Have you noticed an old byline in The Columbian’s pages again? We recently welcomed back Dylan Jefferies, who was with us from November 2021 through November 2022. That was a difficult and stressful period for everyone, and especially for journalists. Dylan started as our health reporter and was in the thick of our COVID-19 coverage, then became our first Community Funded Journalism reporter covering homelessness and affordable housing.
He found the human misery on both beats to be weighing, and so he took a break. Now he’s back, just in time to cover politics and government, including what looks to be a nationally watched race in the 3rd Congressional District. First-term incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who doesn’t necessarily toe the line on some of her party’s liberal positions, is facing a rematch with Trump-style Republican Joe Kent. There are other challengers, too, such as Leslie Lewallen, a Camas City Council member who seems to be more of a mainstream conservative.
Dylan’s position was formerly held by Carlos Fuentes, a talented young writer from Portland who left us late last year to cover state government at The Oregonian. Carlos had covered Vancouver city government in addition to the 3rd Congressional District, but we are going to have William Seekamp continue on the city beat for now, to give Dylan a little more time for politics and, hopefully, a little less stress.
And last week we bid farewell to Lauren Ellenbecker, who had been covering environmental issues and, before that, City Hall. She will be staying in the community; she took a job at a local environmental consulting firm.
