What’s on tap for this week’s weather? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
For a lot of folks in Clark County, the top story in 2015 hit close to home.
Actually, The Columbian’s top two stories reflect a year of frustration and disappointment on the home front.
Renters were squeezed by a housing market so tight that Vancouver became the national leader in an unfortunate category: According to Apartmentlist.com, Vancouver had the highest rent increase in the nation from November 2014 to November 2015.
And the homeless — a population that sometimes goes ignored — moved onto the front pages this year.
Those topics finished No. 1 and 2 in our annual newsroom voting.
Jodi Wall is on a mission. Her goal is to find 80 low-income 3- to 4-year-old children in Clark County who would benefit from free, state-funded preschool instruction beginning in January. Ideally, the children would get one or two years before entering kindergarten.
Her deadline? Parents must enroll their children by Jan. 16. After that, the state’s Department of Early Learning will redistribute the slots to somewhere else in the state.
“We know this community needs these kinds of resources and services,” said Wall, director of Child Care and Early Learning at Educational Service District 112. “We’d hate to lose those slots.”
Larry Smith recalls how, when he first arrived in Vancouver in 1989, downtown was a “dump.”
The old Lucky Lager Brewery dominated the skyline. Esther Short Park was neglected, overgrown and a haven for undesirable activity.
Today, the brewery is but a memory and the park is the city’s lush centerpiece. Downtown development has taken off with a new hotel and convention center, public art, modern apartment buildings and a new City Hall. In 2016, a massive mixed-use commercial and residential project will begin rising along the waterfront.
For Smith, it just goes to show the importance of having a long-term vision.
“What will this look like in 15 to 20 years?” Smith asks. “How do you build for the future and the next generation? … Sometimes you might not get all those immediate results — they may come later.”
Marni Greer moved to Clark County on Dec. 4. After more than three weeks of drizzle, drips and downpours, she finally got a chance to enjoy a day without rain.
Greer and Luna, her border collie-Australian shepherd mix, were out with other walkers and joggers on the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail on Saturday, taking advantage of what was shaping up to be the first dry day of December — as of early evening, anyway — breaking a streak of 26 soggy days.
Greer said she has been getting outside for walks despite the rain: Luna sees to that.
However, “She has a built-in fur coat,” said Greer, who came here from Santa Monica, Calif., to be with family. “Me, I need to gear up.”
The life and schedule of a citizen legislator is hectic by design.
The idea is to have the state Capitol filled by people who are juggling life’s responsibilities, similar to the people they represent.
“If we didn’t have a Legislature that was part time, I think we would end up, for better or worse, having either retired or independently wealthy legislators that don’t have to work,” said state Sen. Annette Cleveland. “We need people who have to work and understand what it means to work hard to pay your bills.”
And, said state Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, “I don’t think we want just rich cats to be legislators.”
