Top Stories: Winter storm; Trump will be on ballot; Woodland mobile home park rents

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

Clark County’s first responders keep their cool in face of icy conditions

The chains on the tires of Clark County sheriff’s Deputy Slav Pavlenko’s patrol SUV clanked against the pavement Thursday afternoon as he drove down Highway 99.

While the main roads were clear, the chains came in handy as the deputy, along with other first responders, navigated Hazel Dell and Salmon Creek neighborhoods to respond to calls between bouts of freezing rain. Some vehicles remained abandoned on steep corners or on the side of icy streets.

• Law enforcement, fire, ambulance crews navigate weather
• Schools: Clark County school districts add makeup days due to icy weather
• C-Tran: C-Tran is used to snow. Ice is different
• Clark Asks: If a tree falls into your home … what then?

Man arrested in Oregon in theft of Vancouver Fire Department vehicle

Deputies in Oregon arrested a man who investigators say stole a Vancouver Fire Department vehicle Monday night from the scene of a medical call near downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver police responded about 10:30 p.m. to the area of West Mill Plain Boulevard and Kauffman Avenue for reports that a Vancouver Fire Dodge 5500 truck had been stolen while paramedics were tending to a patient.

• Linn County, Ore., sheriff’s deputies found the truck unoccupied in Albany, Ore., about 80 miles south of Vancouver

Donald Trump will be on Clark County’s GOP primary ballot, but his votes may not count

Clark County voters will see Donald Trump’s name on the March 12 GOP presidential primary ballot regardless of the outcome of any legal challenges to the former president’s eligibility.

“We have already started printing ballots,” Clark County Elections Director Cathie Garber said Tuesday, adding ballots are being printed now to meet the Jan. 26 deadline to mail ballots to overseas voters or those in the military.

• Ballots are already being printed to meet early mailing deadlines

Seton Catholic Prep set to shift to 4-day school week

Vancouver’s Seton Catholic Prep is set to shift to a four-day instructional week in the 2024-25 school year, a significant overhaul to the private school’s bell schedule.

Students and staff at Seton Catholic can expect to have seven-period days from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. School leaders say the shift won’t decrease the school’s total learning time and will open up space in students’ schedules for community service opportunities and other extracurricular activities.

• Officials: Overhaul will not decrease school’s learning time

Rents have skyrocketed at Woodland East Mobile Home Park; now residents want to buy their park but are running out of time

WOODLAND — Helplessness washed over Woodland East Mobile Home Park residents last fall as they watched the eviction of their neighbor, a woman in her mid-70s.

They stared at the woman as she sat outside the home she owned but resting on the land she could no longer afford to rent. They wondered who would be next.

• “Now what’s happening because of rent increases … is people have to make a choice between their medicines”