Steel mill fined — A McMinnville steel mill has been fined more than $7,000 for violating its water pollution permit. Cascade Steel Rolling Mills is being fined because it stopped performing required monthly water sampling for lead and zinc. The state Department of Environmental Quality said the monitoring has been required since 2002 under the facility’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. A spokesman for Schnitzer Steel in Portland, the McMinnville facility’s parent company, said the mill is now monitoring as required. Colin Kelly said Cascade Steel discovering a monitoring oversight as part of its internal review and immediately notified the Department of Environmental Quality and fixed the program. The company has until Oct. 22 to appeal the penalty.

Broadway bridge — Portland’s Broadway Bridge will be closed to motor vehicles from 7 a.m. today through Oct. 27 during a repainting project. Sidewalks on the bridge will remain open to pedestrians and bicyclists. Streetcars, buses and other motor vehicles will not be able to use the bridge during the closure. Alternative river crossings open to motor vehicles include the Burnside, Fremont and Steel bridges.

Soda Fire rehab — The Bureau of Land Management has released a rehab plan for the land burned in the Soda Fire. The more than 450-square-mile fire burned parts of Owyhee County, Idaho and Jordan Valley, Oregon. The rehabilitation plan includes ground and aerial seeding, as well as planting of sage brush, and erosion control work. Erosion is a big concern because fall and winter rain and snow can wash away the soil the fire exposed. Jessica Gardetto with the National Interagency Fire Center said they will be planting grass and trying to stabilize soil as soon as possible. Growing more sage brush is particularly important because some key greater sage grouse habitat was lost to the Soda Fire. Gardetto said the work is being done not just to help the wildlife but for the people who depend on this land for their livelihood.