Top Stories: PeaceHealth picket, Evergreen schools chief retiring, Salmon Creek shooting

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Here are some of the top stories of the week on columbian.com.

1. PeaceHealth nurses picket Vancouver hospital, demanding safe staffing and fair wages

Picketing nurses decked out in blue crowded the sidewalks along Mill Plain Boulevard in front of PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center before dawn Thursday.

PeaceHealth employees represented by the Washington State Nurses Association and their supporters carried signs demanding safe staffing levels and competitive wages in a new contract. Employees planned to picket a second time Thursday afternoon.

• The hospital said care will not be interrupted during the informational picket

2. Police tracked missing Vancouver woman’s cellphone through SE Portland

The Vancouver Police Department and Crime Stoppers of Oregon are asking for the public’s assistance in locating 61-year-old Cristina Ase, who has been missing since March 26. Police have not identified any people of interest in Ase’s disappearance.

Cellphone records show Ase left her home in Vancouver at 6:34 a.m. March 26, and drove south on Interstate 205 into southeast Portland. Police say phone data showed Ase moving between houses in the neighborhood north of Glenwood Park, before her phone shut off about 10 a.m. at the intersection of Southeast Flavel and 92nd Avenue, according to a search warrant affidavit filed April 9 in Clark County Superior Court.

• 61-year-old Cristina Ase of Vancouver missing since March 26

3. Evergreen schools Superintendent John Boyd will retire as of June 30

Evergreen Public Schools Superintendent John Boyd announced Wednesday he will retire from his position effective June 30.

The announcement comes just weeks after Evergreen’s board of directors approved $18 million in budget cuts and the district’s teachers union leadership presented a vote of no confidence resolution in Boyd, the board and Evergreen leadership.

• Boyd took the permanent position in February 2023

4. Foam coolers, takeout containers will be banned in Washington starting June 1

Those foam clamshell containers long used by restaurants for takeout food will soon be illegal statewide in Washington.

Coffee cups, plates, trays, and other food and drink carriers made from the same material – known as expanded polystyrene – will also be outlawed. Single-use foam coolers, too. The prohibition on the sale and distribution of these products will take effect June 1 under a law the Legislature approved in 2021.

• Seattle banned foam food containers about 15 years ago; Oregon passed a law last year that mirrors Washington’s

5. Man dead in shooting involving Clark County sheriff’s deputies in Salmon Creek

A man was killed in a shooting involving deputies Saturday at the Salmon Creek American Legion on Northeast 20th Avenue, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said.

At 10:38 a.m. Saturday, Clark County sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported carjacking on the 9200 block of Northeast 15th Avenue in Hazel Dell.

• Man was a suspect in an alleged carjacking in Hazel Dell on Saturday morning
• Update: Woman connected to carjacking spree that ended with Clark County sheriff’s deputies fatally shooting another suspect in court
• Update: Prineville man shot multiple times by Clark County sheriff’s deputies in Salmon Creek, says medical examiner
• Update: Clark County sheriff’s deputies in Saturday fatal shooting identified