Portland, Ore. – Record returns of coho salmon to the middle and upper Columbia River this year signal the comeback of fish that 20 years ago were virtually extinct in upriver tributaries.

Reintroduction programs led by the Yakama Nation and funded in part by the Bonneville Power Administration combined with restored habitat, improved dam passage and positive ocean conditions to bring unrivaled numbers of coho back to the rivers and streams, according to recently concluded annual counts.

Ten years ago, 12 adult coho returned past Rock Island Dam near Wenatchee, Wash. This year, 19,805 passed the dam. Returns past McNary Dam near Hermiston, Ore., climbed from 4,736 coho a decade ago to 33,385 this year – by far the most since counting began at the dam in 1954.

Aberdeen, WA - The Grays Harbor Public Utility District (PUD) Board of Commissioners has approved a 2010 spending plan that anticipates an 8 percent rate increase due to increased wholesale power rates from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), costs incurred to comply with the conservation and renewable energy mandates of voter-approved I-937 and a continued decline in secondary power markets where Grays Harbor PUD sells surplus power.

“This budget reflects the real impacts of increased power costs and the new expenditures associated with conservation and renewable energy requirements on the PUD and its customers,” said Tom Casey, PUD Commission president. “The increased financial burden of BPA’s rate increase, as well as the costly obligations of complying with I-937, make it very difficult for the PUD to develop a 2010 budget without any revenue increases."

Hoquiam, WA - Tuesday December 29, 2009 just before 9AM, an employee arriving for work at Harbor Drug (300 block of Eighth Street) discovered the glass broken out of one of the doors to the parking lot off J Street.