We saw a little rain on Friday. What is on the way for the weekend? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed it, here are some of the top stories of the week:
Final weekend of the Fair
It’s the last weekend of the Clark County Fair. There’s certainly no shortage of things to do. You can gorge on food or slurp down a tasty milkshake. You can then test your digestive fortitude on the rides or maybe admire the well-groomed livestock or baby animals. There’s Monster Trucks you can hear for miles, not to mention concerts featuring various rock and country music stars.
Check out our full Fair coverage, including , including Toni Woodard’s blog, “It’s the Fair!”
Vancouver school board fails to pass budget
In an unusual move, the Vancouver school board failed to pass an operating budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year Tuesday night.
The state’s deadline for passing the budget is Aug. 31. The board will have a second chance to pass the proposed general fund budget of $271.6 million at its next regular meeting Aug. 25.
When the vote was called, board directors Mark Stoker and Dale Rice voted to approve the budget. But director Kathy Gillespie voted no. Director Edri Geiger abstained.
This is not the first time the board has failed to reach consensus on a pressing issue. At a work session last week, the four-member board was deadlocked 2-2 in appointing a replacement for a fifth board member who resigned last month.
Read more about the members’ budget vote.
Madore: Limit tax hikes to 1% unless vote
A charter amendment proposed by Clark County Councilor David Madore that would limit property tax levy increases received no traction Wednesday from the four candidates vying for a seat on the board.
Madore, a Republican who lost his own bid for Clark County council chair in last week’s primary, recommended during the council’s board time meeting that the councilors consider adopting a charter amendment once the new members are seated that would prevent the county from raising its property tax levy beyond 1 percent without a countywide vote.
Such a policy, Madore said, would protect taxpayers from “sticker-shock,” he said Wednesday.
Changing the county charter is not a simple process. Under the home-rule charter, which voters approved in November, amendments to the document can only be approved after four of five councilors agree and the amendment passes a public vote. That prevents the current, three-member council from changing the charter before the council becomes a five-member board next year.
Read more about Madore’s proposal.
Port of Vancouver commissioners on Tuesday will review and discuss four alternative design concepts as part of a larger effort to rejuvenate the port’s Terminal 1 waterfront property.
The public meeting is expected to begin at noon, following the commissioners’ regular morning meeting, at the port’s office, 3103 N.W. Lower River Road. The port wants to redevelop 10 of its 13 acres at Terminal 1. Current uses at the site, between Columbia and Esther streets in Vancouver’s downtown, now include the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay, docks and piers, a public amphitheater and Columbia Shores Business Center.
Read more about the priorities for Terminal 1.
Once a week, Colleen Neel strolls through Water Works Park picking up any trash she can spot.
And sure enough, every time she finds some used hypodermic needles left out on the ground where anyone could step on them.
“I found four last Tuesday night,” said Neel, a member of the Central Park Neighborhood Association. “I usually find a couple every week.”
For anyone who’s lived near the old central Vancouver park in recent years, it’s no secret that the place has seen better days. Home to Vancouver’s largest well — Water Station 1 — and the Swift Skate Park, the wooded park just north of Clark College has become a well-known hot spot for violent crime, vandalism, drug dealing and illegal camping in recent years.
Read more about neighbors’ efforts to clean up the park.
LA CENTER — The first night Madison Villines brought home Tucker, the 1-year-old mustang refused to leave his trailer.
“He was really skittish,” Madison, 16, said. “He was really tiny and small, but his eyes were huge and so white.”
It was late at night, pitch black and raining. Not only was it Tucker’s first time at the Villineses’ farm, but he had practically no contact with humans before Madison and her family picked him up from the Bureau of Land Management’s corrals in Burns, Ore., earlier that day.
Within a month, Madison knew she wanted to adopt Tucker. Within two months, the two were nearly inseparable. Within 90 days, they were award-winning best friends.
