John McCain as VP candidate with John Kerry?--USA TODAY, AP
Union is trying to close door on Stoudamire--Oregonian, John
Canzano
C-TRAN board votes to go for sales tax increase in
November--Oregonian, Bill Stewart
C-TRAN puts tax boost on November ballot--Columbian, Erin
Middlewood
Hope still alive for study on higher education needs in Clark
County--Oregonian, Jason Begay
GOP's caucuses lure faithful--Columbian, Scott Hewitt
County votes to extend lodging tax--Columbian, Erin Middlewood
First two finalists for district court interviewed by county
commissioners--Columbian, Stephanie Rice
TriStar Transload leases larger Port of Vancouver
location--Columbian, Julia Anderson
U of Dub escapes major Pac-10 sanctions--Seattle Times, Bob
Condotta
Prolific Zags hope they've planted top seed for NCAA--Seattle Times,
Blaine Newnham
"Lord, save us from Louisiana's loony political legacy"--Seattle
P-I, Joel Connelly
Library
supporters approve special district but fail to pass bonds by
supermajority
A strange turn
of events was materializing as the polling results were being
tallied from the two-issue Fort Vancouver Regional Library District
election last night.
The vote to
create a special library district (Greater Vancouver Area Capital
Facility Area) in Vancouver and a large chunk of its urban growth
area was within 150 votes of being a 60 percent majority.
But that part of
the election only requires a majority.
The second
issue, which requires a 60 percent “supermajority,” a $48 million
bond issue that would have modernized the library buildings and
services in the Vancouver area, was losing, getting only a 55.18
percent majority.
While the vote
creating the new library district could go above the 60 percent
majority as additional absentee ballots are counted, the bond issue
is dead.
When all the
votes are counted, likely by the first part of next week, it appears
nearly a third of the district’s 91,517 voters will have cast
ballots.
The tally of
votes today is:
Create the library district
Approved
17,348 59.77 percent
Rejected
11.678 40.23 percent
Fund the
library district
Approved
16.003 55.18 percent
Rejected
12.998 44.82 percent
The library
district’s board of trustees will meet Monday, March 22, in the
Three Creeks Library to assess the election results and decide
whether to try again.
The directors
had hoped to be able to double the size of the overcrowded downtown
Vancouver Community Library, replace a small east Vancouver library
with a 25,000-square-foot facility in the Firstenburg Center on NE
136th Avenue and modernize administrative and storage space with the
proposed $48 million bond issue.
Baird makes strategic move that may give Washingtonians the right to
deduct sales tax
U.S. Rep.
Brian Baird (D-3rd), along
with other House members, has attached an amendment to the
Democratic version of the Foreign Sales Corporation Bill that would
allow Washington residents as well as residents of Texas, Florida,
Tennessee, Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota to deduct sales taxes
paid from federal income taxes, in the manner that state income
taxes are deductible.
Numerous failed
attempts have been made in the past. Baird said today that the FCS
Tax Reform Bill appears to be the best opportunity to get the tax
relief measure through Congress.
The tax reform
measure would provide Washingtonians with over $500 million in
federal tax relief annually.
Schwabe expanding in Washington
Vancouver
resident Steve Morasch, a
shareholder and real estate and land-use attorney for Schwabe,
Williamson & Wyatt, has moved his practice from the firm’s Portland
office to Vancouver.
Morasch is a
graduate of Camas High School, Clark College and Willamette
University, and holds a juris doctor degree from Northwestern School
of Law at Lewis & Clark College.
Morasch joins
Brad Andersen and
Lisa Lowe in expanding the
firm’s 1111 Main Street Vancouver office.
Slovak State Orchestra director featured soloist at Clark College
Orchestra concert
Julius Klein, general
director of the Slovak State Orchestra, will be the featured soloist
for the Mozart Clarinet Concerto
during the 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, Clark College Orchestra
benefit concert in Royal Durst Theater.
The concert, a
benefit for the Southwest Washington Center for the Arts, is part of
an exchange between the Clark Orchestra and the Slovak State
Orchestra, which Clark’s music director-conductor
Donald Appert conducted last
September.
General
admission is $5. For further information, call
992-2662 or
992-2195.
News briefs
Clark County
auditor Greg Kimsey’s Pre-St.
Paddy’s Day fundraiser is 5 to 7:30 p.m. today in Club Green
Meadows, 7703 NE 72nd Avenue.
nnn Port
of Ridgefield commissioners meet in regular session at 6 p.m. today
in Port offices at 111 W Division Street.
nnn Clark
County commissioners continue interviews with District Court Judge
applicants at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 11.
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Wednesday on the air
Bravo! Vancouver: A Choral Kaleidoscope—3:30 p.m. CVTV
Red Cross Real Heroes Breakfast—5:30 p.m. CVTV
Telecommunications Commission (3/3)—7 p.m. CVTV
Minnesota at Portland Blazers (live)—7 p.m. FSN, KXL, KRMZ
Clark County Land Use Hearings (3/4)—9 p.m. CVTV
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