VANCOUVER -- Fares on C-Tran, the public bus line in Clark County, will be going up an average 8.5 percent starting in March.

Clark County's bus line has been reeling from revenue declines totaling nearly $4 million last year because of higher fuel costs, plunging sales tax receipts because people aren't shopping as much and a spiraling use of its expensive curb-to-curb paratransit service.

C-Tran's board voted Tuesday night to approve the increase.

The Vancouver Police Department is searching for a man suspected of robbing the same bank twice in five days.

Wednesday and again today, a man in his 20s armed with a semi-automatic handgun walked into an IQ Credit Union branch, 601 E. 16th St., and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount, said Officer Missy Ross, a police spokeswoman.

Olivia Bucks/The OregonianDavid Treadwell, senior track and transit engineer for the Columbia River Crossing, leads a tour Saturday along Washington Street in downtown Vancouver, a possible corridor for light rail. Dilapidated sidewalks along the final route would be replaced as part of the project.

VANCOUVER -- Light rail is coming to Vancouver. Deal with it.

That was the underlying theme of an entire day's discussion Saturday about where light rail should go in Vancouver, the biggest city in a county known for skepticism about any mode of travel beyond the single-occupancy automobile.

All customers in Kalama, Wash. now have water service, the city's public works director said Saturday.

Carl McCary said that customers in the Taylor Road and Spencer Creek/Modrow Road areas are still under an order to boil water. He said the order will remain in effect until Washington State Department of Health required samples can be collected and analyzed. He said that should take place Monday.

VANCOUVER -- Portland and Vancouver squared off Friday on the size of a new Interstate 5 bridge, with Vancouver officials aiming for a high-capacity span and Portland insisting that a smaller, more environmentally friendly alternative could suffice.

A woman was found dead this evening amid a garage fire north of La Center, Wash.

Clark County Fire & Rescue responded about 5:35 p.m. to a report of a house fire in the 35600 block of Northeast North Fork Avenue.

Ross William Hamilton/The OregonianVernonia flooding and storm damage can be seen just north of Seaside in this December 2007 file photo.

It is, forecasters say, the perfect brew for trouble across Western Washington and Northwest Oregon.

To begin with, the New Year got off to a soggy start from Seattle down to Eugene, and high river levels remain high and the soil, saturated. Now the National Weather Service is predicting as much as a foot of heavy rain in some areas over the next 48 hours.

Three teens are in juvenile detention today, suspected in dozens of tire slashings Sunday morning in Vancouver and around the St. Johns area of unincorporated Clark County.

More than 35 victims alerted police of flattened and slashed tires. A pair of tips lead the Clark County Sheriff's Office to the three juvenile suspects.

VANCOUVER -- Tim Leavitt, a 37-year-old member of the Vancouver City Council, announced Monday that he will run for mayor this year, setting up a likely challenge against the long-term incumbent, 69-year-old Royce E. Pollard.

Leavitt issued a news release Monday afternoon saying, "It's time to focus in on the welfare of citizens across all of Vancouver, returning to basics at City Hall. As Mayor, I will fight for the security and quality of our neighborhoods, trim non-essential spending and taxation, and improve the business climate to create more high-paying jobs for Vancouver."

Pollard told The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver he intended to seek another term. Candidates do not have to file with the Clark County elections office until June.

Leavitt has served on the Vancouver City Council since 2003, when he was appointed to fill an unexpired term. He was elected to a four-year term that November. He was re-elected in 2007. He works as an engineer for PBS Engineering and Environmental in Vancouver.

Pollard, who served 27 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, became mayor in January 1996. He has served on the City Council since 1988.

-- Allan Brettman

Nearly three dozen vehicles had their tires slashed overnight at a Clark County apartment complex and in the surrounding neighborhood.

Deputies have no suspects in the vandalism, which may have begun sometime near midnight in the Saint Johns area just north of Vancouver. That's when a 9-1-1 caller complained of three suspicious people walking in the 3600 block of Northeast 44th Street. A deputy who arrived minutes later couldn't find anyone matching the description.

Doug Beghtel/The OregonianVandals spray-painted this handrail at the Vancouver Land Bridge near Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Words also have been spray-painted on the exterior. The bridge is one of seven art installations completed or in the planning stages in the Confluence Project, a nonprofit based in Vancouver that commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition bicentennial.

Weeds and grasses choked Maya Lin's Cedar Circle last summer while blowing sand obliterated historical inscriptions on a nearby walking path.

The circle and pathway at Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco, Wash., are part of the first art installation in the Confluence Project, a nonprofit created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

An early-morning fire at a mobile home in La Center caused "substantial" damage to the home and killed a puppy on Friday.

Six people and three dogs were able to escape without injury, according to Clark County Fire & Rescue, which responded to the fire at 2:14 a.m.

The fire, at 1513 W B Ave, damaged the double wide trailer, car and garage. A Clark County Fire Marshal is investigating and the cause of the fire has not been determined.

-- Helen Jung; helenjung@news.oregonian.com

VANCOUVER -- Even union chief Mark Johnston was surprised by how many Vancouver firefighters approved a pay freeze to help a cash-strapped budget.

"I was very grateful," said Johnston, a Vancouver firefighter and president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 452. "And proud."

The city announced Tuesday that 91 percent of firefighters approved the pay freeze, expected to save $700,000 in 2009. The move comes as the city grapples with a projected deficit in the 2009-10 budget cycle.

When will I get packages?
The U.S. Postal Service expects to finish delivering delayed packages today, UPS by the end of the week and FedEx said only as soon as possible. Check on individual packages with UPS at www.ups.com or 1-800-PICK-UPS, and with FedEx at www.fedex.com or 1-800-GO-FEDEX.

Michael Lloyd/The OregonianA plow works to clear a street in Gresham last week. Plowing, sanding and de-icing snowpacked streets in the Portland area will add thousands of dollars -- or more -- in expenses to city and county budgets.

The snow has mostly melted, but something else is still piling up: the cost of dealing with it.

Bills -- so far -- total $700,000 in Washington County and $500,000 in Clackamas County. Multnomah County officials said they're still figuring, while estimates in Portland alone run as high as $2 million.

The city of Vancouver will crack down on illegal fireworks on New Year's Eve, with fire marshals and police officers patrolling streets and responding to complaints.

If you get caught, it could cost you plenty, the city said in a statement. The fine for a first violation is $250, you could pay $500 for the second and $1,000 for any after that - and that's just for fireworks that are legal during the July Fourth period. If you get caught selling, using or possessing an illegal firework, such as bottle rockets, the fines are $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the second and $1,500 for any others.

Rapid snow melt combined with Saturday's steady rainfall bloated rivers across Oregon and Southwest Washington, in some instances running over their banks and forcing the National Weather Service to issue a flood watch in more than a dozen counties.

But that's no reason to drive like it's a distant memory.

An overturned 5th wheel crash on southbound Interstate 5 near Wilsonville has slowed traffic. And in south of Salem, Oregon State Police are responding to numerous reports of vehicles sliding off the I-5 near the Kuebler Boulevard SE exit, according to dispatchers.

So in the words of that roll call cop in Hill Street Blues: "Hey, let's be careful out there"

A Vancouver grocery store in the north part of downtown sustained about $120,000 in damage from an early-morning fire.

Smoke was emanating from the front door of the Vancouver Food Mart, previously known as T.P. Grocery on Columbia Street, when the shop's owner arrived this morning, according to Vancouver Fire.

The contents of the store, which had recently been purchased by a new owner, were destroyed by fire, and the store will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The cause is undetermined, said Vancouver Fire spokesman Jim Flaherty.

The fire was knocked down about 7:45 a.m., but 39th Street is closed in the area of Columbia Street. No one was injured in the fire.

-- Noelle Crombie; noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com

More snow tumbled down overnight in Southwest Washington but crews are managing to keep major highways relatively clear.

Interstate-5, I-205 and State Route 14 are in pretty good shape, though traction tires are advised on SR-14 between Washougal and White Salmon, said Abbi Russell, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation.

Kraig Scattarella/The OregonianHeavy snow collapsed the roof covering a half dozen boats at McCuddy's Big Oak Marina on Sunday night, and the roof covering other boats is beginning to sag, endangering more boats. The marina is on the Multnomah Channel on the Columbia south of Scappoose.

If you're traveling for Christmas, you might want to pack up those presents and head out this afternoon.

After today's relative quiet, Wednesday across northwest Oregon could bring a return to winter: steady snow, followed by freezing rain.

A pizza restaurant in Vancouver was subjected to a robbery attempt and a bomb threat today -- by the same suspects.

About 2:45 p.m., two men entered the Round Table Pizza restaurant, 13503 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., and demanded money, said Kim Kapp, a Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman.

Randy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianTriMet buses had difficulty coming up Southwest Jefferson Street as snow clogged the streets downtown. TriMet road supervisor Doug Brown guides a bus back down Jefferson after a crew put chains on it.

Oregon's winter woes stretch into a second week.

Thousands remain without electricity. Routes to the Oregon Coast and Interstate 84 east of Portland are closed. Hundreds of travelers find themselves stranded at Portland International Airport. TriMet riders are finding ways home after transit officials cancel all but the busiest routes.

And the snow continues to sift down across the Portland area.

VANCOUVER -- City of Vancouver offices will close at 3 p.m. today. Offices will reopen at 9 a.m. Tuesday with a 3 p.m. close.

Also today, garbage will not be picked up for homes on a Monday pickup schedule because of poor road conditions.

Jennifer Nicole Replogle

Vancouver police seek help finding a woman who was last seen Monday walking towards a bus stop near Northeast 104th Avenue and Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver.

Police do not know whether 21-year-old Jennifer Replogle got on a bus at the stop. She lives with her mother who reported her missing, said Kim Kapp, spokeswoman for Vancouver police.

Randy L Rasmussen/The OregonianYes, Virginia, it's cold out there. And slippery in some places, too.

Brace yourself: More snow showers are on tap today across the Portland and Vancouver area.

What that means for public school students in Portland and Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia, Washington, Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Clark and Cowlitz counties is yet another school-free day.

Olivia Bucks/The OregonianEllen Seminara leaves the North Portland branch library this week with an armload of four audiobooks and a "Particle physics for Non-physicists" course on CD for her husband. Portland-area libraries are booming as people cut back on book buying in favor of borrowing.

When Powell's Books, the nation's largest independent bookstore, announced it was scaling back employee hours, its troubles seemed to signal a grim marker: As the economy worsens, even in a bastion of avid readers, books have become a luxury.

But while the book-selling business might be struggling, book lending is thriving from Portland to Vancouver.

Portland Public Schools have closed all schools west of the Willamette River as snow continues to fall over much of the Portland area. Schools on the east side of the river remain open.

Most Washington County school districts closed for the day earlier.

The National Weather Service forecasts rain and snow showers will continue this morning on the valley floor, gradually turning to all snow in the afternoon.

A mixed bag of wintry weather will continue through the day, peppering the Portland metropolitan area with snow, just plain old rain and a mix of the two.

"We're right on the edge,'' said Andy Bryant, a forecaster in Portland for the National Weather Service.

"The system doesn't have a lot of moisture, but we're seeing rain on the coast and in the Coast Range, and a mix in the city."

Randy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianCars maneuver the turns on U.S. 26 just east of Sylvan this morning. Some roads are covered by a light layer of snow.

Snow is falling harder and beginning to collect on already frozen streets across the Portland area.

Icy, stinging snow is at the leading edge of a storm that could dump a half-foot of new snow as it moves into Washington and Oregon.

VANCOUVER -- Tony Meng ducked out of math class on Tuesday morning to go to the bathroom. He didn't think much of the scribbling on the boy's restroom wall at Evergreen High School.

"Bomb."

And underneath, also in blue felt marker in inch-high characters, someone had written: "12:00." Next to that, it said, "4/20."

Students were evacuated from three schools in Vancouver this morning, because of "a credible bomb threat," according to Mike Bjer, coordinator of safety and risk management for the Evergreen School District.

Two students found a note in a bathroom at Evergreen High School, officials said. The note made reference to a bomb threat.

Mountain View High School on the eastern edge of Vancouver is closed for the day after a roof-top heater went up in flames early this morning.

At about 5:50 a.m., Vancouver firefighters were called to the high school located at 1500 S.E. Blairmont Drive, said Vancouver Fire Department spokesperson Jim Flaherty. A heating and ventilation unit sitting on the school's roof above a common area had caught on fire, he said.

Vancouver firefighters were called to two house fires within a half-hour late tonight.

Firefighters responded to the first blaze about 8:15 p.m. and found a woman leaving a small house in the 200 block of East Sixth Street, said Jim Flaherty, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman. She told them there was a fire in the attic.

Anticipation of more severe weather this week has prompted Share, a Vancouver-based homeless organization, to reschedule its annual holiday party, which was to happen Wednesday.

The party will now take place from 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, 107 E. Seventh St. in Vancouver.

Schools are beginning to announce plans to close early or delay their openings on Tuesday because of the winter weather.

• OregonLive.com list of schools and other agencies that are closing or adjusting schedules

Get ready for winter weather Round Two and Round Three.

Forecasters say another blast of snow is set to arrive Wednesday morning. The heaviest snowfall is expected to stretch from west to east along the Columbia River on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian Drivers on Interstate 5 crawled through the snowpack Sunday, and this morning's commute won't be too different. Bitter cold temperatures will keep roads icy. A decision to require chains on all vehicles will be made this morning, according to Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Dave Thompson.

The snowstorm that hit northwest Oregon and southwest Washington Sunday began with a flurry of spinouts, fishtails and fender benders on area highways and freeways and ended with apprehension about today's morning commute.

That's expected to be icy and dicey, transit gurus said, as temperatures drop into the teens, locking snow and ice in place.

Faith Cathcart/The OregonianLaw enforcement officials say they caught a lucky break when a 15-year-old showed up at his junior high school in Washington carrying a loaded .22-caliber pistol in his waistband. The handgun turned out to be one of 130 guns stolen from a Vancouver firearms store two days before. All but six of the stolen revolvers and semiautomatics have been recovered.

Two days after 130 guns were stolen during a break-in at a Vancouver firearms store, a 15-year-old boy was discovered with one of the handguns at his junior high school in Pierce County, Wash.

He and two 14-year-old boys had been seen walking around Bethel Junior High School in Spanaway, Wash., with the loaded .22-caliber pistol in their waistbands.

When officials found a black Lexus, engine running, in the middle of the Glenn Jackson bridge Wednesday night, they feared the worst.

But a quick response from multiple agencies ended with the rescue of a 38-year-old Ridgefield man who had apparently jumped 100 feet into the waters below.

The Vancouver Fire Department wants to warm more kids up with coats.

With icy weather on the way, firefighters appealed to the public today for coats for families. They can be dropped off at Station 86, 400 E. 37th St. from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Jan. 1.

A 38-year-old Ridgefield man is in serious condition after leaping from the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday night.

The man left the engine running on his black Lexus in the middle of the I-205 bridge before climbing out to jump over the rail toward the Columbia River 100 feet below. Oregon Department of Transportation workers who spotted the abandoned car in the northbound lanes of the bridge, south of Government Island, alerted nearby police agencies.

Dozens of Shirofugen cherry trees that grace Clark College's campus will eventually be part of a Japanese garden, thanks to an anonymous donation of up to $1 million dollars.

The college, city of Vancouver and donor who gave through the Parks Foundation have teamed up to create the Japanese garden on the college's main campus.

The donation will fund the garden's design, construction and future maintenance.

VANCOUVER -- The lawyer who represented a Vancouver police officer in his race-discrimination suit against the city is poised to press a related suit on behalf of another officer.

Former Vancouver Police officer Chris Kershaw faced retaliation and was fired as a result of giving testimony on behalf of Officer Navin Sharma, in his suit against the city, according to the notice of tort claim obtained by Willamette Week.

Vancouver firefighters battled a big, stubborn commercial fire early this morning that damaged the building that houses Oregon Iron Works.

The fire was reported about 12:25 a.m. by employees who told dispatchers an electrical panel in the 45,000 square-foot warehouse was smoldering. They shut off the breaker and all dozen employees got out of the building safely.

Faith Cathcart/The OregonianPearl Harbor veteran John Leach (seated with hat) was one of nine survivors honored Sunday at a memorial at Vancouver Landing commemorating the 67th anniversary of the attack. About 100 people attended.

John Bruening was quietly eating breakfast minutes before the USS Arizona went up in flames. Hal Lacy was cleaning up in the mess hall of the USS Tennessee when some other sailors raced in yelling that the Japanese had struck.

VANCOUVER -- The Evergreen High School Marching Band and Color Guard from Vancouver has been selected to represent the Northwest in the Presidential Inaugural Parade.

Since 2000, Evergreen has won the Pacific Northwest marching band title four times, and finished as runner-up three times more. The band has also swept Sweepstakes honors in the past five Grand Floral or Starlight parades in Portland's Rose Festival.

A Battle Ground man was on his way to work in October when he spotted flames rising up a home's side. Next week, on Dec. 10, officials will honor the man whose actions they believe prevented that small fire from becoming a a major conflagration.

Michael Fronk pulled into the driveway of the house on Northeast 179th Street, blared his horn and banged on windows to grab the attention of anyone that may have be inside.

Officials estimate 130 firearms were stolen early Sunday during a break-in at a Vancouver firearms store.

Investigators are still tallying the total inventory loss from Brightwater Ventures, at 12200 N.E. 60th Way, said Kim Kapp, Vancouver Police spokeswoman. Most of the stolen weapons were handguns.

VANCOUVER -- Police warned today that 200 doses of the pharmaceutical oxycodone stolen from a pharmacy Monday have not been located and warned that the pills could be dangerous if misused.

The tablets were stolen about 1:55 p.m. Monday from the Riverstone QFC, 3505 S.E. 192nd Ave. A suspect was arrested a few minutes later, but the oxycodone was not recovered.