Tri-City Herald
Neighbors protest plan for sex offender home in Kennewick
About 100 neighbors gathered along Edison Street on Monday to protest a home opening in their neighborhood for sex offenders being released from prison. They carried signs calling for the safety of their kids. “We literally have a family right here...
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Any progress clearing Richland home’s ‘mountain of debris?’
Images of a Richland home awash in a sea of derelict vehicles, RVS and construction debris stunned the community in December. Aerial images showed fenceto-fence junk engulfing what was once a modest but tidy central city home at 2100 Pullen St., near...
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Trump asks Rubio to lead Venezuela overhaul
President Donald Trump asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lead the process to implement economic and political reforms in Venezuela, and the U.S. believes it is getting “full, complete and total” cooperation from the government in Caracas after...
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Cranes busy for ‘topping off’ at Kennewick convention center
Steel is flying in Kennewick as a $71.3 million update to the Three Rivers Convention Center steams toward a major milestone. The convention center is being expanded by 115,000 square feet, a move designed to boost its appeal as a destination for...
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WA’S teacher of the year says: ‘I don’t let kids give up’
It’s 20 minutes until class and Gabriela Whitemarsh is moving at dizzying speeds, but she’s hitting her stride. The bilingual math teacher just grabbed a few boxes of markers from Pasco High School’s front office before her first-period precalculus...
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‘Just what we do.’ Tri-cities neighbors come together in Yakima River flood
When the Yakima River started to rise last Tuesday, Justin and Sheena Marshall knew that a Benton City RV park was in the danger zone. “In our business, I have to keep an eye on the weather,” Justin Marshall, the co-owner of Badger Canyon RV of Benton...
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New $47M Richland lab to harness AI for swifter science
Microbes too tiny for the eye to see are at the center of a big project in the Tri-cities, leading the way on the use of artificial intelligence to advance scientific discovery. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright tapped a few keys on a laptop on the...
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New expert to evaluate mental state of Richland killer
Yet another psychologist is being asked to weigh in on whether the Richland Fred Meyer killer should be allowed visits into the community. Superior Court Judge Jackie Stam made the ruling Monday following a hearing in Benton County Superior Court. A...
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‘Grateful’: New women, children’s shelter almost funded HAPPY
When a family loses their place to live, options are limited in the Tri-cities. That could change soon, as Tri-city Union Gospel Mission nears the end of its years-long fundraiser to build a new shelter for women and children. For years the Tri-city...
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Nuclear waste in aging pool at risk of earthquakes
The first capsules of highlevel radioactive waste have been removed from a waterfilled pool at the Hanford nuclear site to prepare them for safer dry storage in steel-lined, reinforced-concrete casks. It’s progress that has been 10 years in the...
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Nuclear waste being moved after 80 years at Eastern WA site
The first containers of glassified Hanford tank waste have been delivered to their final destination, the Integrated Disposal Facility, a lined landfill at the center of the Hanford nuclear site. Contractor Bechtel National met the Department of...
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Experts to clash over sanity of accused bus driver killer
Four years ago, Joshua D. Davis stabbed a 72-year-old Pasco bus driver to death in front of a bus full of children. The story of Richard “Dick” Lenhart’s murder grabbed nadegree tional headlines and spurred a new law in Washington, but Davis’ murder...
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Food banks brace for end of food stamps
With no end to the government shutdown in sight, Tricities food banks are bracing for an influx of families in need. The Washington Department of Social and Health Services warned Wednesday that if federal funding isn’t restored, they won’t be able to...
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'Agricultural values' drive proposed Tri-cities K-8 school
The Tri-cities’ first public school to combine elementary and middle school students under one roof could become a reality in the coming years. In its recently updated longterm facility management plan, the Pasco School District is considering a...
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WA’S largest proposed wind farm could shrink
More limitations may be placed on where wind turbines can be built along the Horse Heaven Hills, cutting the number of turbines visible from the Tri-cities, under a proposed plan to protect endangered ferruginous hawks. More than 60% of the nesting...
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National Guard troops expected soon in Chicago
Hundreds of National Guard troops were expected soon in the Chicago area, after a night when rainy skies dampened protests, immigrant neighborhoods hunkered down and tensions rose between President Donald Trump and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The...
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A Tri-cities school district grades its new 4-day week
For Madilynn Garza, having an extra day on the weekend helps when making plans and getting her work done. And instead of being in class Friday morning at River View High School, she’s working a job at her church. “I’m still very productive on my...
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Preschool closes as state child care cuts hit region
Buildings are abuzz with students heading back to school this time of year, but not at this preschool. Instead, cobwebs and dust have settled on Inspire Development Centers’ former Kennewick school at 16 N. Huntington Street. The 73,000-square-foot...
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Tiny memorial to Tri-cities Vietnam vet gets big renovation
As hungry Kennewick High students crossed 4th Avenue to get lunch, a nearby tiny memorial commemorating a big hero was shining a little brighter on Thursday. The Cpl. Gerald Carmichael Memorial — a 3-foot-tall pyramid installed in the square at...
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Benton County wants permanent option for mountain bike trails
As development in south Kennewick creeps closer to taking over beloved informal mountain bike trails, Benton County is working with the state to find a permanent option. County staff recently told commissioners that the Washington state Department of...
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Fairground changes have fair supporters worried for future
Benton County debated major changes to its partnership with the Benton Franklin Fair Association at a recent meeting, but the nonprofit is concerned some of the plans could harm the 77-year-old event. County commissioners approved a new contract this...
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‘BEST WEEK OF SUMMER’
The “Best Week of Summer” is here. This year’s Benton Franklin Fair promises a mix of beloved traditions, fresh attractions and some important changes for visitors to know before they arrive. The fair runs from Aug. 19-23. OLD MACDONALD’S BARN TURNS...
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Is ‘sit-lie’ zone near Kennewick Winco working?
A little over a year ago, Kennewick took a new approach to proactively dealing with a 1mile stretch of Clearwater Avenue that had more 911 calls than any other area of the city. The city shifted a “no sit, no lie” zone from Canal Drive near the...
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DNA leads to arrest 27 years after teen found shot
In a stunning development in a heart-breaking murder case that went unsolved for 27 years, Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies this week arrested a suspect in the murder of 13-year-old Anna Pelayo. Sheriff Jim Raymond announced Tuesday the arrest of...
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Dumped tire pile raises safety concerns near Columbia Park
Residents of a Tri-cities RV park became increasingly concerned recently when a pile of tires in an empty neighboring lot continued to grow. Then a smashed car was abandoned on the street next to it. Despite being obscured by a line of trees, the pile...
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1,100 jobs could be cut at U.S. national lab in Tri-cities
In a worst case scenario, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory could lose 1,100 employees due to federal budget cuts proposed by President Trump for the coming fiscal year, according to Friends of PNNL. The new organization, which advocates for PNNL...
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Big, bold vision could reshape West Richland
A bold vision to develop West Richland’s sprawling Lewis & Clark Ranch into an urban area could add nearly 100,000 people to the rural city over the next 20-100 years. The heirs of the late Frank Tiegs, an influential Pasco potato and real estate...
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Major changes for Lamb Weston as shareholders take seats
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc., one of the largest private employers in the Mid-columbia, signaled Monday morning major changes ahead for the Eagle, Idaho-based french fry giant. Lamb Weston announced it will install six new independent directors,...
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Public land near Tri-cities may be sold under Trump plan
With only days left before the U.S. Senate is set to vote on a massive spending bill, concern is growing about a proposal in it that could force the sale of millions of acres public lands in the American West. While the conversation has largely...
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Thousands join ‘No Kings’ rally in Kennewick
Protesters lined Columbia Center Boulevard on Saturday as part of a nationwide day of mobilization against actions from the Trump Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Loren Malone, co-founder of Indivisible Tri-cities, the...
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700 Marines deployed to LA after night of scattered protests
Hundreds of Marines were expected to take up positions in Los Angeles on Tuesday, joining National Guard troops there and sharpening an extraordinary confrontation between the White House and California leaders over the response to protests against...
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NSF budget cuts may shut down historic LIGO observatory
The Trump administration wants to close one of the nation’s two cutting-edge observatories — one of them in the Tri-cities — that made scientific history and launched a new way to study the universe. It’s part of a $5.2 billion, or 57% cut, proposed...
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GOP crackdown on immigrant aid would hit US citizens
President Donald Trump has vowed to end what he calls the “waste of hard-earned taxpayer resources” by cutting off federal benefits for immigrants living in the country illegally and ensuring that funding goes to American citizens in...
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Consumers, propping up growth, show signs of strain
The U.S. consumer has seemed unstoppable in recent years, spending despite soaring inflation and the highest borrowing costs in decades. That resilience helped keep at bay a recession that many thought inevitable after the pandemic. President Donald...
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New energy secretary supports Snake River hydropower dams
The nation’s new energy secretary is “passionately in support” of leaving the four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington intact, he said at a hearing last week in Washington, D.C. Rep. Dan Newhouse, Rwash., asked Secretary Chris Wright about...
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Supreme Court lets Trump enforce transgender troop ban
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration may start enforcing a ban on transgender troops serving in the military that had been blocked by lower courts. The ruling was brief, unsigned and gave no reasons, which is typical when the...
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Legislative session adjourns after policy, budget fights
Sunday marked the final day of Washington state’s 2025 legislative session, an occasion known as Sine Die. Much has happened in the 105 days since the session started Jan. 13. Tears were shed, brawls were fought. Descriptors for this year’s...
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Dozens of tourists killed in terror attack during Vance visit to India
At least two dozen people are feared to have been killed after gunmen indiscriminately fired at tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday in what local authorities called a terror attack, blaming militants fighting against Indian rule. “This...
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Inside Trump’s plan to halt hundreds of regulations
At the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump administration officials want to reverse a regulation that has required nursing homes to have more medical staff on duty. At the Mine Safety and Health Administration, powerful lobbying groups have...
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Supreme Court pauses ruling about rehiring workers
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a ruling from a federal judge in California that had ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired federal workers who had been on probationary status. The court’s brief order said the nonprofit...
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Trump says he’s settled on final tariff plan
President Donald Trump said he has settled on a final plan for sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, but he declined to reveal the details before an announcement in the Rose Garden at 4 p.m. Wednesday, a move that appeared to rattle markets and governments...
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DOGE to close Hanford, PNNL claims office
The Trump administration plans to end the lease of the Richland office opened in 2001 to administer claims for ill Hanford and national lab workers and their survivors eligible for federal compensation and medical care. To date, it is the only federal...
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Putin agrees to limit Ukraine attacks, won’t commit to truce
President Vladimir Putin committed in a phone call with Donald Trump to limit Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy assets but declined to agree to a broader 30-day ceasefire as the United States had sought. Putin and Trump agreed to “an energy and...
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Musk calls entitlement benefits the ‘big one’ to cut
Billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk called entitlement spending – benefits including Social Security and Medicare – key targets for cuts, an assertion that directly contradicts President Donald Trump’s pledge to not touch those programs. “Most...
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Egg-onomics: There are pros and cons to raising chickens
Chicks are always a hot commodity in the spring at farm and feed stores. So when a batch of young chickens arrived at Ranch and Home in the Tri-cities on Friday, word got out and customers lined up. Owner Bill Dress’s advice was simple: Get here...
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Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s refugee ban
A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s halt of the country’s refugee resettlement program and freezing of funding for agencies that support refugees. U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead swiftly granted a...
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All on board survive after plane crashes and overturns at Toronto airport
A Delta Air Lines jet attempting to land at Toronto Pearson Airport amid strong winds and drifting snow crashed and flipped over on the tarmac Monday afternoon, finally coming to a rest with its belly up and with at least one wing shorn off. Despite...
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Trump secures release of American imprisoned in Russia
President Donald Trump on Tuesday secured the release of an American imprisoned in Russia as part of a deal with the Kremlin negotiated by Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Marc Fogel, a teacher who was arrested on charges of...
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New energy secretary addresses Hanford site cleanup
Fossil fuel executive Chris Wright has become the nation’s energy secretary, despite questions about his commitment to Hanford environmental cleanup raised by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-wash. The Senate vote late Monday was 59-38 to confirm his...
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White House budget office orders pause in all federal loans, grants
The White House budget office has ordered a pause in grants, loans and other federal financial assistance, according to a memo sent to government agencies Monday, potentially paralyzing a vast swath of programs and sowing confusion and alarm among the...
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Benton County leader could fight state over ICE deportation
A Benton County leader says they’re prepared to challenge Washington state over its law limiting cooperation with federal agencies deporting undocumented people accused of committing crimes. Legal advocates worry that doing so could open the door for...
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Feds criticize Hanford nuclear site contractor for overly idle workers
The Hanford nuclear site contractor responsible for radioactive waste tanks for more than 16 years has lost $10.2 million in potential pay after claims that workers were too often idle because they had no work assigned. In the previous fiscal year...
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Judge blocks release of final report on Trump documents case
The federal judge who handled President-elect Donald Trump’s classified documents case temporarily barred special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday from releasing his final report on the investigation to the public. In a brief ruling, Judge Aileen Cannon,...
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A nuclear fuel company is promising $4.5B project and 1,000 jobs
The city of Richland is considering selling 425 acres of former Hanford nuclear site land for a $4.5 billion project related to advanced nuclear fuel. The company interested in the project, which is projected to employ 1,000 workers, has not been made...
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Suspect in NYC slaying of CEO charged with murder
A suspect was charged with murder and other offenses Monday for last week’s fatal shooting of Unitedhealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The suspect, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was taken into police custody after being spotted at a Mcdonald’s in Altoona,...
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Latinos in Pasco react to Trump’s mass deportation plan
Throughout his presidential campaign and leading up to his second term, President-elect Donald Trump has shared plans for mass deportation of immigrants living in the U.S. with a deportation force that would involve federal, state and local law...
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Trump says he plans tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China
President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he would impose tariffs on all products coming into the United States from Canada, Mexico and China on his first day in office, a move that would scramble global supply chains and impose heavy costs on...
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Trump confirms plans to use military for mass deportations
President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday that he intended to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military in some form to assist in his plans for mass deportations of immigrants who do not have legal residency status. On his social...
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Source: Rubio to lead State Department in historic first
President-elect Donald Trump plans to tap U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, making him the first Latino to helm the State Department, according to a source familiar with the plans. Trump’s selection of Rubio, born in Miami to Cuban...
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Inslee approves huge Horse Heaven wind farm
Gov. Jay Inslee has approved Washington state’s largest wind farm to be built along 24 miles of the Horse Heaven Hills just south of the Tri-cities, the Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council announced Friday afternoon. The approval...
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Ballot box fires in Wash. state, Oregon are connected, police say
A fire caused by an “incendiary device” damaged hundreds of ballots inside a ballot box in Vancouver, Washington, early Monday, potentially affecting one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. Police suspect a person driving a...
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Egg farm workers sickened with bird flu near Pasco
Four workers at a commercial egg farm near Pasco in Eastern Washington have tested positive for avian influenza, according to preliminary test results. They work at a commercial poultry operation that reported many chickens suddenly dying on Oct. 11,...
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Ballot initiatives collections sent Tri-cities more than $150M
Two controversial Washington state initiatives have returned more than $150 million to the Tri-cities this budget cycle for energy research and to help children. As political pressure ramps up to convince voters whether Washington’s capital gains tax...
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Tri-cities warehouse fire cost taxpayers more than $1M
After one of the largest structure fires in the Northwest burned for almost two months this spring in the Tri-cities, federal, state and local officials are considering what could have been done differently and what still needs to be done. The lessons...
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Iran launches hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel
Iran fired at least 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening, an attack that marks a sharp escalation in the longsimmering conflict between Israel and Iran and could tip the region further into turmoil and a full-blown war. Iran’s...
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Horse Heaven wind farm process prompts Sen. Boehnke bill
A Tri-cities state legislator wants to take the politics out of approving energy projects across Washington state by removing the governor as the decision maker. Now the Washington state governor has the final say on whether energy projects, including...
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State energy council finally OKS 24-mile wind farm
The Washington state energy siting board voted 4-3 late Friday afternoon to recommend approval of a 24-mile-long wind farm along the Horse Heaven Hills south of Kennewick with fewer limitations than it previously recommended. The decision will be sent...
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