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Scientist John Zachara Dies, Leaving A Legacy Of Exploring What's Going On Beneath Hanford Jun 12, 2021

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Editor’s Note: Anna King knew John Zachara, he was a friend and colleague of her husband at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. John Zachara was a brilliant geoscientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. And he had a dry sense of humor. In the mountains of British Columbia a decade ago, Zachara was really getting bugged by horse-flies. “The horse flies were actually just horrible, they were just biting us,” best friend and science colleague Jim Fredrickson remembers. “You know horse flies, they are slow and kind of clumsy, but there are so many of them, eventually one of them gets you.” So Zachara tied one fly with dental floss to the top button of his baseball cap, Fredrickson said. “And so the fly was still flying around alive as everything,” Fredrickson said. “And he had that fly as a pet on the top of his hat. And it was the strangest sight.” Zachara, 69, who studied Hanford, the nuclear cleanup site in southeast Washington, worked much of his life trying to

CATTLEGATE: 2 Land Titans Vie For Massive Swath Of Easterday Property In Southeast Washington Jun 09, 2021

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Nearly 12,000 acres of Easterday family farmland in Benton County will likely sell for more than its $210 million asking price, according to court documents and sources with knowledge of the deal. Two big players are vying for the sweeping property near the Columbia River: Farmland Reserve’s AgriNorthwest, which is backed by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates’ Cottonwood Ag Management. The highest bidder will be confirmed at a bankruptcy auction held next week. The deal is subject to the federal court’s sale hearing on July 14. “(Large investors) will go to wherever the opportunity is,” says Denis Hayes, president of the Bullitt Foundation in Seattle, which funds environmental projects in the Northwest. “If you’re going to be buying a farm, and if you can get it in particular in a place where you’re guaranteed access forever to high-quality water, that makes it a very attractive investment whether you’re Chinese, or Dutch or

Olympians made here: Elite training groups in Northwest stocking Tokyo-bound teams with top runners Jun 07, 2021

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The Pacific Northwest is famous for churning out jet airliners, computer software and huckleberry syrup. The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials beginning June 18 in Eugene will showcase another local product: Olympic distance runners.

Stuck in jail, waiting for a psychiatric bed. COVID-19 made an old problem worse Jun 04, 2021

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While Washington’s system has been strained for years, state officials and disability rights advocates say it effectively ground to a halt during the pandemic.

It's Been A Long Haul: Correspondent Anna King On Her Snail-Slow Recovery 1 Year After COVID-19 Jun 02, 2021

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Sometimes I feel as low as this cold-early-morning snail on the Richland river path. June 3 marks a year since COVID-19 blasted through my immune system . I have never figured out how I got it . And my recovery has come in fits and starts . But mostly it’s just been incredibly, snail-slow.

Seattle athlete to sprint at the Tokyo Olympics, but in a canoe instead of on the track Jun 02, 2021

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Nineteen-year-old Nevin Harrison of Seattle has pictured herself competing in the Olympics for many years, mostly as a track sprinter like in the 100 or 200 meter dash. "My mom always tells the story of me being four years old and watching the Olympics and saying, 'I'm going to go one day, mom,'' Harrison recalled. "She was like, 'Sure, Nevin. Whatever.'" Later this month, Olympic team trials and Team USA coaches will fill out the roster for the delayed Tokyo Olympics. Some familiar names in women's soccer from Portland and Seattle, as well as the WNBA Seattle Storm's biggest stars and a pack of Pacific Northwest-based distance runners are likely Tokyo bound. Some other athletes from this region have already locked in their spots, including Harrison.

The vehicle checkpoints and fencing are gone, but security concerns remain at Washington’s Capitol Jun 02, 2021

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At Washington’s Capitol Campus, a post-legislative session calm has settled in. Gone are the State Patrol checkpoints and National Guard troops that were in place for the start of the session in January. A temporary chain-link fence surrounding the domed Legislative Building has also been removed. Yet, security in the seat of state government is still a top-of-mind issue. So is the safety of elected leaders in these polarized times.

'Somber Harvest': Crops May Fail, Cattle Sold As The Northwest Descends Into Drought May 27, 2021

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Nicole Berg wades into her stunted wheat field. It’s so short and sparse, she doesn’t think the combine can even reach the wheat without eating rocks. “Combines don’t like dirt and rocks,” Berg says. “They get indigestion.” Berg is a dryland wheat farmer in the sweeping Horse Heaven Hills of south-eastern Washington. She shows off one head of half-turned golden wheat amid a sea of them. Besides being too short, the plant’s kernels didn’t fill out properly. “See how the wheat head is curled like that?” Berg asks. “And then you break into it, you might have some berries down here, but this will be empty. There is no wheat inside the wheat head. It’s a sad situation. It’s farming though. You know, thank goodness for crop insurance.” Northwest farmers like Berg and ranchers who depend on rain are expecting what one farmer called a “somber harvest” this year. Some stunted wheat fields won’t see the combine this summer. Cattle operators are severely cutting back their herds for lack of grass

Two Asian-American Friends Reflect On Navigating How They're Treated In Rural Washington May 21, 2021

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After a year of hate speech culminating in the murders of Asian women in the Atlanta area , rural Asian Americans are recalibrating how safe they feel in their own communities. This week President Joe Biden signed an anti-Asian hate crimes bill . And a recent survey found nearly 80% of Asian Americans don’t feel respected and say they are discriminated against.

Ongoing closure of Canadian border to nonessential crossings makes Washington enclave 'stir crazy' May 20, 2021

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The United States and Canadian governments confirmed Thursday that pandemic border crossing restrictions will continue for at least another month to June 21. This is the fourteenth month-by-month extension of the closure of the northern border to nonessential crossings. The lengthy closure has been especially wearing on Point Roberts, a community in northwestern Washington state that is cut off from the U.S. mainland by the Canadian border.