Anna King, Author at Northwest Public Broadcasting

Aging Tanks, Aging Watchdogs: Lots To Work On For Washington’s New Waste Program Manager

By Anna King December 29, 2020

The Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington. The site includes 56 million gallons of radioactive waster across 580 square miles.

David Bowen has owned his own bar in Cle Elum, been a Kittitas County commissioner and managed groundwater nitrate cleanup in the Yakima Valley. Now, he’ll hold the U.S. Department of Energy accountable for its cleanup at the site using the Tri-Party Agreement. That’s a 1989 document struck between Ecology, the federal Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Read More

Popular Organic Farm Product ‘Agro Gold WS’ Banned In WA, OR, CA, Under Investigation In Idaho

By Anna King December 23, 2020

Washington, Oregon and California regulators have issued a "stop use" order for the agricultural product known as "Agro Gold WS." CREDIT: Alan Scheiber

“No legitimate organic grower would ever use Glyphosate or Diquat” says one farmer of a product that WA, OR and CA have said farmers should stop using. The company that makes “Agro Gold WS” says they’ll appeal.Read More

In Pandemic, The Northwest’s ‘Capital Of Christmas’ Draws Big Crowds To Leavenworth. Is It Safe?

By Anna King December 23, 2020

Thousands of visitors have been pouring into Leavenworth despite the absence of the usual year-end festivals, tree lighting ceremony and indoor dining.

Thousands of people are flocking to the Bavarian-themed town in central Washington. The mayor says nearly 70% of Leavenworth merchants’ income comes in these few holiday weeks. Dr. Malcolm Butler, health officer for Chelan and Douglas counties, says visitors are less likely to bring COVID-19 to Leavenworth than get it there. Read More

He ‘Left This World In Such Agony’: Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID Surge

By Anna King December 11, 2020

Ken Roberts, left, with his step-sister Debbie Roberts and her husband Steve Kinzie at a Christmas gathering at the Tonasket care facility in 2018. Courtesy of Debbie Roberts

Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about Read More

Across The Northwest And Nation, A ‘Steady And Alarming’ Loss Of Health Officials As COVID Surges

By Anna King November 24, 2020

Carolyn Holmes holds a sign in favor of Dr. Anthony Fauci and Health Officer Bob Lutz during a protest against the Spokane Board of Health's ousting of Lutz, held on Nov. 1, 2020 outside the Spokane Regional Health District office. News of the controversial situation broke on Friday, and Lutz has since said that he will not resign and has acquired an attorney in order to keep his employment with the SRHD in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lori Freeman calls the loss of top public health officers across the country “steady and alarming.” Freeman heads the National Association of County and City Health Officials. More than 70 have been fired, left or plan to leave their posts since the pandemic began in the U.S. In fact, so many are leaving, she’s keeping a spreadsheet.Read More

‘Dry Side’ View: Inland Northwest Residents Anxiously Await Election Results

By Anna King November 5, 2020

Tattered American flags wave in the strong wind of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area on October 27, 2020. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

In the weeks leading up to the election, residents in five smaller areas around eastern Washington and Oregon spoke about how they were feeling. Now, as people are awaiting results, we checked in with a few.Read More

1,000 Miles, 100 Perspectives, 5 Sunrises: The Voting View From Eastern Washington And Oregon

By Anna King November 2, 2020

In total, Anna King saw five sunrises and drove more than 1,000 miles on her way to five towns spanning both sides of the Columbia in eastern Washington and Oregon. She listened hard to the worries and hopes of as many as 100 hundred residents in the region.Read More

Viral Juice-Sippin’ TikTok Video Could Be A Boon To Northwest Cranberry And Raspberry Growers

By Anna King October 13, 2020

Rolf Haugen, a raspberry grower in Lynden, Washington, decided to get into the spirit of the viral TikTok video and take a picture with a jug of juice in his berry fields.

Nathan Apodaca, from Idaho, got on his longboard to get to work. He rode right into social media stardom while lip syncing to Fleetwood Mac and drinking cran-raspberry juice. Now Northwest berry producers are singing a happy tune.Read More

Why An Irrigation District Wants To Flood A Kennewick Family’s Pumpkin Farm

By Anna King October 9, 2020

Crews throw pumpkins onto a tractor and trailer from the field on the Cox farm outside of Kennewick, Washington. A proposed reservoir from the Kennewick Irrigation District would flood the farm. The Cox family isn't interested in selling. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

The Kennewick Irrigation District, or KID, wants to flood 400 acres of land for a new reservoir. It’d take at least eight to 10 years to design, permit and build. A project on this scale hasn’t been built in the Yakima Basin since the 1930’s. And this 65-acre pumpkin farm is in the way. Read More

How Imports Are Squeezing The Big U.S. (And Northwest) Blueberry Business

By Anna King September 30, 2020

These blueberries, grown in Oregon, were for sale in a Northwest grocery story that's a national chain on Sept. 29, 2020. CREDIT: Scott Leadingham / NWPB

“Now basically, we have Mexican fruit coming in from March all the way to June. We start getting Peruvian fruit come August,” says Rob Dhaliwal, a blueberry grower from Lynden, Washington. “Even in July. Then we start getting fruit from British Columbia. So there is a good 10 months of foreign product coming into the country.”Read More

Smoke On The Vineyard: Winemakers Fret Over Possible Taint Of Valuable Northwest Grapes

By Anna King September 23, 2020

Recent wildfires and associated smoke that innundated the Northwest in September means grape growers and winemakers are scrambling to test for smoke taint. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

Even if a wildfire doesn’t burn a vineyard, smoke can get into grapes. Smoke taint tastes like a small bit of ashtray, creosote post or burnt tires — so it’s not desirable in your pinot or merlot. Read More

Milk-Shaken: Moving Northwest Dairy Cows Out Of Wildfire Danger Is Not Fun

By Anna King September 11, 2020

With widespread wildfires across the Northwest, dairy farmers have to make the difficult decision to move hundreds of cattle to safer ground or stay put.

With at least two dozen Oregon dairies threatened by raging wildfires, farmers are grappling with the delicate task of moving them to safer ground — or staying put. Read More

Goats, Llamas, Tortoise: All Welcome, Some Stressed As Fairgrounds Become Fire Evacuation Centers

By Anna King September 11, 2020

Thousands of animals, including a tortoise, are housed at the Oregon State Fairgrounds as people have fled their homes from encroaching wildfires this week. Courtesy of Kim Grewe-Powell

Widespread wildfires across the Northwest are causing owners to evacuate more than 2,000 pets and livestock into fairgrounds, friends’ properties and even across state lines. Read More

Raise A Glass To The Royal Slope, Washington’s Newest American Viticultural Area

By Anna King September 4, 2020

The new Royal Slope American Viticultural Area is around 156,000 acres, north of the Tri-Cities

To qualify as an AVA, a wine grape-growing region must set itself apart with climate, soil, elevation and physical features. A new one doesn’t come around very often. The Royal Slope AVA is just over 156,000 acres, and is north of the Tri-Cities. Read More

Can I Blame It On … The Dog? Looking Into Just How I Got Sick With COVID-19

By Anna King September 4, 2020

Anna King keeps walking every day to gain more strength and endurance. Now she can make it around her block slowly. Before COVID-19, she was walking five miles quickly on her lunch breaks. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

I recently wrote about my nearly two-months as a COVID-19 longhauler. And the number one question I heard was: “How did you get it?” So I decided to dig into the possibilities. Turns out, there are four likely ways I could have picked up the virus: husband, dog, surfaces or the air. Read More

Lower Monumental Dam Repairs On Snake River Happening During Peak Wheat-Barging Season

By Anna King August 28, 2020

The Columbia River System, which includes the Snake River linking to Lewiston, Idaho, is a critical navigation system for shipping wheat downriver to Portland and export markets. Courtesy of Tidewater

A lot of freshly harvested wheat bound for Portland, Oregon, could stack up on the Columbia River system soon because an old guy wire has snapped on the Snake River’s Lower Monumental Dam. Read More

Too Flush Crush: COVID And Over Planting Mean Too Many Northwest Wine Grapes Hanging Out

By Anna King August 27, 2020

Cabernet sauvignon hangs on Red Mountain, almost ready to pick. Many wine grape growers worry there are too many grapes this year for the market.

Across the Northwest, there are too many wine grapes and not enough demand. It started with an overly optimistic industry planting too much. Then came the coronavirus pandemic. Now, vineyard managers and wineries are being forced to think creatively to cope with 2020’s bumper crop. Read More

Late Spring Rains Save Northwest Wheat Crop Yields, But Price Still Down

By Anna King August 10, 2020

Golden wheat got a recent crew cut outside of Walla Walla, Washington. Experts say the 2020 Washington and Oregon crops look about average, saved by late-spring rains.

The latest harvest estimates say Washington ranchers will harvest nearly 153 million bushels of wheat and Oregon 44 million bushels. That’s around average for both states. A typical barge holds around 122,500 bushels of wheat — meaning 44 million bushels would be about 360 barges full of grain on the Snake and Columbia Rivers heading toward export terminals.Read More

Possible Investigations Task Force In The Works After More Eastern Oregon Cattle Killings

By Anna King July 31, 2020

A fog of dust is kicked up from hooves as cowboys quietly push cattle into a corral from a big draw on Silvies Valley Ranch near Burns, Oregon. CREDIT: ANNA KING/N3

Two more cattle have been mysteriously killed in rural eastern Oregon. Last summer, five bulls were mysteriously slain in Harney County, Oregon, outside of Burns. Although there are many theories ranging from payback, cults or aliens, there have been few leads on the case despite the offer of a $25,000 reward by Silvies Valley Ranch. Read More

Diary Of A Long-Hauler: Correspondent Anna King’s 7-Week Fight With COVID-19

By Anna King July 27, 2020

Anna King went to the KADLEC Emergency Room twice during her battle with COVID-19. Once she was having trouble breathing, another time the virus attacked her inner ear, giving her vertigo. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

Correspondent Anna King is usually out and about in the region covering agriculture, Hanford, fires and more. But you haven’t heard from her since early June. Why? COVID-19. Here she shares her personal struggle and diary recording her ordeal. Read More

In Pendleton, Rounding Up High Schoolers For A Graduation Before Grabbing Life By The Horns

By Anna King May 28, 2020

Pendleton High School senior Marcus Aaron Luke, left, was excited and ready for his last year running track. Then coronavirus disrupted everyone's plans. CREDIT: Marcus Luke (father)

Marcus Aaron Luke was a leader on his varsity track team, and also a senior at Pendleton High School. Now, like seniors everywhere, he’s missing a traditional graduation. But the city’s famous Round-Up grounds have a fix.Read More

Northwest Cherries Are Almost Here, But There Will Be Less Fruit Than Usual

By Anna King May 23, 2020

An example of how so-called "little cherry disease" affects their growth and presentation on trees. Courtesy of Washington State University Extension

From The Dalles, Oregon to Brewster, Washington, Northwest cherry growers are checking their orchards now, just before harvest. Infected trees have to be cut down. And the disease can spread like wildfire from tree to tree until an entire orchard is just stumps. Read More

Like A Scene Out of ‘Mad Max’: Washington And Oregon State Parks Struggle To Address Crowds

By Anna King May 14, 2020

Palouse Falls State Park is home to Washington's official state waterfall -- and large crowds in the spring runoff season.

Northwest state officials are struggling to contain crowds in parks in the time of coronavirus. Washington opened most parks on May 5, Oregon on May 6. Now, the states are trying to fine tune their response for future sunny-day crowds.Read More

Shipping Woes, Weather Foes Mean Higher Prices And Smiles For Northwest Asparagus Farmers

By Anna King May 8, 2020

For the last decade, the Northwest asparagus industry has been challenged by lower-cost imports, labor shortages and increased farming costs. But this year, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the foreign asparagus supply, increasing sales for the Northwest’s crop. Read More

I Said Hay, What’s Going On? Supply Chain Breakdown Hurting Big Northwest Ag Exports

By Anna King May 2, 2020

File photo. Central Washington is a hay growing and exporting powerhouse. But supply chain disruptions have caused slowdowns at West Coast and East Coast ports.

An unprecedented number of ships have canceled their calls to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. So far this year, there have been 32 canceled international sailings since January 1. That has created the shortage of shipping containers at those Northwest ports.Read More

‘A Complete Public Health Nightmare’: 150+ Tyson Workers Near Pasco Test Positive For COVID-19

By Anna King April 30, 2020

File photo of a Tyson Foods meat processing plant. A Tyson facility in Wallula, Washington, is dealing with an expanding coronavirus outbreak. Courtesy of Tyson Foods

Health officials have tested more than 1,000 Tyson Fresh Meats plant workers for COVID-19 in Wallula, Washington, near Pasco. As of Friday afternoon, 111 have tested positive in the plant that slaughters and processes beef products.Read More

Fire Camp Germ Spread Is Dicey In Normal Times. COVID-19 Could Rip Through Crews This Season

By Anna King April 20, 2020

Dillon Sanders looks on as a collection of wildland firefighters train for an upcoming season. Sanders is the owner of Inbound LLC in Oakridge, Oregon, which runs 20-person hand crews and 13 engines for fire suppression. CREDIT: TONY SCHICK

This year, fire camp could be as dangerous as the wildfires, and top Western managers are deep in planning how to make fire camps COVID-19 ready for fire crews. Hilary Franz is Washington’s commissioner of public lands. She says state, federal, tribal and local officials are trying to make fighting wildfires safe during a pandemic. Read More

The Northwest Cattle-Branding Show Goes On, With Cautious Eye Toward Coronavirus Safety

By Anna King April 16, 2020

Cattle brandings in the Northwest take a lot of people. One person vaccinates, another brands, another castrates the calves — all at the same time. Courtesy of Gary King

Around a million beef cattle are born each spring in the Northwest — about 228,000 in Washington, 533,000 in Oregon and 495,000 in Idaho last year. It takes a large crew working close to get through hundreds of cattle at a time, and ranchers say the job can’t wait — coronavirus or not. Read More

‘Generations That Follow Us Are Going To Remember’: Coronavirus Threatens Tribes’ Funerals

By Anna King April 9, 2020

A recent spring sunset on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. Northwest tribes are having to cut back their traditional ceremonies for their dead, because of the global pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic is also crushing to many traditions and religions trying to mourn their dead — no matter the cause of death. But for Native Americans in the Northwest, normal funerals can last two to three days and involve physical contact among tribal members. Read More

Tale Of Two Crops: Pandemic Yields Different Realities For Northwest Potato And Apple Growers

By Anna King April 7, 2020

Potatoes scoot by on fast belts at Balcom & Moe in Pasco. The potatoes get a rinse, are sized and then put in bags destined for America’s supermarkets. The potato farmer and packer-shipper has been in business since the 1920’s. CREDIT: ANNA KING/NW NEWS NETWORK

The coronavirus pandemic continues to make its presence known in all facets of daily life, including agriculture. That extends to some supply and demand economics lessons for Northwest apple and potato growers.Read More

Stumbling Toward Spring: Northwest Growers Scramble To Start During Coronavirus Crisis

By Anna King April 3, 2020

Freshly planted furrows span out across the Columbia Basin as farmers get ready for the coming season as worries of COVID-19 spread in central and eastern Washington.

Spring work starts up, ready or not. And Northwest growers are scrambling to figure out how to work around the global coronavirus pandemic and still bring in the coming harvest. Read More

Ah, Shuck: Oysters, Cherries, Other Northwest Ag Products Back Up As Coronavirus Quarantines Trade

By Anna King February 18, 2020

Amy Skillings of Oysterville, Washington, wheels the day's shucked oysters into a large cooler to await pickup. The oysters will be flown quickly across the country and to China.

Right now, all sorts of products aren’t reaching the U.S. because of the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China. Reciprocally, many U.S. agricultural and forestry products aren’t shipping back into China and other Pacific Rim countries. Global trade watchers say backed-up trade is building up on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Read More

Helicopter Rescues, Roads Closed, Sandbags Filled: SE Washington And NE Oregon Hit With Floods

By Anna King February 9, 2020

Many houses in Waitsburg, Washington, a small wheat town, are still sitting in lakes of trapped water. Residents were busy moving out their valuables, and accessing damage on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

Flood waters in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon are starting to recede. But this relatively good news follows days of bad news and inundated towns – along with collapsed bridges, dozens of helicopter rescues and washed-out roads. It’s all caused by recent heavy rainfall and fast-melting snow.Read More

‘You’re Scared To Go Out Without A Gun’: Another Mutilated Cow In Central Oregon Rattles Ranchers

By Anna King February 6, 2020

A rancher is rattled by the recent slaying of one of his cows near Hampton, Oregon.Read More

Hanford’s Long-Shuttered Plutonium Finishing Plant Is Now Demolished After Delays, Safety Issues

By Anna King February 5, 2020

Hanford's shuttered Plutonium Finishing Plant has not produced its titular plutoium "buttons" since it closed in 1989, but crews just finished the main demolition. CREDIT: CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company

From 1949 to 1989, the massive plant’s job was to turn caustic liquids containing plutonium into solid plutonium “buttons,” as they were known. The finished buttons were about the size of hockey pucks and were used for America’s nuclear weapons. Read More

Bigleaf Maple Syrup Flows As Profits Drip From A Once-Maligned Northwest Tree

By Anna King January 27, 2020

Plastic tubing strings like fairy nets through the University of Washington's Pack Forest in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. Eventually it will carry bigleaf maple tree sap to make syrup.

The bigleaf maple has a broad canopy and is native to the West Coast. It grows from San Diego, California all the way north to British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. But the West Coast timber industry is largely set up to harvest Douglas fir. The tree, with its broad-shading canopy, is often eradicated so more Douglas fir will grow.Read More

Labor Shortage And Fall Weather Stack Up To Leave Apples Rotting In Orchards

By Anna King January 15, 2020

Apples remain unpicked in December 2019 in an orchard near Wallula, Washington. CREDIT: Mike Denny

For the love of Johnny Appleseed! Why are so many apples left hanging (and rotting) on trees in Northwest orchards after the fall harvest? Industry experts and growers says it’s a combination of factors – but really not due to tariffs, as some people think.Read More

Washington State Regulators Fine Feds More Than $1 Million Over Hanford Cleanup Data

By Anna King January 6, 2020

A new sign graces the entrance onto the Hanford site near Richland, Washington. CREDIT: ANNA KING

Washington Department of Ecology leaders say without access to this data, they can’t effectively protect the land, air and water for residents in eastern Washington and surrounding communities. They say they’ve attempted to negotiate this issue with federal Energy managers for years.Read More

Students Learn Rad Radio Skills And Podcasting With NWPB

By Anna King December 3, 2019

Reporter Anna King teaches a student how to edit audio on a computer.

What happened at this year's RadioActive youth journalism workshop in the Tri Cities? Students learned how to write, record and edit stories. Read More

Suspicious Haystack Fires In Central Washington Means Major Export Is Up In Smoke

By Anna King December 3, 2019

A haystack on fire in Franklin County, north of Pasco, Washington, on Saturday, Nov. 30. CREDIT: Mike Harris / Franklin County Fire District 3

More than a dozen haystacks have been burned under suspicious circumstances in central Washington since early October. It’s concerning to the hay industry and law enforcement. Read More

Like Your Hummus Wet? Then You Want Dry Beans. So Do Palouse Farmers Who Grow Garbanzos

By Anna King November 14, 2019

Kyle Hinrichs helps run the family business outside of Pullman, Wash. Right now the company is drying beans as fast as possible with several machines, but it’s an around the clock job. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

Heavy rains and even an early fall snow in October matted down the garbanzo bean plants tight to the land. That means Palouse-region farmers are scrambling to dry out beans to get them to silos and co-ops. It's on top of already depressed prices due to international trade wars.Read More

Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant Demolition Job Reaches Even More Delicate Phase

By Anna King October 31, 2019

Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant pictured in October 2016. Courtesy of CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co.

At Hanford, in southeastern Washington, contractors have just completed much of the demo work at the site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. But now crews have to finish the job. And that’s the tough part. Read More

Come For The Fright, Stay For The Community: Haunted Palouse Connects People To Shared Place

By Anna King October 24, 2019

From left, Elena Flansburg, Morgan Lentz, Saralynn De La Cruz, enjoy scaring patrons of Haunted Palouse. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

In Palouse, Wash., farmers, university professors, retirees, conservatives and liberals all work side-by-side to build disturbing sets. “Just talking about our everyday lives at the end of the day, when we're done building for the day,” one volunteers said. “It’s probably brought me a lot closer to with people that I probably wouldn’t have interacted this close with here Read More

Oratorio Performed Inside Hanford’s B Reactor Explores Nuclear Workers’ Dreams And Nightmares

By Anna King September 27, 2019

From left, Reg Unterseher, composer, Nancy Welliver, writer, and Mid-Columbia Mastersingers’ artistic director Justin Raffa in front of Hanford’s B Reactor. CREDIT: ANNA KING/N3

The creators of a new musical work called “Nuclear Dreams” highlight the dreams and nightmares of people who work and live near Hanford in Washington’s Tri-Cities. Read More

‘Not One Drop Of Blood’: Cattle Are Being Mysteriously Mutilated And Killed In Eastern Oregon

By Anna King September 13, 2019

Right now in remote eastern Oregon, a serial crime spree is unfolding. Young purebred bulls are mysteriously showing up dead. Cowboys recently found several animals with body parts precisely removed -- and it’s happened just like this before in the West.Read More

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