What kind of weather will the workweek hold? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
COWLITZ INDIAN RESERVATION — With a large and luxurious new concert and convention venue, there are more reasons than ever for the public to visit ilani, the casino that opened a year ago north of Vancouver. But nearby towns are still waiting for those people to wander a bit outside of ilani’s gaming floor.
Thousands of people flocked to the new Cowlitz Ballroom last month to watch acts such as rapper Vanilla Ice, country music group Little Big Town and comedian Jay Leno. Casino officials say it’s clear more customers are filling the expansive complex’s parking lot, restaurants and gaming floor.
“We haven’t looked at it in terms of percentages but I would say these (days) have been significantly busier,” said Tom Teesdale, vice president of marketing for ilani. “When you have a good business at the core, then add 2,500 additional concertgoers to the property, it’s making for a very busy night.”
One year after its grand opening, the $510 million casino seems popular. Teesdale wouldn’t disclose attendance numbers but said memberships to the casino’s loyalty program have so far outpaced expectations.
“It’s been very, very encouraging,” he said.
Read the full story: As ilani marks first anniversary, cities say growth a sure bet
A mama mallard and her eight ducklings stopped traffic on Highway 14 near Columbia House Boulevard on Friday afternoon as they successfully negotiated crossing the busy freeway with the help of several Samaritans.
Our photo and brief story got a lot of attention on social media.
Check it out: Jay-waddling: Mama duck leads brood across Highway 14
C-Tran is making changes to some of its routes that could affect how its passengers get around the community.
Effective Sunday, seven routes will be changed, but only to make service more efficient, C-Tran officials say. No substantial changes are involved.
“A good way to describe the changes would be ‘system tweaks’ — slight changes in time points, extensions to trips on certain routes and, in one case, an added trip on one route,” C-Tran spokeswoman Christine Selk said in an email.
“No routes are being cut, none are being added, and there are no significant changes to service frequency or duration,” she wrote.
On weekdays, the first westbound Vine bus leaving Vancouver Mall will now leave at 4:25 a.m., five minutes earlier than normal. Thus all time points will shift five minutes earlier as the bus moves downtown.
Also during weekdays, Route 6 will add a new eastbound trip from Fruit Valley Road serving the Vancouver Campus of the VA Portland Health Care System, leaving Fruit Valley at 8:09 p.m. and arriving at the Vancouver VA campus at 8:21 p.m.
Read the full story: C-Tran makes ‘system tweaks’ to certain routes
For the first time, Washington State University Vancouver’s commencement address was livestreamed online, which worked out for Navaraj “Raj” Lamichhane.
Lamichhane, who graduated from the business administration program with a professional sales certificate, earned the Chancellor’s Award for Student Achievement. After being orphaned at a young age, Lamichhane was separated from his siblings and grew up in a children’s home in Nepal. He completed high school and two years of college in Nepal, where he met Beverly Questad, an English teacher from Vancouver who was there volunteering.
She helped Lamichhane come to America to continue his education, and on Saturday while he accepted his award during commencement, friends of Lamichhane’s back in Nepal were watching live. Lamichhane addressed his friends and family watching back in Nepal, especially those watching from Bright Horizon Children’s Home School, where he grew up for 12 years. The time in Matatirtha, Nepal, where the home is located, is 12 hours and 45 minutes ahead of Vancouver, making it a little later than 2 a.m. in Nepal when Lamichhane received his award.
“You are my family,” he said. “I made it here. This has been a very successful journey, so thank you very much. You are my family, my inspiration.”
Read the full story: WSUV grads: ‘The leaders we’ve been waiting for’
Jim Obester sees things that most people don’t.
Most people never take a jaunt to “Jaws”-ville or hang with hammerheads.
But we can enjoy his photographs. And now one of those images has a high-profile showcase, after Obester won a first place award in National Geographic’s 2017 nature photography contest.
The Vancouver physician won for underwater photography, one of four categories in the contest. (The others were wildlife, landscape and aerial.) The winner wasn’t one of his shark photos, even though he submitted a couple of them. He scored with a luminescent portrait of an anemone that was taken in Puget Sound. At first glance, there wasn’t much to see.
“It was clear and bland,” said Obester, who worked with Columbia Anesthesia Group until retiring recently. However, “it glowed green under blue light.”
Obester described the technical aspects of the image in his photo caption: “Blue filtered strobe lights stimulate fluorescent pigments in the clear tentacles of a tube-dwelling anemone.”
First place came with a $2,500 prize.
“I bought a new camera and housing,” Obester said.
Read the full story: Vancouver doctor wins National Geographic photography contest
