News
The Chronicle - Centralia
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Toledo Middle School student to be removed from school after making an unfounded threat Tuesday morning 
A Toledo Middle School student who made an unfounded threat Tuesday morning will be removed from the school, the Toledo School District has confirmed. District staff were notified at about 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, that a student had “made a threat that was off the cuff, if you will,” Toledo Superintendent Brennan Bailey said at about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. “However, we wanted to fully investigate it.” The Toledo School District “immediately followed safety protocols, working closely with law enforcement to assess and address the situation,” Bailey said in a letter to parents sent out Tuesday morning after the situation was resolved. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded to Toledo Middle School to conduct “a thorough investigation,” including searching students’ backpacks, and determined “that there is no ongoing threat to our school community,” Bailey said. “We want to assure you that the situation has been handled swiftly and effectively, and at no time were any students in danger,” Bailey wrote in the letter to parents.
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Lewis County 4-H competitors dominate at Washington State Fair 
Lewis County’s 4-H competitors were highly successful in the swine department at the Washington State Fair, which began Aug. 30 and lasts through Sept. 22 in Puyallup. “They completely wiped out the competition in the hog barn, and they did a phenomenal job of representing our county by not only dominating the competition but also helping kids from other counties out with their projects and really coming together as a team,” reported Kayla Guenther. Below are the participants and results from the fair: Kairi Guenther, 19
Sebastian Heinricher, 16
Kimber Huber, 15
Kate Zandell, 17
Kenzington Guenther, 10
Helen Knabel, 11
Reece Cox, 9
Lizzi Foley, 10
Brant Huber, 10
Mason Heinricher, 13
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Hit-and-run driver caught after victim's phone lands in his car, Oregon deputies say
A hit-and-run driver inadvertently put law enforcement on speed dial when they fled from a crash Friday — without realizing the victim’s phone had landed inside their car and was tracking the getaway vehicle, deputies say. Washington County Sheriff’s deputies say a motorcyclist traveling on Southwest Farmington Road near 157th Place in the Beaverton area was struck by the driver of a dark-colored Scion XB hatchback about 7:35 p.m. Friday. The driver sped from the scene without rendering aid to the motorcyclist, deputies say. A family member of the motorcyclist looking for the cellphone sent out a ping, and realized it wasn’t at the crash scene, but just a mile away near Southwest 170th Avenue and Vincent Street. It only took a bit of shoe-leather sleuthing for the relative to spot a damaged car of the same make and model belonging to the suspect in the area, per authorities. Investigators believe the phone ricocheted into Julian Borjas-Diaz’s car during the collision. He was booked into the Washington County Jail on a single count of felony hit and run, investigators say. The 27-year-old has since been released from custody. His arraignment is set for Sept. 25, according to a Washington County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson. The rider was seriously injured, but her life was likely saved by her helmet, according to sheriff’s officials. ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Squatter indicted in Oregon wildfire that cost $14 million to squelch
A man squatting on another’s property set a fire that turned into an 18,300-acre wildfire, prosecutors allege. Christopher Mennealy, 51, was indicted Sept. 4 by a Wasco County grand jury on charges of second-degree arson and reckless burning, the Wasco County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Monday. Mennealy allegedly set a fire near Friend, in Wasco County, while squatting on private property. That fire became the Larch Creek fire, which ultimately burned through about 18,286 acres and cost about $14 million to contain, the district attorney’s office said. The wildfire burned about halfway between Dufur and Maupin. It was 100% contained by early August, Oregon Department of Forestry spokesperson Jessica Neujahr estimated. Mennealy was supposed to be in court Monday for his arraignment, but he did not appear. He’s currently at large, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, the district attorney’s office said. ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Oregon nurse's accused killer faces updated charges, pleads not guilty to all
The man accused of killing a Beaverton nurse this month faces updated charges. A grand jury on Monday indicted Bryce Johnathan Schubert, 27, on a charge of first-degree murder, up from second-degree. In addition, he still faces charges of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree abuse of corpse in the death of 32-year-old Melissa Jubane, court records show. Schubert, also a nurse, has been held at Washington County Jail since his arrest Sept. 6. Nearly 50 people packed a small Hillsboro courtroom to hear updates in his case. Schubert appeared virtually on a television screen and was mainly visible to law enforcement officials, attorneys and those in the front of the courtroom. When Washington County Circuit Judge Rebecca Guptill asked if he was present, Schubert said, “Yes, ma’am.” His attorney, Gregory Scholl, said Schubert pleads not guilty to all three counts. Guptill also scheduled a status hearing on Oct. 15. It’s not clear what evidence prosecutors showed the grand jury to charge Schubert with first-degree murder. A person convicted of the offense must be sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 30 years without the possibility of parole. He was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, and a probable cause affidavit that may shed light on the accusations against him is still sealed. Oregon law calls for the possibility of a slightly shorter sentence in second-degree murder, life in prison with a minimum of 25 years. Schubert was a neighbor of Jubane, police said. She had married her fiancé less than two weeks earlier in Hawaii and had been home for little over a day when she went missing. Jubane’s body was found Sept. 6, two days after she was reported missing after failing to show up for work at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Human remains discovered in Gifford Pinchot National Forest; third such find since August
A Skamania County Sheriff’s Office search-and-rescue team on Saturday recovered what may be the remains of a hiker missing for nearly two years. The human remains are the third to be found in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington since Aug. 10, when a hiker discovered a skull in the Big Lava Bed. On Sept. 4, a hunter found a skull near Sawtooth Berry Fields. The remains found on Saturday likely belong to 69-year-old John Hopkins, of Seattle, who was reported missing in November 2022, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Hopkins’ rental vehicle was found in the McClellan Meadows Sno-Park parking lot after he went missing, and in 2023 hunters found belongings believed to be his about a mile and half from where his car was found, sheriff’s officials said. The sheriff’s office search-and-rescue team — many of whom are volunteers — successfully located the remains on Saturday. “The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is so thankful for the selfless volunteers who searched on Saturday,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “The Search and Rescue volunteers who serve our county are an incredible resource and we are so grateful for their service.” The finding “will likely bring closure to Hopkins’ family,” the sheriff’s office said, although the identity of the remains is pending DNA analysis. ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
Columbian Newspaper
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Recreational burn ban ends in Vancouver
Due to recent rains and anticipated cooler weather conditions, Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli lifted the recreational burn ban within city limits effective Tuesday. |
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Vancouver City Council considers problems at homeless camp at Mill Plain sound wall but takes no action
The Vancouver City Council on Monday discussed tensions between residents of a homeless camp along the sound wall along West Mill Plain Boulevard and neighbors but didn’t take any action. |
NYT Politics
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Secret Service Told Trump It Needs to Bolster Security if He Keeps Golfing
The agency’s acting director, Ronald L. Rowe Jr., met with Donald J. Trump on Monday in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.
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For Senator Duckworth, Preserving I.V.F. Access Is Personal
The Democratic senator has long pressed to safeguard the fertility treatment she used to conceive her children, which has now been thrust into the political conversation.
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