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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
Raisa Mosh and her friend Irina Gardinant were struck and killed by a careless driver Jan. 19, 2014. The driver of the pickup, Brandon C. Smith, ran the red light and fled the scene.
He was ultimately sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for vehicular homicide — the maximum sentence allowed by law.
In the same year, other motorists charged with vehicular homicide were later sentenced to anywhere from four to 16 years. One motorist who struck and killed a pedestrian in 2012 received only six months in the Clark County Jail.
Tanya Mosh, Raisa’s eldest daughter, said she was disappointed and shocked with the sentence handed down to her mother’s killer.
The city of Vancouver’s salary review commission more than doubled the mayor’s salary on Friday. They also gave substantial raises to the rest of the city council.
The pay hike increases the mayor’s monthly salary from $2,300 ($27,600 annually) to $5,000 per month (or $60,000) beginning in January.
The current monthly salary for the mayor pro tem, a city councilor who acts as mayor in the mayor’s absence, will go from $2,000 per month (or $24,000 annually) to $3,125 (or 37,500 annually), a 56.25 percent increase. The rest of the city councilors, who currently earn $1,800 monthly ($21,600 annually), will jump to $2,708 per month ($32,496 annually) or a 50.4 percent increase.
The ecological diversity of Southwest Washington’s landscape comes with many benefits for its residents. On Saturday, a few hundred of those residents kept those advantages in mind and decided reciprocate by volunteering for the Earth Day Fest at Salmon Creek Regional Park.
The event, hosted in partnership by Clark Public Utilities’ Stream Team and the Clark County Department of Environmental Services, brought together outdoors, environmental and stewardship groups and entertainers from around the area for a day of environmentally focused education and volunteering.
With the Columbia River now a hot destination for U.S. river cruises, the Vancouver-berthed American Empress is preparing to welcome record numbers of travelers as it moves into its third consecutive year on the great river of the West.
“This year we’re off to an unbelievably good start,” said John Waggoner, chairman and CEO of American Queen Steamboat Co., the ship’s Memphis, Tenn.-based owner. “August and September are already completely sold out.”
The 223-passenger American Empress launches on alternate weeks from Vancouver and Clarkston for seven-day, eight-night cruises on the Columbia and Snake rivers from Astoria, Ore., to Clarkston. Its tour bus, which takes passengers on day trips at various points along the journey, can sometimes be seen at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Mount St. Helens, and Portland tourist attractions. On Saturday nights before Sunday departures, cruise ship passengers overnight at the Hilton Vancouver Washington as part of a package deal, and many spend Saturdays at the Vancouver Farmers Market or other local attractions.
You can have a little more time to get your permits, the Port of Vancouver’s three commissioners told the developer of what would be the nation’s largest oil terminal, but not too much time.
The commissioners unanimously voted late Friday afternoon to extend Vancouver Energy’s permitting and early termination deadline at least eight months. That’s much less than the two years sought by the company, but a lot longer than terminal opponents, who have called for an outright end to the lease, had hoped for.
“I believe Vancouver Energy deserves to go through the process,” said Commissioner Brian Wolfe, who proposed the lease changes that eventually got approved.
It took nearly five hours of deliberation and different proposals to reach consensus on the changes, which have buoyed the prospects of the rail-to-marine terminal reaching the end of the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council process. Instead of an Aug. 1 permitting deadline — when costs for Vancouver Energy would begin to ramp up significantly — the company now has until March 31 to get through the process that gives the governor final say over the project’s approval following the council’s recommendation.
