Read The Richland School Board Thursday evening voted to allow children to go back in-person and to follow the Governor’s Mask Mandate on a vote of 4 to 1. This […]Read More
Northwest News
Gov. Inslee has announced Washington's indoor mask mandate will end on March 21,with a few exceptions Read More
Tom Carpenter, the man who headed the Hanford Challenge, and was a thorn in the side of many politicians, is retiring from the organization. Read More
In an act of labor solidarity, scores of Democratic staffers in the Washington Legislature staged a “sick-out” Wednesday after a bill that would have allowed them to unionize failed to advance before a key cutoff deadline.Read More
Richland Washington public schools were in an emergency closure Wednesday, and will be closed again Thursday.Read More
Efforts to keep a toothy, invasive fish behind Grand Coulee Dam are paying off.Read More
A measure backed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee that would have made it a crime for elected officials and candidates for office to incite lawlessness by making false statements about elections appears to have died in the state Legislature.Read More
Speed boats, tugboats, cruise ships and any other watercraft operating in Puget Sound will soon have to comply with a new federal No Discharge Zone.Read More
The Keep Washington Evergreen bill died in session. Read More
After more than 20 years of photographing the pacific northwest, Rajah Bose considers himself an “insider.”Read More
Each year the Forest Service needs people to help campers and visitors make the most of their visit, check in to their camping spot, and maintain campground facilities. These are the duties of a ‘campground host.’Read More
When February was dedicated as American Heart Month over 50 years ago, it followed a steep rise in heart disease in the 20th century.Read More
Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier said in a public meeting that a state trooper north of Pasco told him homeless people were being bussed in from Seattle. Didier claims he was by the 395 overpass.Read More
As states from Oregon to New York announce plans to end mask mandates, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday announced that he’s lifting outdoor masking requirements and plans to announce next week a date when the face-covering rules for public indoor spaces and schools will be lifted.Read More
Democrats in charge of the Washington Legislature are proposing a new tax on gasoline and diesel fuel destined for Oregon, Idaho and Alaska to partially pay for a cornucopia of highway, transit, rail, bike trail and ferry construction across Washington state. The "exported fuel tax" was included in a transportation spending and revenue package unveiled Tuesday in Olympia.Read More
Local police say the man who shot two people Monday at a crowded Richland Fred Meyer grocery store had been experiencing declining mental health for weeks.Read More
The Move Ahead Washington transportation package was announced February 8.Read More
One in three U.S. teens have experienced violence from a dating partner. Physical, psychological, and digital abuse are common abuser's behavior. During February, organizations in Washington raise awareness and work to prevent teen dating violence.Read More
Richland police officials say the shooting suspect has been apprehended on his way north to Spokane from the Tri-Cities late Monday night. Police haven’t yet released the names of the victims. The injured person was last known to be in critical condition Monday.Read More
One man died and another man was injured in a shooting at a Fred Meyer grocery store in Richland, Washington.Read More
Education District 123 covers Benton and Franklin county and has the highest Covid case rates in Washington state. Mitigation efforts at local schools from masking and distancing continue, but some school board members are pushing back against those measuresRead More
The pandemic is still churning, but as we round the corner on its second year, we can look back on how we’ve adapted, created and lived. One mark of this perseverance is the rollout of the Tacoma Creates program, the first program in Washington state under recent Cultural Access Legislation. Read More
As the 2022 midterm elections loom, a partisan battle over access to the ballot box continues to be fought in Congress and in state legislatures across the country. Red states are passing new restrictions, while many blue states are making voting more accessible. That includes Washington.Read More
A complex deal is taking shape to revive the Pacific Northwest's last remaining aluminum smelter. Alcoa idled its Intalco Works smelter near Ferndale, Washington, a year-and-a-half ago and laid off virtually all the workers there. The plan to bring this industry back involves a new owner, cash from taxpayers and an uncertain new contract for cut-rate wholesale power.Read More
Political signs are everywhere during campaign season, but in some cases they stick around long past their advertised races. Read More
Idaho reached record levels of COVID-19 testing positivity at 38.8% last week, said Christine Hahn, state epidemiologist at a press briefing Tuesday. Read More
Gangs of wild elk are attacking farmers’ haystacks in Washington and Oregon. They’re hungry, after a long drought and record mountain snow this winter has driven animals down to the lowlands. Climate scientists say things may only get worse in the future.Read More
The January 15 volcanic eruption near Tonga was a stark reminder of the threats posed by tsunamis. That's long been a concern in the Pacific Northwest, where thousands of students go to school within reach of a large tsunami.Read More
Wildfires, invasive species and climate change are seriously threatening the Hanford Reach National Monument, and with it, a rare plant that grows only in one place in the world.Read More
Washington’s COVID-19 state of emergency is approaching its two-year anniversary. Under current law, the governor has broad emergency powers. But the Legislature is considering new restrictions on that authority.Read More
Kittitas Valley Healthcare-KVH will no longer offer free COVID testing to Kittitas County. According to the Public Hospital website, "sudden and extreme supply chain shortages" force the changes starting Jan. 28.Read More
New homes built in Central Washington could be constructed on top of old orchards, where soils might contain the remnants of pesticides from the early 1900s.Read More
The Washington State Patrol permanently stripped its staff psychologist of his power to approve or reject trooper candidates, a role that for nearly 30 years shaped the agency’s ranks.Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday signed into law a bill that delays the start of a controversial long-term care benefit program known as WA Cares for 18 months. A second measure signed by Inslee will allow certain workers to opt out of the first-in-the-nation program.Read More
Latino Voters Challenge Yakima Redistricting Map.Read More
The Washington Wine Commission has a new program for growers called Sustainable WA. It’s a three-pronged approach enabling Washington Wines to be a leader in the industry. It focuses on sustainability in growing grapes, being stewards to the land, and having a healthy workforce.Read More
What does the public think about the Keep Washington Evergreen bill? NWPB’s Lauren Gallup reports on testimony heard at Washington’s Rural Development, Agriculture & Natural Resources committee.Read More
Chris Reykdahl, Washington’s superintendent of public schools says he would like to see the state legislature commit to financing school construction, but not the traditional way. Read More
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will reconsider a controversial spring bear hunt that the commission had recently postponed.Read More
The presence of eleven skiers, skaters and sliders with ties to the Pacific Northwest should add intrigue to the 2022 Beijing Olympics, although the upcoming sports spectacle beset with extreme COVID precautions, a diplomatic boycott and scarce snowfall hardly needs more drama. Several late additions to the Team USA Olympic roster upped the regional representation at next Read More
A proposal in the Washington Legislature would make it a crime to use or sell a fake COVID-19 vaccination card. The sponsor says he wants to deter people from even considering the ruse, but he also wants to send a signal to prosecutors to prioritize these cases as a matter of protecting public health.Read More
Firefighters say toxic chemicals in their protective equipment are a big concern and need to be replaced with safer alternatives.Read More
It was the evening of Jan. 6 when Katherine Ripley’s husband, Ian, noticed something was wrong with his wife. The couple called 911. Katie walked into the ambulance on her own, talking with Ian and EMTs. A few hours later, she was incoherent.Read More
A roller skating rink in Federal Way, Washington, has a remarkable track record of minting future ice skating Olympians. It started in the 1990s and 2000s with four-time Olympic long track speedskater K.C. Boutiette and short track gold medalist Apolo Ohno. The streak will extend to an eighth consecutive Winter Olympics when a new short track speedskater on Team USA named Read More
Following widespread criticisms and voter pushback, the Washington state House on Wednesday voted to delay the collection of a new payroll tax to fund a state-run, long-term care insurance program called WA Cares.Read More
A new bill in the Washington Senate aims to stop a controversial policy in Klickitat County, where the sheriff deputized six hound handlers to track and kill any cougars he deemed to be a safety threat.Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is continuing its investigation into the deaths of around 30 steelhead trout near Idaho’s Dworshak Dam on the North Fork of the Clearwater River.Read More
Coal plant closures in the Northwest and an increase in natural gas generation meant fewer heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions recently contributed to climate change, according to new data from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.Read More
Following the lead of Oregon and other states, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that he will deploy 100 members of the National Guard to assist hospitals struggling to respond to a spike in COVID-19 patients due to the highly-contagious omicron variant.Read More
The Army Corps of Engineers is investigating whether the start-up of Dworshak Dam’s turbines are responsible for the deaths of around 30 steelhead, according to a press release from the Army Corps.Read More
