The mercury will be rising this week. See how high it is expected to go with our local weather coverage.
Here are some of the stories that grabbed our readers’ attention this week.
Julie Milchev is a natural-born caregiver.
“I was always very nurturing. I would take care of everything and everybody,” she said — whether it was animals on her family’s acreage near Gresham, Ore., or school classmates being teased and bullied. “I would feel so sorry for them. I would invite them to sleep over and I’d do their hair. I just wanted to help people and fix things,” she said.
Today Milchev, 47, tends her aging mother for love and numerous clients for pay. She’s an itinerant caregiver for the Vancouver office of Home Instead Senior Care, a national chain. Between all that, she said, she’s never truly “off work.”
Read more in Scott Hewitt’s two-day in-depth look.
In his nearly 40 years in the jewelry business, it hasn’t been uncommon for Joe Lanning to work six days a week. Three of those days, he would drive back to work after dinner to chisel out a few more hours.
Long hours, he said, go hand-in-hand with running your own business, as he and his wife do at My Jeweler, 809 Main St. And, despite turning 70 this month, Lanning said he has no plans to retire, though he has cut back his hours.
“I am going to work, probably, until I die,” he said with a shrug.
Read more about why boomers are delaying retirement.
Striving to be clean and green isn’t some sweetly vague principle for today’s all-natural gardeners.
Real, immediate concerns about health and safety — not just for people but also for pets — drive their organic gardening practices, according to several who participated July 23 in the annual Natural Garden Tour, sponsored by Clark County Public Health.
The self-guided tour of 15 open gardens used to be sponsored by the county’s Environmental Services Department — back when there was one — but putting it under the auspices of Public Health makes serious sense, coordinator Sally Fisher said.
Learn more about what gardeners are doing to improve the environment.
The battle lines have been drawn in the proxy war over the proposed Vancouver Energy oil terminal that is the Port of Vancouver Commissioner District 1 election, and the oil money has chosen a side.
Tesoro Corp., one of the companies behind Vancouver Energy, has donated $5,000 to candidate Kris Greene, making the company his second-largest cash contributor, according to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission’s website.
About a month ago, the other candidate, Don Orange, challenged Greene not to take any contributions from oil companies. Greene said he wasn’t aware of it until someone else brought it to his attention.
Learn more about the Port Commissioner race and the races and measures on Tuesday’s ballot.
CAMAS — When Randy Curtis received a call about a problem at the Crown Park pool, he feared the worst.
“You have to wonder if it’s a 24-hour problem, or is this it?” said Curtis, a member of the city’s parks and recreation commission. “That is a threat hanging over our heads.”
It ended up being a 24-hour problem, as the pool had to be closed one day because a leak in one of the pool lines dripped onto an electrical panel, which shorted out and caused the main pump to stop working, according to Camas Parks & Recreation Department Director Jerry Acheson.
Read more about plans for Camas’ Crown Park.
Smashburger is among the food court options at the Ilani Casino Resort in Ridgefield. The franchise presently has 300 restaurants in 32 states and specializes in “smashed” beef and chicken burgers made with fresh, wholesome and authentic ingredients. Smashburger’s secret to juicy goodness is in the melted sweet butter and imported olive oil blend used to season the meat patties. A 10-second “smash” on the grill seals in juices and creates a caramelized, crispy shell on each patty. Fries and salads round out the food options and shakes made with premium Häagen-Dazs ice cream offer the classic burger meal.
Read this review and other area restaurant reviews.
