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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
The 2017 Washington state legislative session is likely to be dominated by education funding as lawmakers struggle to meet a pressing deadline to fully fund the state’s public schools.
Southwest Washington lawmakers, particularly Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, will play key roles in solving the school funding crisis. But the region’s legislators have a long list of additional priorities they intend to accomplish this session, including curbing the number of distracted drivers on the road and designating replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge as a project of statewide significance.
And for the first time in years, the crew representing the region in Olympia plans to regularly meet as a delegation. In previous sessions, the delegation struggled with a lack of trust and personality conflicts, which contributed to a difficulty in delivering the region’s top priorities.
Not anymore.
“We’re going to meet every week while in session,” Harris said. “We’ll take a hot topic, like the bridge or capital budget issues, and prioritize and … consider what’s best for the region and what will best serve all people in Southwest Washington.”
Here’s a look at what the Southwest Washington delegation hopes to accomplish during the 2017 legislative session, which starts Monday.
Read the full story: 2017 Legislative Preview: Lawmakers set out priorities
Amanda and Drew Whithorn chose the name Elijah when Amanda was pregnant in 2014. They abandoned the name when they learned their first child was a girl.
When the Vancouver couple found out baby No. 2 was a boy, they revisited the old favorite. They welcomed Elijah in June.
“We gave him his name because of its meaning,” Amanda Whithorn said. “It means, ‘my God is Yahweh.’ We hope that our little guy will continue to live out what his name means through having a solid relationship with God as he continues to grow.”
Turns out, the Whithorns weren’t the only ones who liked the name. The name Eli — Elias or Elijah — was the most popular name given to boys born at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in 2016.
Last year, Legacy Salmon Creek welcomed 3,423 babies into the world. While Eli was the top name for boys, Addilyn was the most popular name given to girls.
Other top names for boys were Jackson, Benjamin, Aiden and Logan. Among girls, favorites were Emma, Liliana, Olivia and Madeline. Similar data for PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center was not available.
Read the full story: Eli, Addilyn most popular baby names of 2016
Approximately 190 miles separate the campuses of Washington State University Vancouver and Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. But that distance seemed to disappear when 10 people were gunned down in a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College on Oct. 1, 2015.
“It’s not safe to be anywhere,” John Barber realized. “What if a similar thing happened here?”
Barber, a digital-media artist who teaches in the Creative Media and Digital Culture Department at WSUV, wanted to find some meaningful way to memorialize the victims of that tragedy — and all the victims of intentional, homicidal gun violence in America.
“It seemed that 2015 was a year of really pronounced mass gun killings — in schools, in places of worship,” he said. “The question became, how might I do something to memorialize these people whose lives were taken by senseless gun violence?”
First, Barber went hunting for complete, reliable statistics about gun homicides in America. He was surprised to discover that assembling the data wasn’t easy. Even the FBI, which is supposed to collect and report homicides, doesn’t have definitive information. Eventually, Barber looked to an independent, nonpolitical website called GunViolenceArchive.org — plus his own monitoring of news reports of shootings.
Read the full story: WSUV teacher creates cyberspace memorial for gun violence victims
Christmas is over, but for many who follow the state Legislature, the start of the year is another time to unfurl wish lists.
Lawmakers will convene in Olympia on Monday for a 105-day regular session. A lot will be said about reforming the state’s education funding system, which the state Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2012.
Beyond that, business groups have a number of familiar requests for the state, from patching local roads and state highways to keeping taxes on businesses low. Fixing the flow of interstate traffic — which could include replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge — remains a major desire. The Columbian reached out to some local groups to gauge their concerns ahead of the session.
Read the full story: What are Clark County businesses asking of lawmakers?
