Labor Day weekend’s weather had a hint of fall — warm days and cooler nights. What will the work week hold in store? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories from the long holiday weekend:
Strike coverage — a closer look: Veteran, new teachers on the front lines in Clark County strikes
BATTLE GROUND — It’s 8:53 a.m. Thursday, and Casey Richard, a fourth-grade teacher, would normally be making her last-minute preparations for a day of teaching.
Instead, Richard and thousands of other school employees across Clark County are on the picket lines. Teachers and administrators remain at odds over salary agreements, as districts around Washington negotiate how to spend the additional money they’re slated to receive after two years of McCleary legislation.
Columbian reporters and photographers last week talked to dozens of teachers, heard their stories and reported their frustrations. It’s a diverse group of teachers, counselors, occupational therapists, nurses and other school staff. Some are new to their districts. Others have been teaching for decades.
Meet some of the faces in the strike.
For complete strike coverage, visit www.columbian.com/news/schools.
As a 79-year-old physical therapist, Jim Ferris often has clients in his same age cohort.
“I don’t tell the people how old I am,” he said.
Ferris works part-time at the Woodland Care Center, an assisted living facility, and he’s among a growing number of seniors who continue working in their golden years. People who are 65 and older account for the fastest growing group of Clark County workers, which mirrors a national trend, Regional Economist Scott Bailey said.
Between 1990 and 2017, jobs held by people 65 and older grew nearly sevenfold in the county while total jobs doubled. Even after taking population growth into account, seniors represent a sizeable, growing share of the workforce. By comparison, youth labor participation has been cut in half as they become more engaged in school and after-school activities — and some of the jobs typically held by teenagers are filled by older workers with fewer opportunities. Participation among prime-age workers (age 25 to 54) has increased slightly in the county.
Learn more about why older workers are staying or returning to the work force.
By the time Bailey, a white boxer, was spotted running down a street in May, he was feral and starving, with the shape of his ribs and back bones visible from underneath his skin.
Keri-Lyn Jakubs, who runs pet recovery nonprofit I Paw’d It Forward, said Bailey had been missing since April and had been located by a network of animal-loving volunteers.
Jakubs posted a video of Bailey’s capture on her group’s Facebook page, where the dog can be seen cautiously approaching a live trap that had been baited with chicken and beef brisket with liquid smoke added to keep its aroma pungent. The video shows Bailey giving in to hunger and entering the trap before it cuts to scenes of him reunited with his beaming family.
“It took our entire community to make that happen,” said Jakubs.
Read more about how the county is filling the void.
The Vancouver Police Department is re-implementing its bicycle patrol unit — after being in limbo for more than a decade — on the heels of the official opening of The Waterfront Vancouver.
Officers on bicycles is nothing new for the city — the unit has existed off and on in one form or another since a pilot program kicked off in 1991.
“The bike unit was very effective. This is why (the specialty officers) are being brought back,” police department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said. “Bike officers can access certain areas more easily than the traditional patrol car, are more accessible to the public, can deploy quickly to certain areas and are trained to use their bicycles for different scenarios.”
The officers will attend training in mid-September, and equipment is being ordered. The goal is to have the officers patrolling by the end of the month.
Learn more about the department’s plans for bicycle officers.
Four clowns walk into a hospital elevator.
They exit the elevator into a long hall in the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland, walking past decals of a rooster and a bunny on the floor. The clowns, all Clark County residents — Jim Cobb, Ray Zimmerman, Dave Bryant and Dale Vrsalovich — spread out and start setting up a keyboard and a magic table for their monthly performance for kids at Shriners in August as part of their volunteer work with the Aififi Southwest Washington Shrine Clowns.
The performances happen as part of birthday parties thrown at the hospital by the Daughters of the Nile. The parties are for kids in the hospital, regardless of whether they have a birthday that month.
Over about the next hour, the clowns will perform magic, while Vrsalovich, clown name “Keys,” accompanies the tricks with keyboard tunes. At one point, Cobb, nicknamed “Klutz the Magnificent,” performs a disappearing handkerchief trick.
Meet the clowns who are bringing a smile to sick kids’ faces.
