Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler

Welcome to Open Gorge, your audio bridge to local government, infrastructure, and community news in the Columbia River Gorge. Hosted by the founder of Open Gorge, Kate Bertash, this podcast brings the in-depth, civic-minded reporting of The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler newsletters straight to your headphones. We break down the public meetings you didn't have time to attend, track local infrastructure projects, and decode the regional policy decisions that directly impact your daily life. Whether you are a Columbia Gorge resident commuting across the river, following local elections, or tracking where your tax dollars are going, we provide clear, factual summaries of what’s changing and what’s coming next. Our unified feed covers the entire Gorge. Check the title of each episode to see if we are covering Skamania County, Klickitat County, or regional issues that impact us all. Listen to what matters most

Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler is a news podcast hosted by Kate, with 69 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Kate hosts Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler, a news show with 69 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #72

  [Klickitat] Running of the Bull - Goldendale August '26 Round-up

  Sep 14, 20269 minS1

  Goldendale's quietest month of the year still managed to leave the City Council with a question about its own rulebook that nobody at the table could answer. A resident asked for livestock to be banned from R-1 neighborhoods with no exceptions, and the discussion that followed turned on a 4-H permit the council believed sat outside its ordinance. It doesn't. We read the chapter. In This Episode Why a $285,000 drop in Goldendale's retail sales tax probably isn't about the price of cereal in Hood River The 4-H livestock exception, and where it actually lives in the city code One thing in that same chapter that nobody at either meeting raised Two old fire command vehicles head to the Trout Lake and Wahkiacus fire districts The fire the city's own record never named, and why it won't be reimbursed for it Two weeks after the ADU code passed, the next housing fight opens on single-wide mobile homes What's next: a Tuesday council meeting, an October ordinance, and a November grant decision Resources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com Goldendale Municipal Code chapter 6.08, livestock, fowl, wild animals and animal traps: https://ecode360.com/47077496#47077608 RCW 82.08.0293, Washington's sales-tax exemption for food and food ingredients: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=82.08.0293 Washington State Patrol, state fire mobilization for the Red Sky Fire: https://wsp.wa.gov/state-fire-mobilization-authorized-for-the-red-sky-fire/ Washington State Patrol, state fire mobilization for the Lyle Hill 2 Fire: https://wsp.wa.gov/state-fire-mobilization-authorized-for-the-lyle-hill-2-fire/ Transportation Improvement Board, 2026 Call for Projects: https://www.tib.wa.gov/tibinfo/NewsItem.cfm?stid=397 Goldendale City Council agendas, packets, minutes and meeting video: https://www.ci.goldendale.wa.us/your-government/city-council/agendas-minutes Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org . To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com . For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge .

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  Episode #71

  [Skamania] Who Actually Plans the City? - August '26 Stevenson Round-up

  Sep 11, 20269 minS1

  Stevenson's county planner counted the city's apartment-zoned land and reported back that in his opinion Stevenson does not need more of it. The Planning Commission recommended a rezone anyway, then asked to be put to work on a comprehensive plan nobody at City Hall can explain. Ten days later the City Council ended a three-year sewer fight and handed most of its 2027 housing work to Skamania County. In This Episode The Attwell Road rezone, and the build-out study that said the city has 132 parcels already zoned for apartments and 22 of them sitting empty Why the commission attached a design overlay the applicant never asked for The state-mandated planning update Stevenson is already inside, with a comment deadline of September 20 and a December 31 completion date What the new sewer ordinance actually means if you own a working septic system The 2027 work plan, and why four of its seven policy projects belong to the county A failed city administrator search, new settlement authority for the mayor, and engineering standards last revised in 1999 The volunteer fire department's recruitment problem, and why the chief calls it demographic Stevenson's median home price against the 2020 housing study's own definition of attainable Resources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com Comment on the critical areas ordinance before September 20 : the draft, the science memo and the flood chapter are all on Skamania County's update page. Comments go to Josh.Neblock@Skamaniacounty.gov Stevenson agendas, packets and meeting schedule , with meeting recordings at vimeo.com/cityofstevenson The city's proposed sewer ordinance page , where the signed and numbered version should appear The January 2020 Skamania County and City of Stevenson Housing Needs Analysis , the study the city's own follow-up work is marked "On Hold" Prior coverage: The Sewer Rewrite Gets Its Escape Hatch, Stevenson July '26 and Parking Reform Comes to Stevenson, June '26 Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org . To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com . For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge .

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  Episode #70

  [Klickitat] A Door Through the Mural - Bingen August '26 Round-Up

  Sep 10, 20267 minS1

  Bingen's city attorney is leaving at the end of the year for two judgeships, and nobody outside City Hall has reported it. The Bingen City Council also filed a breach-of-contract complaint over a door cut through a community mural, caught a state agency handing them another city's contract, and gave two flood-damaged businesses a two-word update. From the meetings of August 4 and August 18, 2026. In This Episode: City Attorney Chris Lanz resigns effective the end of 2026, for a District Court judgeship in Skamania County and a Superior Court commissioner seat in Klickitat County. A $15,000 mural, a new door, and a city council that would rather not enforce its own contract. The downtown flood ledger: two claims settled, one in review, and "No update" for Chips and Mugs. The SR-14 flashing beacon comes in about $2,000 under budget, on an agreement WSDOT addressed to the wrong city. Ordinance 2026-08-788 amends the 2026 budget, with no dollar figure stated anywhere in the minutes. Eda O'Connor takes the student council seat; her father abstains. Resources & Links: Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com Our July Bingen edition, on the flood the city could not discuss: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/the-flood-bingen-cant-talk-about-bingen-july-26-round-up-2/ Bingen agendas, minutes and Zoom links: bingenwashington.org/AgendaCenter Adopted city ordinances, including 2026-08-788: bingenwashington.org/174/Ordinances Columbia Gorge News on the breach of contract: columbiagorgenews.com WSDOT on the SR 14 Bingen Access Improvements ribbon-cutting: wsdot.wa.gov Comment to the City of Bingen: administrator@bingenwashington.org, or (509) 493-2122 Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org . To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com . For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge .

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  Episode #69

  [Skamania]  A City w/o a Water Operator - North Bonneville August '26

  Sep 8, 20268 minS1

  North Bonneville lost its only certified water and wastewater operator at the end of July, with what staff called less than twenty-four hours of notice. The mayor declared an emergency and signed a six-month contract that the City Council never got to vote on. Then the first bill arrived. This episode covers the North Bonneville City Council and the North Bonneville Planning Commission for August 2026. In This Episode Why the emergency declaration left the council with exactly one lever, and why that lever still has not been pulled The two structural failures that will outlast the contract: a job that was never advertised, and a statewide mutual aid network the city does not belong to What the first invoice actually says, including a rate the council had wrong and a detail about who is running the plant that appears on no recording Three objections from Councilmember Jeff Blakeley, checked against the document The zoning rewrite, STEP housing, and a state deadline in December Two Planning Commission seats whose terms had already expired on paper City Planner Richard Hall on losing his own job to a county agreement Brown water, hydrants, and the city's fire insurance rating Resources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com Prior coverage, the equipment fund and the county interlocal: An Empty Equipment Fund, Full of Questions Prior coverage, the voucher-review fight: Who Pays to Build Near a Wetland? North Bonneville council agendas, recordings and minutes: northbonneville.net North Bonneville periodic review documents: northbonneville.net/planning/periodic-review What STEP housing means, and the state mandates behind it: Skamania County's Critical Area Ordinance Update The statutory deadline: RCW 36.70A.130 Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org . To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com . For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge .

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  Episode #68

  [Klickitat] The Dollar Store Showdown - White Salmon August '26

  Sep 4, 20269 minS1

  White Salmon spent August getting three big decisions ready and making none of them. The City Council pulled a dollar store moratorium off its own agenda before anyone spoke, the Tree Board decided what a mature oak is actually worth, and a storm ratification quietly revealed a funding hole close to a million dollars. We also went looking for where the city's borrowed ordinance language came from, and found Tulsa, Oklahoma. In This Episode Why the Council pulled Ordinance 2026-1189 before it was ever presented, and what happened when it came back Where the phrase "small-box discount store" comes from, and why the fresh food rule sits in one White Salmon document and not the other There is no dollar store in White Salmon. The nearest one is in Bingen The Tree Board's case study: one oak, two very different price tags A preliminary storm estimate of nearly two million dollars against a grant of up to one million A three minute special meeting that opened without a quorum Why the Planning Commission told staff its own draft was confusingly worded Resources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com Our July White Salmon round-up, which laid out the tree ordinance comparison: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/balcony-solar-tree-credits-and-a-postponed-store-white-salmon-july-26-round-up/ Our June White Salmon round-up, on the thirty percent rule and the Wyers Street appeal: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/june-in-white-salmon-an-ev-mandate-a-denied-appeal-and-the-30-rule/ White Salmon agendas, packets and meeting recordings: https://www.whitesalmonwa.gov/meetings White Salmon Municipal Code, Chapter 18.41, Heritage Trees: https://library.municode.com/wa/white_salmon/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT18EN_CH18.41HETR Columbia Gorge News on the postponement, and on the mayor's account of it: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/business/center-market-in-white-salmon-is-separate-from-proposed-moratorium-code-changes/article_5c613efa-49da-4e2b-aaab-eb9ecbd12f7d.html Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org . To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com . For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge .

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