Clark County Today News

Katie Shifley has been named Vancouver's next chief financial officer following a national search. She joins from Multnomah County Library and will oversee a biennial budget of $2.2 billion, including a $481.1 million capital budget. City Manager Lon Pluckhahn cited her decade of regional government finance experience. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/people/city-of-vancouver-announces-appointment...

Battle Ground marks 75 years since its 1951 incorporation with a free Pop-Up Birthday Party at Kiwanis Park on June 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free cupcakes from Rabbit Hole Eatery, a live mural by Ana Gabriela Honsowetz, mini horse petting, and a foam dance party are all on the program. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/people/area-residents-invited-to-celebrate-battle-grounds-75th-birthday/ #Batt...

Ridgefield's May 2026 Development Summary shows a surge of food-centric businesses moving through permits and construction, including a 16,902-square-foot Grocery Outlet at Royle Ridge Station, Jersey Mike's Subs at Union Ridge Town Center, and new restaurants at Hillhurst Commercial Center and Legacy Trails. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/business/new-eateries-grocery-projects-signal-ever-chang...

Clark County Charter Commissioner Liz Cline endorses Eileen Quiring O'Brien for Clark County auditor, citing O'Brien's decades in public service — from the legislature to the Clark County Council — and her character, integrity, and commitment to accountability. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-eileen-quiring-obrien-has-earned-my-trust-and-confidence/ #ClarkCounty #ClarkCountyAuditor...

Over 200 new Washington state laws take effect Thursday, 90 days after the 2026 legislative session ended. The changes cover a new $0.82-per-month abortion services tax, college sports betting at tribal casinos, supportive housing mandates, and blue envelopes for neurodivergent drivers. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/these-new-wa-laws-take-effect-thursday/ #WashingtonState #NewLaws #WALegis...

Peter Bracchi's letter to the editor challenges Vancouver's layered homelessness spending — Safe Stay, Safe Park, HART, Community Court, and now a Bridge Shelter — and asks why no old program closes when a new one launches. He demands a full public accounting of every cost and every measurable result. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-a-bad-dream-of-tomorrow/ #Vancouver #ClarkCounty...

Washington state Rep. John Ley wrote to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on May 26 asking him to deny the Record of Decision for the $15 billion Interstate Bridge replacement project, calling it a textbook case of scope creep and fiscal irresponsibility. Ley also requested a face-to-face meeting with Duffy and says he has received no response. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/rep-john-l...

On May 26, 2026, one Vancouver Police officer discharged a firearm during a response to an in-progress residential burglary on NE 48th Street. The department has released a Critical Incident Video from body worn cameras. The Washington State Office of Independent Investigations is handling the shooting investigation independently. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/vancouver-police-release-crit...

Jonathan Hines argues that activist legal networks and partisan institutions are turning the Semiquincentennial into a proxy war — filing injunctions to block a UFC event on the White House lawn and framing monument restorations as authoritarian overreach. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-trump-derangement-syndrome-endangers-americas-250th-birthday-celebrations/ #Opinion #July4th #S...

Camden and Mac Spiller, Battle Ground brothers behind the fast-growing Maddox Industrial Transformer company, have acquired The Reflector newspaper, returning the 116-year-old weekly to local ownership for the first time since 2010. The Spillers plan a six-month study to chart the paper's future for north Clark County's 30,000 households. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/people/spillers-acquire-th...

Let's Go Washington reported 242,699 signatures in three weeks for IP26-645, a measure to repeal the state's 9.9% income tax on household income above $1 million. The group needs 308,911 valid signatures by July 2 to qualify for the November ballot but is targeting 400,000 or more to challenge the all-time state record of just under 700,000. Signature gatherers continue to face harassment and assa...

After an accidental fire damaged their boathouse in December 2025, Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue's repaired structure was towed back to its dock on Lake River in Ridgefield. The $222,500 repair, covered mostly by insurance, ends a six-month stretch where the fire boat sat near a parking lot — adding up to 15 minutes to water response times. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/clark-cowlitz-fire-resc...

A single-vehicle rollover near the 18900 block of SE 20th Street at 2:20 a.m. left one person ejected and conscious, with the vehicle's rear suspended above the ground by a tree. Vancouver Fire controlled a natural gas leak while AMR transported the patient for further care. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/community_news/single-vehicle-rollover-crash-results-in-injury-and-natural-gas-leak/ #Vanco...

June, July, and August are Washington's deadliest consecutive 90 days for traffic fatalities — and Clark County ranks fourth in the state for work zone collisions, with about 80 incidents recorded each year. A construction inspector describes watching a distracted driver pin a young worker to a machine and throw him 20 feet down the road. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/as-summer-days-approa...

Evergreen Habitat for Humanity's Taste of Home fundraiser raised over $120,000 for the 132nd Cottage Homes project in Vancouver — the organization's largest construction effort to date. The 32 cottage-style homes will serve residents earning 35–80% of area median income and will remain permanently affordable through Habitat's Home Trust program. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/people/evergreen-ha...

Transportation engineers from Battle Ground and Ridgefield will join the Clark County Commission on Aging on June 15 to discuss ADA compliance challenges in smaller cities. The public meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Public Service Center in Vancouver, with hybrid attendance available. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/commission-on-aging-to-discuss-implementation-of-ada-transportation-stand...

Vancouver resident Justin Forsman is calling out Congress for quietly advancing Section 224 of the National Defense Authorization Act — a provision that would deepen U.S.-Israel integration across AI, missile defense, cyber systems, and biotechnology with little public debate or oversight. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-congress-quietly-advances-u-s-israel-military-integration-thr...

A March 2025 memo from Assistant Attorney General Andrew Krawczyk warns there is a "realistic possibility" a Washington State wealth tax would be struck down under the constitution's uniformity clause. The $50 million threshold exemption and out-of-state tax credits pose the greatest legal risk, the memo states. Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon says the House has no plans to advance a wealth tax in 2027. https...

Five Washington Supreme Court seats are on the 2026 ballot — and 675,000 voters skipped judicial races in 2024. Nancy Churchill opens her series examining what's at stake: income tax precedent, a $4 billion pension raid on retired first responders, voter-approved initiatives, and sheriff authority. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-high-stakes-hidden-election/ #WashingtonSupremeCour...

Bob Pishue of the Mountain States Policy Center argues rail costs on the I-5 Bridge replacement are being severely underestimated — and that Phase 1's $5.9 billion freeway-only option reveals officials may be quietly pivoting away from the full $14.4 billion plan. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-transportation-officials-may-be-pivoting-as-costs-explode-on-interstate-bridge-replace...

Vancouver resident Myronie McKee was filming a commercial playing a breast cancer patient when she received her own diagnosis the very next day. At PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center's National Cancer Survivors Day, she shared how surgery, radiation, and community transformed her outlook on survival. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/people/peacehealth-celebrates-national-cancer-survivors-day/ #C...

OFM Director K.D. Chapman-See warned state agency directors in a June 5 memo that Washington faces severe shortfalls in both its operating and transportation budgets for the 2027-29 biennium. Inflation has risen 39% over a decade, population grew 14.2% between 2015 and 2025, and agencies have been told not to count on the legally contested millionaire's tax. Budget requests are due to OFM by Sept....

Washington AG Nick Brown is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a challenge to the state's redrawn legislative maps — then send the case back down for review under Louisiana v. Callais, a ruling Brown calls "a horrible decision" that undermines minority voting power. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/why-ag-nick-brown-wants-the-supreme-court-involved-in-was-redistricting-fight/ #Washington...

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence not by seniority, but because John Dickinson refused to support independence. Rob Natelson of the Mountain States Policy Center profiles each member of the Committee of Five — their origins, careers, and the roles they played in founding the nation. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-the-men-who-wrote-the-declaration-of-indepen...

Public records obtained by economist Joe Cortright reveal the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program allocates $320 million to TriMet's Ruby Junction maintenance facility in Gresham — 20 miles from the bridge — while the overall IBR price tag has ballooned from $3.2 billion to potentially $15 billion. Rep. John Ley of the 18th Legislative District breaks down the numbers and questions who is accoun...