The five most read stories on Columbian.com, July 3-9:
No. 1) Work begins to clean up eyesore in Sifton
After four months of complaints to Clark County and work by code-enforcement officials to get all the legal hoops jumped through, cleanup work at a Sifton foreclosure home will begin.
No. 2) Man who drowned Sunday was Battle Ground police officer/ Man dies in accident off Government Island
Authorities said Battle Ground police Officer Michael M. Molzahn, 41, jumped from a boat in the Columbia River off Government Island and struggled against the current and the cold.
No. 3 ) Battle Ground boy dies in plane crash
An 11-year-old Battle Ground boy died in a Saturday night plane crash in eastern South Dakota, authorities said.
No. 4) Leaders trade bridge barbs
Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler and Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt have been swapping a series of letters over a planned vote on a sales tax increase for light rail and bus rapid transit.
No. 5) Two men survive plane crash near Larch Mountain
The four-seat private plane apparently clipped tree tops as it crash landed in the gravel pit just east of “Four Corners” near Larch Corrections Center.