Be sure to keep the sunscreen handy, because the forecast says we’re in for a warm weekend.
Here’s a look at several stories that were of particular interest to columbian.com readers this week.
The two people killed in a stabbing early Sunday morning have been positively identified and their families have been notified of their deaths.
The names of the homicide victims, 42-year-old Thomas West and 55-year-old James Olsen, were included in court records released Monday following the first appearance of the suspect in the double-homicide, Dustin Lee Zapel, 35, who has a long history of mental illness.
Former Evergreen High School teacher Matthew Morasch was found guilty Wednesday of trying to take “upskirt” images of females, including a student in his class, with his cellphone.
The Clark County Superior Court jury deliberated for about two hours before reaching the guilty verdicts on one count of voyeurism and two counts of attempted voyeurism. The 1½-week trial wrapped up Tuesday evening.
Morasch, 42, was a freshman physics teacher at the high school and was in his 10th year with the district when the crimes occurred. The district placed him on leave when the allegations came to light, but he has since resigned, according to a district spokesperson.
Smoke could be seen and smelled for miles in Ridgefield after crews extinguished a fire at a large dairy complex that destroyed a hay barn early Wednesday morning.
Firefighters were called to 23117 N.W. Hillhurst Road just after 2 a.m. and arriving crews found a well-involved fire at a hay barn, Clark County Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Dawdy said. “It was putting out an impressive amount of fire and smoke,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has weighed in on Oregon’s plan to potentially toll parts of Interstates 5 and 205 to help fund highway improvements in the state.
In a letter to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Department of Transportation, Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, made clear her opposition to any tolling plan that “would unfairly target Washington commuters on Interstate Highways 5 and 205” and said she would defend them with “every appropriate means at my disposal.”
Herrera Beutler wrote that she doesn’t oppose the concept of user fees going to construction, maintenance or upkeep. However, she argues that putting tolls at the state line, which would be largely paid by Washington commuters, then using those to improve projects south of Portland, “would be unfair in the extreme.”
A nearly 80-year-old water main broke Thursday, flooding part of Columbia Street and Wallis Engineering in downtown Vancouver.
The pipe broke at about 11:50 a.m. in front of Wallis at 215 W. Fourth St. Water gushed into the street and pooled about two feet deep near the intersection of Columbia Street and Columbia Way.
The road was blocked in that area, but cars were still plowing through the water.
The 8-inch pipe that broke is made of cast iron and dates back to 1938, according to a city worker.
