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Here are some of the top stories on columbian.com this week:
Christmas came early for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program in the form of a $600 million federal grant, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The grant — the full amount program officials asked for — is the first significant federal investment in the program. Officials have now secured $4 billion for a project estimated to cost about $6 billion, although estimates range between $5 billion and $7.5 billion. The remaining money is anticipated to come from two other federal grants.
• “Today marks a mega win for the state of Washington: Finally, the 100-year-old I-5 Bridge is getting a federal down payment.”
Last year, Mary Moore paid about $1,600 a month to rent an apartment in Vancouver. But when a $250 rent hike pushed beyond her budget, the 69-year-old was forced to move.
That puts her among 490,000 Washingtonians pressured to move by steep rent prices in the past six months. That’s 6 percent of the state’s overall population, according to data from the U.S. Census Pulse Survey.
“Do I just keep working until I drop dead so I can keep a roof over my head?” Moore said. “Because there is no way you can afford rent in Vancouver.”
• Survey finds 490,000 state residents pressured to move in past 6 months
Jane Seidel remembers the moment she realized winter shelters made a real difference in our community.
It was 6 p.m., and the doors to St. Andrew Lutheran Church had just opened with smiling volunteers helping to register people.
“I was looking around and realized I was the very first person who ever actually spoke to them that day,” said Seidel, an organizer for the church’s winter shelter.
Winter shelters for people living outside help them survive. In November, various faith congregations and nonprofits in Clark County banded together to expand the number of emergency shelter beds this winter. But they’re having trouble recruiting enough volunteers.
Bleu Door Bakery has been a staple of Vancouver’s Uptown Village for more than a decade. It’s well known in the community for its decadent pastries and cookies.
But last week it became known for another reason — having rocks thrown through the bakery’s windows twice in a week.
“We’ve never had the amount of vandalism that we’ve had in the last week,” owner Bonnie Brasure said. The business was attacked for the first time two weeks ago and then again five days later.
• Rock-throwing bedevils downtown, uptown sites; no suspects ID’d so far
