Yakima will soon be home to the largest farmworker housing complex in Washington. The revamped FairBridge hotel officially opened Friday, June 1, and the first guest workers will be housed there beginning June 11th. Read More
May Day demonstrations happened around the Northwest May 1, including in Latino-concentrated Yakima. The peaceful gathering focused on immigration reform. But the turnout was low compared to previous years with only a couple hundred people there. Read More
May 1st marks International Workers’ Day. In Yakima, May Day organizers are pushing last-minute flyers before their march on Tuesday. They hope for strong turnout from farmworkers, the immigrant community, and Latinos. But some are worried the political climate will affect attendance.Read More
Most people think of asthma as a city kid problem — but it turns out rural kids are just as likely to have asthma. And the children of the people who grow our food are especially vulnerable. Researchers at the University of Washington and the Yakima Valley Farm Workers’ Clinic are working on a new approach to solving the problem.Read More
Yakima County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, April 10 to support mining operations that the Yakama Nation believes will disturb a Native burial ground. The battle is three years in the making.Read More
Governor Jay Inslee signed the Washington Voting Rights Act recently. It’s a move that has long been awaited by Democrats but kept failing in the state legislature. The roots of the law begin in Yakima and a court case over how the city diluted votes of Latino residents.Read More
Central Washington is an agricultural powerhouse. In the summer, it’s often dominated by headlines of fires (and smoke) affecting the region. But from the Columbia River to Cascade Crest, from Canada to Oregon, there’s a lot going on. NWPB Yakima Valley correspondent Esmy Jimenez talks with news manager Scott Leadingham about deeper stories she's covering.Read More
The emergency is over for now at Rattlesnake Ridge near Yakima. The state says a major, sudden landslide is no longer imminent, and Yakima County has lifted its evacuation order and told residents they can move back home. But that’s easier said than done. Read More
The emergency seems to be over for now at the slow-moving landslide at Rattlesnake Ridge near Yakima. The state has taken down warning signs on the highway below. But for some, the drive is still nerve wracking. They’ve coined a phrase for driving quickly past the slide: “Shooting the Gap.”Read More
It started with a crack. Then it got bigger. Then video footage from a drone let everyone have a bird’s eye view of how the Rattlesnake Ridge slide outside of Union Gap, Washington, was coming – or sliding – along.Read More
The landslide on Rattlesnake Ridge near Yakima is likely going to be a slow one—it could take years or decades to fully come down. Now, residents can return. That’s the upshot of a new independent geology report commissioned by the state.Read More
Geology experts with Washington's Department of Natural Resource have quit making predictions for when a slow-moving landslide might break loose. About 20 acres of the hillside are in motion near Union Gap, just south of Yakima.Read More
The slow-moving landslide on Rattlesnake Ridge in Washington's Yakima Valley points to a larger problem plaguing the region: affordable housing. When residents were told to move away from their homes in the slide area, there were few places to go.Read More
The Yakama Nation is asking Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency for the Rattlesnake Ridge landslide. It’s a steep slope outside of Yakima that is moving slowly and clings above a small community, a railroad corridor, Interstate 82 and the Yakima River.Read More
After huge cracks appeared on Rattlesnake Ridge last year, geologists expect a landslide is coming at the mountain near Yakima. But they're having a hard time nailing down just when it will go.Read More
The Rattlesnake Ridge landslide in Central Washington is moving at 1.6 feet per week. The area south of Yakima is on private land and next to Anderson Quarry where Columbia Asphalt operates. If it continues on its expected path, the slide threatens Interstate 82, a mobile home park, and possibly the Yakima River.Read More
Residents below Rattlesnake Ridge outside Union Gap are considering their next move if a slow-moving hillside in Yakima County collapses during the next several weeks.Read More
Officials in Yakima County are strongly urging residents living below a shifting mountainside near Union Gap to evacuate. A huge crack that appeared on Rattlesnake Ridge last year is beginning to widen. Read More
Heidi Villatoro, top left, and Francisco Mendoza, bottom left, say learning to play the cello in YAMA has helped them in school. Both have brought up their grades since […]Read More
For 10 years, conductor Lawrence Golan has been quietly waging a legal campaign to overturn a statute which makes it impossibly expensive for smaller orchestras to play certain pieces […]Read More
