What’s on tap for this week’s weather? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
More than six years after it was first proposed, a high-powered transmission line through Clark and Cowlitz counties is approaching decision day.
The Bonneville Power Administration plans to release a final environmental impact statement on the project by the end of this year. The voluminous document will offer an updated look at the proposed 500-kilovolt transmission line, including the preferred route the agency identified in 2012.
In 2016, BPA Administrator Elliot Mainzer could give the project a final green light. If that happens, construction could begin as early as 2017, according to BPA spokesman Kevin Wingert.
The so-called I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project has faded from the public radar in many places. But it’s still very much on the minds of landowners whose properties sit along the preferred power-line route. Many aren’t happy with the planning process — or the outcome.
That’s not surprising, said BPA project manager Mark Korsness.
“It’s a tough thing to site 80 miles of transmission line and not have people upset about it,” Korsness said. “We do our best to minimize the impacts and make adjustments where we can. But in the end, we have to have a continuous path that’s 80 miles long.”
For too long, Cutty knew the pain of being unwanted.
But after three years in a shelter, the lonely 7-year-old pit bull finally found his forever home last week.
“Everyone was so excited he got adopted,” said West Columbia Gorge Humane Society dog shelter manager Sara Bertrand. “We’re all very happy that he is out of here. We miss him, but it’s a good miss.”
Dumped in the woods in December 2011 when his owner went to jail, Cutty was rescued by the Humane Society.
Month after month, visitors came to the shelter to adopt dogs and cats. But nobody picked Cutty, whose skin allergies and hip deformity require a special diet and ongoing veterinary care.
Our village elders.
The phrase really is an echo from another time and another place. This community certainly hasn’t been a village for a while.
But we do continue to benefit from people who have transitioned into community leadership roles later in their lives. The energy, vision and organizational skills that made them successful in the working world can become valuable community resources.
Reporters run across these folks as we cover stories around our community. Every once in a while, it’s a story about a lifetime of achievement, thanks to the annual “First Citizen” recognition program.
At the most recent “First Citizen” event on Oct. 20, Nan Henriksen joined a list of community contributors that goes back to 1939. Looking back through that list, local reporters would recognize the names of many people they’ve written about over the last couple of decades.
We’ve reported on their public service, their leadership, their charitable work and — in some cases — their deaths.
Earlier this week, Republicans picked up a legislative seat in the state House, narrowing the majority Democrats have long enjoyed.
Washington state GOP Chairwoman Susan Hutchison is keeping score.
“Touchdown, GOP,” she said of the win.
Since 2013, Republicans have captured seven Democrat-held seats in the Legislature and turned them in their favor. With the most recent legislative win, the House is now split 50 to 48 with the Democrats enjoying a slight edge over Republicans.
“When you consider how far we’ve come in a very short period of time, I think there is great reason for Republicans to feel we have a very effective party in place at the state level,” Hutchison said Friday in a wide-ranging interview with The Columbian’s editorial board.
Sitting in an open air tent on his farm, Tom Lauerman deftly rolled a joint, leaned back in his easy chair, and began to smoke.
And who could blame the guy for relaxing? After all, just a few feet from where he sat grew the fruits — or more accurately, buds — of nearly 10 months of labor.
Lauerman — known to his friends as Farmer Tom — is a medical marijuana grower whose operation rests on 5 acres just west of Brush Prairie. The one-time California hippie who first smoked at 12 years old is now growing his plants outdoors for his patients, an unusual departure from the standard massive warehouse grows.
