By Courtney Sherwood U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell discusses green energy Wednesday in Vancouver as Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart looks on. U.S.

By COURTNEY SHERWOOD Washington's state employee retirement fund lost $130 million when Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy last week.

By COURTNEY SHERWOOD The bottom line: Food, transportation, housing, clothes, health care - nearly all the essentials of daily Clark County life - cost more in the first half of this year than they did a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

By COURTNEY SHERWOOD Doug Williams, president of Web design firm Doug Williams and Associates, and Tricia Pobjoy, operations manager. Above: Mark Ickert, owner of Custom Care Valet Dry Cleaning, says the Web has helped his small business.

By COURTNEY SHERWOOD The redesigned columbian.com includes more powerful interactive features. By clicking "Real Estate," columbian.com visitors can now create interactive maps showing homes for sale, open houses and foreclosures across Clark County.