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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories from the weekend:
As far-right groups and antifascist protesters faced off in downtown Portland, a group of more than 150 Patriot Prayer supporters stood by in Vancouver on Saturday, awaiting bus transportation that would take them into the action.
U.S. Senate candidate Joey Gibson, leader of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, organized what was branded as a “freedom rally” for his campaign against incumbent Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
Gibson, who lives in Vancouver, announced this week that shuttles with armed guards on them would be available to pick supporters up from the Grand Central Retail Center just east of downtown to take them into Portland.
But security and tow trucks milled around the Fred Meyer parking lot at 2500 Columbia House Blvd., ready to pick up anyone who left their car at the private shopping center. Portland-based commercial real estate firm NAI Elliot, which manages the property, announced Friday that anyone who parked except to shop or work would be towed at their own expense.
A plot of land in the Fircrest neighborhood will soon be home to 111 single-family residences making up a housing development dubbed Four Seasons South.
Patrick Ginn of Ginn Development is purchasing the 9.47 acres of land from two owners just east of Interstate 205, including 4.79 acres from urban agriculture fixture Joe’s Place Farms and 4.68 acres from the Nuttman family.
Collectively, the land is assessed at $1.65 million.
According to the project’s application submitted to the city of Vancouver, fitting that much housing on that size plot will be snug — each residential lot will be less than 40 feet wide, and most will be closer to 20 feet wide. Front- and backyard setbacks may be staggered to avoid repetition, and the development will feature three open-space tracts.
A 45-year-old man who allegedly threatened friends with a firearm was taken into custody Wednesday following a three-hour standoff in an apartment complex in east Vancouver, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
John C. Picano, no hometown listed, was arrested on suspicion of felony harassment and first-degree assault and burglary.
Police were first dispatched about 8 a.m. to a weapons disturbance at First Street Apartments, in the 300 block of Southeast 166th Avenue. Police temporarily blocked off a section of Southeast First Street to traffic during the standoff.
Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said the man was in an apartment with acquaintances when he made the threats.
The occupants escaped, but the man refused to come out, creating a barricade situation that prompted a SWAT deployment with multiple police vehicles on scene, including a large RV and a Bearcat armored vehicle.
Police in Washington and Colorado appear to be closing more cases since the legalization of marijuana in both states, according to an analysis of FBI crime clearance data by researchers at Washington State University.
To do the study, the researchers examined monthly FBI crime data from 2010 to 2015. They performed a statistical analysis looking at the trends in clearances for different crimes before and after marijuana was legalized. Similar data isn’t available at the local level.
A clearance rate is the ratio of crimes ending with an arrest, or cases “closed,” with the total number of reported crimes recorded by police. The higher the rate, the more cases are cleared, and researchers and police agencies use the rate as a measure of performance.
There were no immediate changes in clearance rates after the laws passed, but Washington’s clearance rate for motor vehicle thefts jumped 5 percent.
The Washington State Department of Transportation has a proposed solution to make two crash-prone intersections on state Highway 500 safer and more efficient for drivers — possibly within a few months — but once the work is over, some pedestrians will likely have to wait for years before they can walk across the highway again.
The agency is proposing turning the intersections of Highway 500 and Northeast 42nd Avenue/Falk Road and Northeast 54th Avenue/Stapleton Road into right in/right out interchanges. The traffic lights would be removed and the highway reconfigured. A median barrier would be built through the intersections, and the merge lanes would be reconfigured to give drivers more time to enter the highway and enforce the right-off turn.
Taking a “left turn” from either intersection would require turning right on Highway 500 then making a U-turn at either Northeast St. Johns Road or Northeast Andresen Road.
