Top stories of 2011
The Great Recession and its aftermath was the top story of 2011 — for the fourth year in a row. “We are definitely experiencing hard times,” said a local food bank president.
Other top five stories were the breaching of Condit Dam; two murder-suicides with arson, including one in which a Vancouver father killed himself and five of his children; coordinated police raids on 56 local marijuana growing operations; and plans to relocate a minor league baseball team from Yakima to Clark College (it didn’t happen).
The rest of the top 10 included downtown redevelopment, anchored by the opening of the Vancouver Community Library; two different cases where parents were arrested for locking up their children; continued progress on the Columbia River Crossing bridge project (it didn’t happen, either); and a tie for 10th place between removal of a derelict Columbia River barge and the sale of First Independent Bank.
Top stories of 2001
This was the year of the 9/11 attacks, but our top local story was massive layoffs. Some 13,000 people — 7.3 percent of the local workforce — lost their jobs as tech firms and others cut back.
Energy issues took second as the price and supply of electricity fluctuated rapidly. Next, a turf war between the two local hospitals erupted when Legacy Health announce it would build a hospital in Salmon Creek. Downtown development took fourth place as the clock tower and brick plaza were added at Esther Short Park, and the Vancouvercenter complex broke ground on the old brewery blocks east of the park. Fifth place was our local 9/11 response.
Rounding out the top 10 stories of the year: Teen imposter convicted of stealing state benefits; Interstate 5 widened between Main Street and Northeast 78th Street; voters reject local human rights commission; population growth slows after more than a decade; and Georgia-Pacific’s Camas mill releases noxious plume, sickening 52 schoolchildren.
