ASTORIA, Ore. — The question of whether to allow vacation rentals at the historic Gilbaugh Building in downtown Astoria is back before the city. In December 2023, a hearings officer upheld a city staff decision to let Bob and Cindy Magie use the fourplex on Exchange Street for vacation rentals. Housing advocates appealed to the…
ASTORIA, Ore. — When it sells, a weary-looking, three-bedroom house on Bond Street could help bring more housing to Astoria. The nonprofit Friends of the Unsheltered purchased the house in 2020 to provide low-cost, temporary housing to people emerging from homelessness and trying to rebuild their lives. Nelle Moffett and Rick Bowers, the couple behind…
OREGON COAST — A new report spells out exactly how much Oregon’s kelp forests have dwindled over the past decade or so — and the picture is bleak. According to a status report released by the Oregon Kelp Alliance in November, nearly 900 acres of bull kelp forest has essentially disappeared off the Oregon Coast…
An Astoria brewery faces a fine of more than $138,000 after the state said they polluted state waters. The fine comes after the partial collapse of Buoy Beer Co.’s building on the Astoria waterfront in June 2022 and December 2023. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said that — in both cases — building materials,…
TILLAMOOK — The rodeo queen and her court have made some calculations. In their hands are 2-pound blocks of medium cheddar cheese, Tillamook County Creamery Association brand. Between horse races at the Tillamook County Fair in August, they carry the cheese from their seats in the arena to the paddock where jockeys and horses gather…
CATHLAMET, Wash. — The town of Cathlamet and the Wahkiakum County Public Utility District are contemplating consolidating the town’s sewer and water systems under the PUD, a proposal that has left people with questions and concerns about the rates they would pay — and what the loss of revenue could mean for Cathlamet. At a…
ASTORIA, Ore. — It’s official: Peace First Early Learning Center in Astoria, one of Clatsop County’s larger child care centers, will close this summer. The early learning center, which operates out of buildings owned by Peace First Lutheran Church, looked for alternative locations after the church decided it would list the property for sale —…
The fate of one of Clatsop County’s larger child care centers is in question. Peace First Early Learning Center serves more than three dozen children — ages 12 months to 12 years old — out of buildings in downtown Astoria owned by Peace First Lutheran Church. Now, the church plans to put the property on…
ROSBURG, WASH. — At Ron Thielen’s house near the end of Oneida Road in Wahkiakum County, Washington, an engineered rainwater collection system is his source of water. He is not alone. There are no water facilities along this stretch of State Route 4 from the Wahkiakum County-Pacific County line to the Deep River Bridge just…
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Astoria prepares for Halloween
ASTORIA, Ore. — For years, kids in Astoria have known you get the really big candy bars at Coast Guard housing. The South Slope neighborhood attracts a truly astonishing crowd of trick-or-treaters to a relatively small area on Halloween: an actual sea of people surging together up and down the sidewalks. Often many families in…
ROCKAWAY BEACH, Ore. — More details have been released about an officer-involved shooting in Rockaway Beach. The shooting on Sept. 7 left one Rockaway Beach man dead and the community with lingering questions. The two officers involved — a Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office deputy and an Oregon State Police trooper — have both been placed on…
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Nurses picket in Astoria
ASTORIA, Ore. — Nurses at Columbia Memorial Hospital are not on strike – at least not yet. But on Tuesday they held an informational picket in front of the Astoria hospital — a sort of prelude to a possible strike. The demonstration was an attempt to sway administration as the labor union, which represents around…
ASTORIA, Ore. — A year after a portion of Buoy Beer Co.’s waterfront facility collapsed over the Columbia River, the fate of the building remains in limbo. Buoy has no permits in front of city building officials for the structure located between Seventh and Eighth streets. “We’re waiting to hear from the property owners about…
ASTORIA, Ore. — A filing with the Oregon Health Authority has revealed the estimated price tag for major expansion plans at Astoria’s Columbia Memorial Hospital — and it’s big. In a letter of intent to the state, the hospital says the project is estimated to cost $175 million, not including interest. The 180,000-square feet of…
WARRENTON, Ore. — A massive, quick-moving fire destroyed a building at the High Life Adventures zip line facility in Warrenton early Thursday morning. The building included the High Life Zip N’ Sip Restaurant and a workshop. The Warrenton Fire Department responded to the fire just after 1 a.m. and had to call in the Astoria…
Astoria, Ore. — Winter hit Oregon’s North Coast especially hard in the last half of February. For homeless people in the Astoria area, the dip in temperatures and the snow, ice and windstorms came at a time when there were even fewer than usual options for shelter. The Astoria Warming Center, which would typically provide…
ASTORIA, Ore. — It is Astoria’s most-used park and one of its iconic attractions, but the Astoria Riverwalk along the Columbia River took a beating during storms this winter. Created in the mid-90s, the Riverwalk has never seen so much damage in terms of the number of locations affected. City staff met with officials from…
It was a dream season for Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery last year. Fishing began on the traditional Dec. 1 opener for the first time in years. Domoic acid, a marine toxin that has hampered the valuable commercial fishery time and again in recent years, was almost nowhere to be seen in Oregon or Washington state waters….
CANNON BEACH — Someone is stealing mussels off the iconic Haystack Rock. Bald patches on the rock and nearby boulders have appeared after nighttime and evening low tides — after staff and volunteers with the city-run Haystack Rock Awareness Program have gone home. In addition to the bare spots, volunteers and city staff have found…
ASTORIA, Ore. — Salmon caught in Youngs Bay in the spring are among the first fresh salmon of the year to land in front of Pacific Northwest consumers — and fetch a high price per pound for local fishermen. But commercial gillnetters worry that a damaged gangway at one of the few remaining docks close…
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Portland brewery eyes Astoria
ASTORIA, Ore — Breakside Brewery, one of the dominant player’s in Oregon’s craft beer industry, plans to open a location in Astoria. The city confirmed the Portland-based business is discussing the logistics with city staff of opening an eating and drinking establishment — not a brewery — in a building that formerly housed the Astoria Co+op grocery…
What goes up must come down. A covered structure complete with chairs and a bar top that was built over a parking space next to the Street 14 Cafe in downtown Astoria on Saturday has been declared a nuisance. At a meeting Monday night, the Astoria City Council said it was not authorized by the…
CLATSKANIE — The last day of school at the Clatskanie Middle/High School ended on an alarming note after one student told another student there was a weapon on campus. No weapon was found, but students went into lockdown for more than an hour Thursday while Columbia County Sheriff’s Office deputies swept the building. The school had…
CLATSOP COUNTY — Normally, the Wildlife Center of the North Coast would be drowning in ducklings right now. The Olney-based wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center sees several hundred a year and late spring is always an especially busy time. But avian influenza is on the move across the nation. Millions of birds have died from…
ILWACO — On Monday, the Ilwaco City Council met to discuss a proclamation to declare a housing emergency in the city. But residents say a very specific type of housing emergency has been unfolding for months only a few blocks away. Tenants of the Beacon Charters and RV Park on Elizabeth Avenue say new owners…
ASTORIA — After 15 years with the city, Astoria City Manager Brett Estes is stepping down. He said Wednesday that he will be taking on the role of North Coast regional representative with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, a job previously held by Lisa Phipps. Estes’ last day is July 4. The…
ASTORIA — City leaders have amended Astoria’s abandoned vehicle ordinance in a move they hope will help address growing concerns about RVs and other vehicles abandoned on city streets. The update to the ordinance is part of several so-called “livability” ordinances the city has considered in recent months with a direct link to homelessness-related issues…
PACIFIC COUNTY — Voters rejected a $96.2 million bond proposed by the Ocean Beach School District this week. Several hundred ballots remain to be tallied since Tuesday night’s election, but the bond needed a supermajority of 60% to pass. With the recent count as of Thursday sitting at only 22.7% in favor of the bond…
CLATSOP COUNTY — Housing is one of the main talking points for candidates vying for the District 5 seat on the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners in the May primary election. District 5 is massive. It stretches from the southern part of Seaside to the Tillamook County line and east to include communities like Jewell and…
CLATSOP COUNTY — The issues of housing and childcare top the list for two candidates vying for the District 3 seat on the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners. Ballots for the May primary election go out in the mail this week. Voters in District 3, which now encompasses most of Astoria after the lines were…