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Here are some of the stories that were popular this week with Columbian readers:
The annual Give More 24! online giving marathon concluded Thursday, exceeding its goal of raising $3.5 million in donations. In the end, the campaign raised over $3.6 million from over 6,000 donors to support 216 nonprofits around Southwest Washington.
The top five organizations that each exceeded $100,000 in donations were: the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, the Children’s Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Share Inc. and FISH of Vancouver.
In pervious years, only one organization had ever exceeded $100,000 in donations, according to Maury Harris, senior communications officer for the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington.
C-Tran’s CEO Shawn Donaghy recently raised concerns about a breakdown in communication between the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program and C-Tran.
Donaghy, who spoke for roughly 25 minutes during the Sept. 13 C-Tran Board of Directors meeting, also raised concerns and frustrations about whether a proposed light rail station in Vancouver would be elevated, light rail activists within the bridge replacement team and where trains will be stored.
“There has been a lot of communication behind the scenes since (the modified locally preferred alternative passed), some things that have been a little concerning either in breakdowns in communication between IBR and partner agencies or maybe expectations of the program,” Donaghy said at the board meeting.
Work to remove two derelict vessels from the Columbia River near Hayden Island continued Tuesday, with workers focusing on the Alert, above, a decommissioned submarine chaser, one day after the U.S. Coast Guard towed the recently sunken-and-raised towboat Sakarissa, at right, to Diversified Marine in Portland, where workers will remove the remaining oily waste from the vessel.
It’s been 10 years since Steve Valenta founded the Mighty Bowl food truck and ushered in a new era of mobile food units.
Valenta’s wasn’t the first food truck in Vancouver. Bob Buell and Ray Stephens opened the Weiner Wagon and Patty Wagon back in 1976, before the Weiner Wagon was taken over by Skip Ballweber at the corner of 12th and Main streets, but the Mighty Bowl led to a fleet of food trucks in Clark County inspired by their popularity across the river in Portland.
Though technically mobile, most food trucks park next to another business, pod, or activity. Clark County doesn’t have a high level of foot traffic like Portland, so trucks here anchor themselves to other businesses to draw customers.
A transient man who allegedly set a fire at the Vancouver mayor’s home Sept. 12 is now also accused of burglarizing her house the night before.
Aidan Michael Murray, 28, appeared Thursday in Clark County Superior Court on a new allegation of residential burglary.
Murray appeared last week on suspicion of first-degree arson, second-degree malicious mischief and third-degree theft in connection with the fire. He’s also charged with second-degree burglary in a separate case. He is being held on $500,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 29.
