Morning Press: Utility credit; detective resigns; dog dies from tainted food

What’s on tap for this weekend’s weather? Check our local weather coverage.

In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:

Clark Public Utilities to give customers credit on bill

Clark Public Utilities is giving customers a one-time credit on their March bill to help ease the financial strain caused by this especially cold winter.

“Long stretches of freezing temperatures took a toll in Clark County and we saw electric usage increase dramatically,” Clark Public Utilities Board of Commissioners president Jane Van Dyke said in a news release. “Staff came to the board and suggested using a portion of 2016 surplus revenue to help customers with these high bills.”

• Learn more about the credit and how you can help those in need

Clark detective resigns amid criminal investigation

A longtime homicide detective with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office has resigned amid an investigation into a romantic relationship he allegedly had with a heroin user.

Detective Kevin Harper resigned on Feb. 10, according to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

Harper, 57, became the focus of an investigation when authorities learned in September that Harper had an affair with Tracy Wasserman, who is known to be a heroin addict, according to a summary of the investigation.

• Read more about the investigation
• Review OKs former county detective’s cases

Rally at Herrera Beutler’s Vancouver office draws crowd

Across the nation, Republicans returning home from Congress are facing angry constituents demanding answers on a range of issues from the future of health care to what’s happening at the Environmental Protection Agency.

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, well over a hundred people gathered outside of U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s Vancouver office. Some were hoping the congresswoman would emerge and address their questions directly. Others arrived knowing it was unlikely they would see Herrera Beutler.

Several people carried a cardboard sign picturing the congresswoman sporting a “Where’s Waldo?” striped shirt and hat with the words, “Where’s Jaime?”

• Read more about the rally
• Herrera Beutler conducts phone town hall

People trapped, three injured, in Dollars Corner crash

A 7-month-old baby boy riding in a pickup Tuesday afternoon in Dollars Corner came away from a two-vehicle crash unharmed, but three adults were taken to hospitals after firefighters cut them from their mangled vehicles.

The crash was reported around 12:40 p.m. at the intersection of Northeast 72nd Avenue and state Highway 502, or Northeast 219th Street.

Clark County Fire & Rescue Division Chief Tim Dawdy said a blue, four-door Dodge Neon and a pickup truck collided at the intersection.

• Three hospitalized for their injuries; baby riding in rolled pickup OK

Tainted food leads to death of Washougal woman’s dog

Nikki Mael wanted to give her dogs a treat.

It was New Year’s Eve, and one of her dogs, Tinkerbell, had just had surgery to remove a cyst from her bladder, so Mael, 43, of Washougal went to the pet store and bought them Evanger’s Hunk of Beef dog food. Within 15 minutes of eating the food, her four pugs — Tinkerbell, 3, Tank, 10, Tito, 2, and Talula, 12 — and her daughter’s dog, Pedro, 10, started acting odd, Mael said.

• 4 other dogs sickened; product recalled; owner wants action, to warn others