AMITY -- Firefighters from Amity, Sheridan and other departments responded to a fully-involved structure blaze at 21700 Broadmead Road, west of Amity, Wednesday afternoon.

At 1:35 p.m., first arrivals on the scene said the garage is in flames and the fire is threatening a two-story wood frame residence. A second alarm has been set off to call more firefighters to the scene.

The blaze is in the area of Broadmead Road and Bellevue Highway. If you're driving in the area, yield to emergency vehicles. Choose another route if possible.

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(Bethel Christian school staff)  More than 125 students and staff at Bethel Christian School formed a bucket brigade down the halls of the school to pass 642 pounds of donated food to the Salvation Army last Wednesday. Each grade (pre-school through 8th grade) collected food as part of the school's community service week.

Students lined the halls and patio of the school to pass each donated item into the back of a Salvation Army truck.

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(News-Register staff)  Stephanie Legard, principal of Sue Buel Elementary School  in McMinnville, has been named Oregon Elementary Principal of the Year.

It's the second statewide honor for a McMinnville School District staff member in the past week. Cindi Hiatt Henry, food service director, was named the top nutrition program director in the state.

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Chicken Tractor Training: The Return Of Grimey from Cellar Ridge on Vimeo.

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(Photo by Marcus Larson)  Jared Sublet ties a guiding post to one of the dozens of cherry and oak trees planted Saturday at the junction of Highway 99W and Highway 18 in McMinnville by the volunteer group Trees for McMinnville. Oregon Arbor Week is being celebrated this week around the state.

(Don Iler/News-Register)  There’s nothing like getting whisked straight into the grind of a job on the first day — or the first few minutes, for that matter.

Before I even got to spend time in HR filling out paperwork, sign the lease on my new house, I was sent to the windowless wood-paneled basement of the Yamhill County Courthouse, where the county commissioners meet. 

County departments went through their budgets line by line — a thousand here, a million there — for hour after hour. I then rushed back to write up a story that came from those lines of budget. And that was before lunch.

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(Ossie Bladine/News-Register)  Today, the News-Register staff relunctantly says goodbye to county government reporter Nathalie Hardy, who has decided to step aside from life in the newsroom to spend more time with family and work on independent writing projects. 

Hardy, a Newberg resident, first wrote for the paper in 2000 as a reporting intern. On May 6, 2008, she published her first of many Raising the Hardy Boys column for the N-R, a column that has garnered several awards in journalism competiitons. Hardy will continue writing the popular monthly column. 

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(The News-Register)  Police and medics rushed to the scene of a reported pedestrian struck by a vehicle on Highway 99W in front of Walmart about 10:10 this morning. The northbound lanes of the highway were blocked briefly.

Callers said an older woman was struck while in the crosswalk. The victim has been taken to Willamette Valley Medical Center.

(News-Register staff)  A Yamhill meadery earned a silver medal at the recent annual Mazer Cup International, the world’s largest mead-only competition with 350 commercial mead entries from all over the world, held in Boulder, Colo.

Mead, also called honeywine, is the alcohol fermented from honey. It is almost certainly the oldest fermented beverage on the planet, according to a press release from the competition. 

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(News-Register Staff)  News-Register readers will find the new, 2014-15 Yamhill Valley Visitor Guide in their Friday newspaper, and visitors will be able to pick up the new guide at dozens of area locations as well as in visitor center centers throughout the state.

"Discover McMinnville ... And The Yamhill Valley" is an 80-page magazine featuring Oregon's finest wine country, including the wines, foods, lodging, events, entertainment and diverse activities of the area.

The News-Register Publishing Company produces and distributes the annual guide, which this year has new design, maps and editorial content to introduce residents and visitors alike to the beauty and amenities of McMinnville and the Yamhill Valley.