Thank you for your interest in reading The Astorian. Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

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At first glance, the Columbia Inn might blend in with other buildings and storefronts along Marine Drive — but behind the doors of the modest motel-turned-homeless-shelter, there’s more than meets the eye.

The property, which was acquired by Clatsop County last year through the state’s Project Turnkey 2.0 and is managed by Clatsop Community Action, offers 21 rooms for individuals and families facing homelessness, each stocked with sheets, pillows and basic appliances.

Just past the main office, jars of peanut butter, Campbell’s soup and canned vegetables line the shelves of the shelter’s kitchen. One door down, washing machines churn, cleaning families’ laundry and linens.

Since opening in October, the shelter has served more than 200 people.

See the story by Olivia Palmer by clicking here.

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Hundreds of miles from shore, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard scales down a rope onto a vessel where a passenger is experiencing a medical emergency. In a helicopter above them, two Life Flight Network crew members prepare to treat the patient as soon as they come aboard.

Instead of waiting up to several hours for the aircrew to land at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland, a collaboration between the Coast Guard and Life Flight allows the patient to receive immediate, potentially lifesaving medical attention during the trip to the hospital.

“Especially in those moments when someone is having a stroke or heart attack, those first two hours are imperative,” said Life Flight medic Chris Pfingsten. “And it will make a big impact on how they recover, if they recover.

Read the story by Jasmine Lewin by clicking here.

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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 12th and Exchange streets up for sale.

The learning center’s board, which operates under the church council, said they searched for alternative locations for months without success.

“Please know that this decision was not made lightly, and we explored all possible avenues to try to continue providing our services to your children,” the center’s leaders wrote in a letter to families in mid-May.

The early learning center is set to close on Aug. 30. The news caught Judi Lampi, the president of the church council, by surprise.

“The early learning center is so important to our community and our congregation,” she said.

Peace First is the result of a 2020 merger between two Lutheran churches, Peace Lutheran and First Lutheran. Lampi said the merged church could no longer afford to pay for the upkeep of two separate properties.

The church recently went through a long process of assessing facilities ahead of a congregational vote in January about what to do with the downtown property that houses the child care center.

“It was all so new there really wasn’t a discussion at that time about what’s going to happen to the early learning center,” Lampi said. She added, “Maybe we took a misstep there that we didn’t do this ahead of time.”

Take a look at the report by Katie Frankowicz, of our news partner KMUN, by clicking here.

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— Derrick DePledge