Will the warm days linger? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
The old Christensen is wrecked at the bottom of an ocean of debt and litigation. The new shipyard is a leaner operation with new leadership — separate, somewhat, from the receiver-held entity that owes millions to suppliers and creditors.
The old company that employed up to 350 people at its peak found itself $40 million in the hole. It sputtered in late 2014 before yacht construction came to a halt early last year. The new company, owned in part by a previous half-owner from Tennessee, opened debt-free last May and employs 115 local workers.
Christensen’s former president, Joe Foggia, has moved to Florida and has no comment. The interim president says he sees nothing but good things in Christensen’s future.
“Folks working here have nothing to concern themselves with other than building beautiful boats,” said Jim Gilbert, who was named interim president in January. “To have lost their jobs suddenly, without warning — we feel a big responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Claiming Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson was dishonest about her agency’s involvement with the Columbia River Crossing, Senate Transportation Vice Chairman Don Benton joined his Republican colleagues on Friday by calling for her to be fired.
“Our WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) continued to work with the Department of Transportation in Oregon, encouraging them and helping them do an Oregon-led CRC project,” said Benton, R-Vancouver.
Benton and Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, were instrumental in killing the project that would have replaced the Interstate 5 Bridge.
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, who sits on the Senate Transportation Committee along with Benton, said the vote was a surprise move by Republicans. Cleveland voted to confirm Peterson, who she said received accolades during an earlier confirmation hearing.
“I had always believed our politics here in Washington could be somewhat different from the politics we see in Congress and I have to tell you, that is no longer the case,” Cleveland said.
Three people were taken into custody in connection with a Gresham, Ore., homicide investigation after they led law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase from Portland through Clark County and into Cowlitz County on Friday afternoon.
Trooper Will Finn of the Washington State Patrol said the agency received word from the Portland Police Bureau that officers were pursuing a vehicle heading north on Interstate 205 into Washington. The pursuit crossed into Clark County around 3 p.m.
The tan or brown Cadillac was traveling in excess of 100 mph at times, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian, and Finn said the driver actively tried to elude officers.
A Kentucky company has submitted plans to build a 72-bed psychiatric hospital in Salmon Creek.
Springstone LLC of Louisville, Ky., is proposing to build the Rainier Springs Hospital on a 12.5-acre site near the Interstate 205 interchange at Northeast 134th Street. The company has already received preliminary approval from the state health department to construct the hospital, pending issuance of a conditional use permit by Clark County.
The proposed psychiatric hospital would provide a full range of services — including inpatient, voluntary and involuntary treatment, adult, and geropsychiatric for the elderly, as well as substance abuse services — for patients 18 and older. The facility would also include pharmacy, dietary and therapy services, according to the application filed with the state Health Department.
Remember all the times your parents told you that you couldn’t eat ice cream for breakfast? Your parents played you for a sucker.
Because you’re an adult. You make the rules. Occasionally, you also get to make up the holidays. And sometimes, those holidays mean eating ice cream before noon.
Visitors to Ice Cream Renaissance got a taste of the sweet life on Saturday, as the Uptown Village parlor celebrated National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. No, it’s not a holiday on any calendar you’re looking at, but that didn’t stop dozens of people from chowing down on waffle sundaes, French toast topped with ice cream, and occasionally, just a simple bowl packed full of the creamy confection.
“People are in good moods, and they’re excited to have ice cream and breakfast together,” said Brandon Angelo, co-owner of Ice Cream Renaissance. “It’s kind of rebelling against the status quo.”
