funding gap has forced one middle school in the Columbia River Gorge to shut its doors.

This morning’s newsletter starts in Carson, Washington, where OPB’s Erik Neumann reports on the decision to close Wind River Middle School and what it means for families there.

Also today, we’re following the trial of a man accused of plotting a mass attack on a climbing festival at Smith Rock in 2023. And another heat wave is on tap for parts of Oregon and Southwest Washington this weekend.

Here’s your First Look at Thursday’s news.

— Bradley W. Parks

Secure Rural Schools funding gap shutters Columbia Gorge middle school

Stretching a dollar is nothing new in the Stevenson-Carson District in Skamania County, where enrollment has been declining in recent years. But this year it faces another challenge: The federal government has blown an $830,000 hole in the district’s budget by failing to renew the Secure Rural Schools program.

That program replaces revenue from timber that was once harvested on federal land to pay for services like schools. Without it, the district had to close its middle school, shifting sixth graders to the elementary school and seventh and eighth graders to the high school.

“Developmentally, we wanted a space for middle schoolers to be themselves, to develop and grow in their own place at their own rate with each other,” said Superintendent Ingrid Colvard.

Colvard and others in the community are grieving the loss of that space, and looking for solutions. (Erik Neumann)

Learn more

3 things to know this morning

• Attorneys made opening statements yesterday in the trial of Samson Garner, who is accused of planning a mass shooting in 2023 at a popular rock climbing event in Central Oregon. (Kathryn Styer Martínez)

• The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning with high temperatures between 95 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit expected across the Portland-Vancouver metro area, the Columbia River Gorge and much of the Willamette Valley. The warning goes into effect Friday morning through Tuesday morning. (Riley Martinez)

• Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is tweaking a proposal to raise billions in taxes for roads and bridge upkeep, a little more than a week before the bill’s fate is tested in a special legislative session. (Dirk VanderHart)

Headlines from around the Northwest

• Federal judge in Oregon to decide whether to release twice-deported man from ICE custody (Troy Brynelson)

• Trump administration considers stake in Intel as condition of CHIPS funding, official tells CNBC (Kyra Buckley)

• Preschool For All supporters tell Multnomah County leaders to keep the program as is (Tiffany Camhi)

• Portland Art Museum director to leave after nearly 20-year tenure (Rob Manning)

• Overturned court ruling clears way for Washington to inspect immigrant detention center (Jake Goldstein-Street)

• Oregon man pleads guilty following fatal crash with community college softball team bus (Claire Rush)

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Behold the beautifully chaotic Banks combine derby

For 26 years, the town of Banks, Oregon, has turned old farm combines into roaring, crashing gladiators in a unique tradition: the combine derby.

This year, “Oregon Field Guide” was in the thick of it — capturing the chaos, the dirt and the glory from every imaginable angle.

Here’s your front-row seat to a small-town spectacle where sparks fly, metal bends and adrenaline reigns supreme. (Noah Thomas and Eden McCall)

Learn more

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/21/opbs-first-look-why-this-columbia-gorge-school-had-to-close/