Tri-City Herald (Sunday)
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Even as the Tri-Cities area’s first recovery center moves closer to opening, disagreements between county leaders is throwing a wrench into how the facility will operate. But Benton County has a plan to ensure it opens this spring. The growing rift...
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WHO WILL PAY?
A fort-like maze built of abandoned used tires near Highway 240 is a jarring welcome to north Richland. The tire pile on Twin Bridges Road isn’t just jarring. It’s easily the largest stockpile of old tires on an unlicensed site in Washington,...
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Crews begin work on BATEMAN ISLAND CAUSEWAY REMOVAL
Crews from Pipkin Inc. of East Wenatchee have started preliminary work to take out Bateman Island’s 500-foot long and 40-foot wide causeway. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $1.2 million contract, in partnership with other agencies, to the...
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Oil spill at Eastern WA dam prompts cleanup, scrutiny
State and federal agencies are investigating a recent mineral oil spill at Priest Rapids Dam as cleanup efforts conclude. Newly released records show a history of similar spills at Grant County Public Utility District dams over the past decade. Grant...
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MOUNTAIN OF DEBRIS
The city of Richland began clearing junked vehicles and other items outside a garbage-strewn central city home after more than a year of legal wrangling and complaints from neighbors. Discarded appliances and other debris were hauled away by workers,...
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‘IT’S BEEN CHAOTIC’
The Tri-Cities usually bucks national housing trends. Thanks to the stabilizing influence of federal spending at the Hanford site and to the food processing industry, Tri-Cities home sales and construction tend to plod along, even as they slow...
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PEARL HARBOR DAY
On this day in 1941, Japanese forces attacked the U.S. Naval base in Pearl Harbor, an act that led America to enter the second World War.
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WINNING RECIPE
ATri-Cities job training program is getting ready to make a move that will let their students help people in recovery. Opportunity Kitchen will make the leap from the Federal Building in Richland to the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery when it...
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‘IT TAKES TIME’
When an ex-cop shot and killed his former wife outside a West Richland elementary school 11⁄2 years ago, mental health professionals converged to help hundreds of students and staff left in shock. At least 30 kids, parents and school employees...
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DRAMATIC START SETS TONE FOR OUSTED SHERIFF’S ABUSE TRIAL
AWalla Walla County jury is being asked to decide whether a group of Benton County sheriff's deputies and command staff deserve to be compensated for former Sheriff Jerry Hatcher turning their lives into a nightmare. “It’s October 2019 and a county...
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How Day of the Dead connects families, honors ancestors
Just a few days after Halloween each year, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, marks a special day with Mexican roots. It’s a day to remember the lives of loved ones who have died and connects the living and the dead. This year, the holiday is...
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How many Tri-Citians work for feds? IT’S COMPLICATED
As the 2025 federal shutdown enters its fourth week, it begs several questions. How many people in the TriCities work for the federal government? Is the shutdown affecting our economy? The answer is complicated. The federal government dominates the...
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Why the HOLDUP?
Akey milestone for Atlas Agro, Richland’s prized economic development initiative, has been put off to 2027 amid questions about the viability of the $1.3 billion, carbon-free fertilizer plant. The European company plans to use city water and vast...
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‘AT THE MERCY OF THE CORPS’
Kennewick’s decade-plus dream of owning Columbia Park East instead of leasing it from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is inching toward reality. “This city’s piece of the puzzle is done and we are just waiting for the Army Corps,” said Kennewick City...
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WHAT FEDERAL SHUTDOWN COULD MEAN TO TRI-CITIES
The state of Washington is home to nearly 80,000 federal workers, many of them likely worried about their paychecks and jobs after the federal government shutdown began Wednesday. Some of them likely will be furloughed, temporarily laid off or forced...
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FROM GRAPES TO GOLF
One of the world’s leading golf course designers could soon bring his talents to a sweeping riverfront property 20 minutes from the TriCities. And a Snake River park that was shut down by federal budget cuts could see big benefits from the course as...
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Some homeowners surprised at new property assessments
Many Tri-Cities homeowners got a bit of a shock when they received their change of value cards in the mail recently. Unlike in recent years when home values have seen uncomfortably large jumps, many home values in the area actually went down. It’s a...
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SIGN OF THE TIMES
Adecade or so ago, Dr. Sariah Khormaee was a Harvard Medical School student who already had earned a doctorate in chemical engineering and biotechnology. Deeply interested in health equity, she’d traveled to Vietnam to observe surgeons repairing...
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HOUSING INSTABILITY
The number of Tri-Citians with unstable housing continues to rise, with a dramatic increase in families at risk of becoming homeless. State data shows more couples with children were unstably housed from January 2024 to January 2025, making up about...
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Union strike could delay aquatics center opening
Astrike against Associated General Contractors, now entering its third week, could delay the opening of Pasco’s $40 million aquatics center. The strike by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 against AGC began Aug 12 and has slowed...
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‘ONE TEAM, ONE DREAM’
Aselect group of teachers, staff and students from Pasco High School moved across town 16 years ago to create and establish a new identity and culture. That’s when Pasco School District opened its second comprehensive high school, Chiawana...
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FOREVER LINKED
Half a world apart, the Tri-Cities in Washington and Nagasaki in Japan are linked forever by the birth of the Atomic Age. In the community that became the Tri-Cities, workers raced during World War II to create the plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped...
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‘People are fearful’
Barren stalls. Uncrowded walkways. Empty restaurant tables. Usually crowd sizes rival the population of a small town, but lately Washington state’s largest open-air flea market is starting to feel more like a ghost town. The Pasco Flea Market’s...
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‘IT SCARES ME’
On a sidewalk outside the Uptown Shopping Center, business owners chatted, waiting for power to be restored on a sunny summer morning. As they waited, the small group of antiques dealers and tanning salon employees shot the breeze about the daily...
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TURNING POINT
It’s begun. West Richland is overhauling Highway 224 — aka West Van Giesen Street — into a proper gateway into a fast-growing city. The $33.7 million project, funded by gas taxes, will modernize a 3.5mile stretch of highway with five roundabouts,...
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RISING FROM THE ASHES
This summit face was the coldest part of the mountain, shaded in thick oldgrowth forest. But nearly two years ago - after a roasting-hot run of dry summer weather - a lightning strike set the mountain on fire. The Lookout fire burned threequarters of...
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BUDGET REPERCUSSIONS
The “Big Beautiful Bill” has passed and is heading to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign it into law. Washington’s 4th Congressional District, which includes the Tri-Cities and much of Central Washington, will be hit harder than most...
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FACELIFT AT FAIRGROUNDS
After 75 years, the Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick is getting a $15 million makeover, with some of the work set to wrap up before the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo kicks off. The first phase — a $3 million parking lot project — began in...
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Proposed SNAP cuts could threaten 17,000
The harder David Paslay works, the harder it is to get ahead. That’s because every dollar he makes impacts his disability and food assistance benefits. He and his wife Shelley are down to just $30 each per month in SNAP food assistance, and they’re...
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‘A MILESTONE’
Aprolific Northwest shopping center developer with a record that includes Portland’s Ikea-anchored Cascade Station is ready to make his mark in western Pasco. Fred Bruning, founder and CEO of Elevated Property Co., confirmed his development company...
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HOUSING MIRAGE?
Tri-City schools recess for the summer next week, kicking off the busy season for home buying. For those with house hunting on their to-do list, there is good news and trouble is brewing as builders cut back amid concerns about the Tri-Cities and U.S....
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LEARNING AND BUILDING
Pasco High School Senior Gavin Frank is incredibly busy these days. Between spring band concerts, classes and school events, the Bulldog percussionist doesn’t have much spare time. “I’ll miss it. These four years flew by,” Frank said. “I was hoping...
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POWER BOOST
One of largest electricity producers in Washington state will get a $700 million upgrade that would eventually power about as many homes as there are in the Tri-Cities and Yakima. Plans are in place to increase the power of the Northwest’s only...
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‘NEED TO BUILD’
Tri-Cities apartment construction isn’t slowing down after all. Local builders who shelved projects in 2022 and 2023 because of rising interest rates and other costs are reviving plans as the economics of financing construction improve. “Construction...
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NEST WITH A VIEW
One by one, four fluffy white ferruginous hawk chicks emerged from eggs in a nest near Touchet at the start of this month, their hatchings documented by a trail camera. Biologists with the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife have been...
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COST OF LEARNING
Amajority of the Mid-Columbia’s eight school districts fall below the Washington state average for being in healthy financial shape. The ranking by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction shows Prosser and Richland as the “unhealthiest” of...
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QUALITY OF LIFE
For more than 50 years a Tri-Cities nonprofit has helped seniors relying on Medicaid stay in their homes longer. The looming threat of cuts to federal funding could mean hundreds of their clients may lose access to services that ensure they have a...
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UNCERTAINTY IN THE FIELDS
During the first weeks of spring, farm workers begin arriving at Schreiber Farms before the sun rises. Together in a parking lot, they get their assignments for the day — they’ll either cut asparagus or plant seedlings for the next eight hours. This...
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A PATH TO REBIRTH
While the old Kennewick General Hospital might look the same from the outside, crews are doing a lot more than just applying a new paint job inside. Last used as the Trios Birth Center before it closed three years ago, the facility is being stripped...
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What do Trump’s tariffs mean for Tri-Cities housing shortage, home prices?
New tariffs that aim to level the playing field with other countries and promote U.S. manufacturing could affect new home construction in the TriCities. New tariffs announced this week by President Trump could add $9,200 to the cost of building a new...
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DRIVE TO STABILIZE
Housing has been front and center during the 2025 Legislative session, no more so than in the ongoing battle over a socalled rent stabilization bill that would cap annual increases at 7%. Less noticed is a bill sponsored by Rep. April Connors,...
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‘RECORD TERRITORY’
Until recently food banks across Washington state were receiving robust deliveries of fruits, vegetables and shelf stable foods thanks to federal programs. But after recent cuts some Tri-Cities food banks are getting in only frozen blueberries and...
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AFTER 10 YEARS AND 3 FAILED ELECTIONS, DREAM EXPANSION
It took more than a decade and three rejections by voters at the ballot box, but it’s go time for Kennewick’s cherished dream of a vast new convention center to bring meetings, sporting events and even concerts to town. The $71.3 million expansion of...
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AGRITOURISM FIGHT
Wheat Head Brewing Co. is at nearly the same elevation as the summit of Badger Mountain, offering a sweeping view of the Horse Heaven Hills and the agricultural land that has long been the lifeblood of the Columbia Basin. Its location, over expansive...
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‘RECOVERY WORKS’
Two years ago Diane Alaniz Anzar found herself with nowhere to go but a TriCities homeless shelter. Today, thanks to the support she found there and along the way, her life is vibrant. Alaniz Anzar hopes her story will help community members see just...
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A WORKING WATERFRONT
American Song, a 180-passenger riverboat that cruises the Columbia and Snake rivers from spring to fall, is docked in Burbank for the winter. It’s not just a pretty sight near the confluence of the two key Pacific Northwest rivers. It’s a sign that...
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Trump moves to impose reciprocal tariffs as soon as April
President Donald Trump ordered his administration to consider imposing reciprocal tariffs on numerous trading partners, raising the prospect of a wider campaign against a global system he complains is tilted against the U.S. The president on Thursday...
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‘A real need’
On one of the coldest nights of winter, more than two dozen volunteers scoured the Tri-Cities to contact more than 100 people sleeping outside in the freezing weather. The nearly 30 volunteers was a better turnout than expected for the annual Point in...
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‘Changing face of housing’
Homes in the Tri-Cities aren’t getting less expensive but they are getting more diverse. In coming years, buyers will be able to choose from hilltop aeries, basic townhomes and pretty much everything in between. The Tri-City Herald identified 40...
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A CHANGE OF FOCUS
In a series of sweeping new immigration policies, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that suspends refugee admissions and resettlement in the U.S. effective Jan. 27. That means nearly 230 refugees expected to...
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Energy Secretary nominee Chris Wright talks Hanford, PNNL
Trump’s nominee for energy secretary called finishing the environmental cleanup at the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington critical when he was questioned at a Senate hearing Wednesday. ‘”Hanford gave a lot to this country and we ... left a...
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‘Blank slate’
In recent years a private owner has snapped up 1,500 acres south of Kennewick, betting more than $12.5 million it will become the area’s next industrial development center. It’s a big gamble considering the former farm land has no infrastructure in...
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Shooter admits to killing a homeless man at Richland’s Uptown Shopping Center
RICHLAND, WA In a rare move, a shooting suspect pleaded guilty to murder Thursday during one of his first formal appearance in a Tri-Cities courtroom. Isiah N. Rodriguez, 28, faces up to 24 1/2 years in at state prison after admitting to the...
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REBOUND ENDING ONA
Tri-Citians aiming to put a roof over their heads had more to choose from in 2024, but bargains were hard to come by. As 2024 clocks out, the Tri-Cities housing market is ending on a rebound after slowing in 2023 amid rising interest rates. The same...
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‘Whole new ballgame.’
Tri-County Partners Habitat for Humanity is embarking on a massive new housing initiative in the Tri-Cities, thanks to a partnership with the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The organization entered into a feasibility agreement with DNR to...
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SPECIAL EDITION
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A REAL-LIFE ‘SANTA’S WORKSHOP’
Close to 1,000 volunteers from more than 50 organizations and schools came together Thursday for a common purpose — assembling over 1,600 bikes for Pacific Northwest kids and others in need. Bikes for Tikes, a nonprofit based in West Richland, was...
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CLEAN ENERGY PARK BOOM
Pending deals in the Wallula Gap Business Park have many talking in the nearby community of Burbank. Four proposed projects representing a total investment of $8.6 billion could mean thousands of new jobs and hundreds of homes and families in the...
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‘AN IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD’
The Department of Energy and Washington state have reached an agreement on steps to address radioactive waste suspected of leaking into the ground from a third storage tank at the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington. Similar to the agreement on...
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‘ROAD TO THE FUTURE’
An unassuming patch of land near a bend in the Columbia River is emerging as Washington’s hottest destination for clean energy and clean manufacturing. Wallula Gap Business Park is a 1,400-acre park zoned for heavy industry in western Walla Walla...
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‘Nowhere to go.’
As temperatures in the TriCities drop to freezing, community advocates are becoming increasingly frustrated with Richland’s lack of an apparent plan for long-term solutions to homelessness after closing parks to push out illegal campers. City leaders...
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New $6M building is fresh start for Tri-Cities animal shelter
Pasco’s new $6 million Tri-Cities Animal Shelter will open more than a year later than initially expected. At one point, the long-awaited shelter was expected to open as far back as December 2023, but contractor delays have meant the city just got the...
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‘We’ll take anything’
Workers at Kaffrins Coffee in Connell are organizing a toy drive to help families who lost their paychecks after the unexpected shutdown of the local french fry plant three weeks ago. “A lot of families are going to be hurting,” a worker said. The...
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THE WORLD’S FIRST NUCLEAR PLANT
Editor’s note: On Oct. 16, 2024, about 100 Tri-Cities area leaders and people who worked to preserve Hanford’s historic B Reactor as part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park gathered at the reactor to mark the 80th anniversary of the...
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FIELD OF PUMPKINS
Every fall, Robert Cox and his family get a thrill when a family friend spies one of their pumpkins for sale at a Walmart in Alaska. It’s a long way from the 650-acre Eastern Washington farm spot where Cox, his daughter Ashley and several sons grow...
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Washington’s newest $1B industry just got a gutpunch
The abrupt closure of a french-fry plant in Connell this week wasn’t just a blow to Washington’s reputation as french-fry maker to the world. It put a damper on news that the state’s fifth largest agricultural product just hit a major...
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