It cooled down over the weekend. Will it last? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories from the weekend:
Units in a luxury apartment building at The Waterfront Vancouver are officially available for pre-leasing, though tenants won’t be able to move in until autumn.
The Rediviva, a complex that includes 63 units — a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms — opened up its apartments to renters last week. Since then, 10 percent have been pre-leased, said Nicole Rideout of R/West, the marketing firm handling media relations for the waterfront development.
“They’re expecting the rest to go pretty quickly. People are pretty excited about the views and price point,” Rideout said.
The apartments range from 579 square feet to 1,141 square feet, and rent costs anywhere from $1,826 to $3,283 per month, according to the development’s website. The units feature large windows with sweeping views of the Columbia River, a vista that’s turned The Waterfront Vancouver development into some of the most coveted property around for builders and restaurateurs.
It’s been a summer of debate between area school districts and their teacher unions. This week, those debates will turn to actions.
Nearly every teachers union in Clark County has voted to strike unless pay raises are enacted by the opening day of school, most of which fall on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Unions and school districts across Washington are negotiating new salary schedules for teachers after the Legislature addressed the 2012 McCleary decision. Last year, the Legislature approved $7.3 billion in allocations to schools over four years, and this year added another nearly $1 billion for teacher salaries, meeting the Supreme Court’s order to fully fund basic education.
In Southwest Washington, teachers are fighting for double-digit raises they say are long overdue. Districts are pushing back, saying they can’t afford to sustain pay scales at the level teachers want due to the state’s formula for funding schools.
Top Shelf Martinis on Main reconfigured its outdoor seating area on Aug. 17, resolving a monthslong dispute and becoming the first non-Seattle bar in the state to occupy a “detached” patio.
The modification, a result of conflicting requirements between the state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board and the city of Vancouver, turned out to be a testament to flexibility, said owner Daren Morgan — and it shows that communication is key when working with two different sets of rulebooks.
“They very seldom align. This is a huge win for everybody,” Morgan said. “I’m extremely happy that we’re finally able to come up with something that works.”
Formerly, Top Shelf’s enclosed patio sat immediately outside the door facing Main Street, cutting off the sidewalk. The location satisfied state requirements that forbade customers from walking across a public sidewalk to reach the patio, but the city received complaints from pedestrians that the railed-off rectangle made it difficult to navigate the corner of Main and West Sixth streets.
It’s true: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and, by extension, the people who love to recreate in it, are still suffering the effects of the Eagle Creek Fire a year later.
On the Oregon side, most the Columbia River Gorge’s marquee trails, waterfalls and cycling corridors remain closed to the public indefinitely.
But rather than feeling discouraged and wasting your day wondering what hikes will satisfy your outdoorsy nephew when he visits from Absarokee, or which waterfall will be both accessible and impressive for great-aunt Doris, rest easy.
There’s still a number of exciting and interesting sites to see on the Oregon side of the Gorge. In fact, this might be the perfect time to explore and discover places you’ve never seen.
Finding them is going to require a little initiative, but consider these seven tips a way to get started.
Rounding out a trend with Washington’s federal leadership, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., sent a letter to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Friday concerning tolls.
