All Politics is Local
Atencio drops out, leaving two-person race for WA-3
Rudy Atencio — at turns a Whig, a Democrat, and eventually a self-proclaimed “gay, liberal Republican” — has dropped out of the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. His decision leaves the district with a two-person race in November. For the second time, voters will choose between the five-term incumbent, Repulican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, […]
Medvigy makes false martial law claim
Clark County Councilor Gary Medvigy falsely claimed in a video this week that Washington is operating under martial law. He immediately clarified his claim in the same video. Medvigy posted the video Monday on his Facebook page about the state’s COVID-19 response. “This is the United States of America. We’re based on a constitution, and […]
Time to review the Clark County charter
Six years after voters reshaped Clark County government, it’s time to review how it’s going. Voters approved the county home rule charter, which added two county councilors and gave the county manager oversight of daily operations, in 2014. The charter mandates a review after a few years. The county council recently placed election of the […]
Have you filled out your census? Your neighbor probably has.
Not too shabby, Clark County. According to the United States Census Bureau, our corner of southwest Washington has one of the best self-response rates to the decennial census in the state. As of Monday, 57.8 percent of households in Clark County had responded to the census online. We’re beat out only by King County (58.4 […]
Want to participate in the next city council meeting?
The Vancouver city council meeting on Monday looked very different from the norm. Only one person was sitting in the council chambers at City Hall, to start. The rest of the participants — all six members of the council plus the mayor, the city manager and the city attorney — all called in to conduct […]
More details [redacted] on county manager’s departure
Details of former Clark County Manager Shawn Henessee’s resignation are at your fingertips. You just can’t see them. Remember last month, when Henessee resigned? Maybe not, as the deluge of coronavirus news makes it feel like a year ago. Nevertheless, the county has still not offered an official reason for his resignation, for which Henessee […]
Yes, the Vancouver Farmers Market is reopening. Here’s what that means.
On Friday, Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes issued an emergency declaration that reopened the Vancouver Famers Market. Shortly afterward, my email inbox blew up with readers wanting to know how that could possibly be a good idea during the COVID-19 outbreak. So I reached out to city spokesperson Carol Bua on Monday about the reasoning […]
COVID-19 gives awareness proclamations new feel
We don’t often cover proclamations at public meetings declaring (insert here) Day or (insert here) Month. That’s not to say that they aren’t important to raise awareness or reduce stigma about social issues. But journalists typically prioritize substantive actions that have the most direct effects on readers. On Tuesday, the Clark County Council retroactively declared […]
Parking tickets suspended during viral outbreak
Quarantined at home in Vancouver, but worried about overstaying your meter? Ducking out every two hours to move your car? You can chill. The city stopped issuing regular parking tickets on Thursday. “We are suspending, for the duration of the declared emergency, enforcement of parking tickets,” City Manager Eric Holmes told me on Friday. “We […]
Camas mayor in self-quarantine after Spain trip
Camas Mayor Barry McDonnell has, one might say, a global perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic after a family vacation to Spain. McDonnell, his wife and four children left two weeks ago, the mayor said in a video posted Friday to the city’s website and YouTube pages. On Saturday, Spain imposed an immediate, nationwide lockdown to […]