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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Every Day I'm Truffling: Shuffling Into The Woods, Dogs In Tow, To Hunt A Northwest Delicacy May 20, 2021

The forest smells slightly damp. Grasses cover logs. Sticks decay on the ground. Unknown animals have surely left scents as they traipse about, eating meals and wandering around this recently thinned stand about an hour north of Seattle. But all those smells – undetectable to the human sniffer, or at least this allergy-suffering reporter – don’t matter to Lolo, a Lagotto Romagnolo. The Italian dog is hot on the hunt for black truffles.

Come for your shot, Canadians, proposes exclave of Point Roberts, USA May 18, 2021

As the story of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Pacific Northwest changes from scarcity to surplus, one northwestern Washington community says it is in a unique position to extend a helping hand across the border. Point Roberts, USA, is attached to British Columbia and doesn’t connect by land to the rest of Washington state. Inoculation shots are scarcer in Canada. So, Point Roberts officials want to offer surplus vaccines to their northern neighbors. But bureaucratic hurdles stand in the way.

Remaking Oregon Trail Video Game With An Eye Toward More Accurate Native American Depictions May 12, 2021

Jazz Halfmoon remembers playing the educational video game Oregon Trail as a reward for doing well in her Oregon grade school class. “It was on a super old computer,” she says. “The green screen was like the only color.” She says it was really exciting, and the kids would often clamor and fight over who could play the game on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation in northeastern Oregon. “I remember being like ‘oh, like the Indians killed off somebody in your wagon train … and then being like, ‘Oh we’re Indians, you know,’” Halfmoon says. Halfmoon, who is 38, and a generation of kids like her grew up playing it. They remember the game mostly for the moment — wait for it — their party died of dysentery. Now, a new spin on the wagon train game focuses on more accurately representing Native Americans. The company Gameloft tackled the redesign of Oregon Trail for Apple Arcade just in time for the increase in worldwide play because of the pandemic. Its target audience: the now

Rocket fireball over Northwest in late March provides lasting value to space junk sleuths May 07, 2021

Stargazers across the Pacific Northwest were treated to quite a light show in late March when the errant reentry of a spent rocket sent fireballs streaking high overhead. The uncontrolled disintegration of the rocket rained debris onto eastern Washington state, where fortunately no one was hurt. While the search for mangled rocket parts goes on, the event also provided a great learning opportunity for researchers that could foreshadow a space junk warning system.

As Easterday Family Property Is Auctioned, Giant Buyers Attracted To Water-Rich Deal May 05, 2021

Redtail hawks glide off telephone poles sailing above verdant fields that scoop downward along a basalt slope to the bending Columbia River. This unique swath of ground is about to get a new owner; the roughly 12,000 Easterday family acres in Benton County are to be auctioned off starting in mid-June.

Even In The Bright Of Day, Some Central Washington Residents Have A Solar Energy 'Nightmare' May 03, 2021

You can see Mount Adams rising from the horizon on a grassy hilltop on Amy Hanson’s land. Farms reach out in most directions. Homes dot the landscape. Hanson and her husband invested more than a decade and thousands of dollars into this property, driving nearly 200 miles from Chehalis on weekends to build fences and whatever else they could afford as the years went on. She might not be walking distance from everyone, but recently Hanson and her neighbors in rural Klickitat County have become closer than ever. They’re banded together to fight a new giant knocking at their doors: big solar.

Taxes, police reform and environment. Washington legislators wrap 'historic' session Apr 26, 2021

Fifteen weeks ago, majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature convened a 105-day session vowing to address the fallout from COVID-19, police accountability, greenhouse gas emissions and issues of racial justice. On Sunday, Democrats adjourned the session having accomplished much of what they set out to do, including passage of a number of sweeping bills that Gov. Jay Inslee, in a statement, called “historic” in nature. "This session's accomplishments are as important to the long-term well-being of our state as any session I've seen," Inslee said.

It's Complicated: Why Some Northwest Latinx Residents And Farmworkers Hesitate On COVID Vaccine Apr 23, 2021

Vanessa Delgado’s dad didn’t want to take a whole unpaid day off of work to get a vaccine appointment. She’s working on her doctorate in Irvine, Calif., but helped her father, Victor Delgado, get a vaccine close to his home in Benton County, Wash.

'It's Irreversible': Goldendale Green Energy Project Highlights A History Of Native Dispossession Apr 07, 2021

Some 15,000 years ago, an ice dam broke in Montana. Water cascaded across the Northwest in some of the largest flooding ever to happen on Earth. And the Ka-milt-pah people climbed up to one of the highest points on the Columbia River. “There were lookouts and warnings to the Ka-milt-pah band members. Prior to the big flood, they escaped the canyon,” says Elaine Harvey, a Ka-milt-pah member, known in English as the Rock Creek Band of the Yakama Nation.

Yes, there are mermaids in the Pacific Northwest. They get their own museum now, too Apr 06, 2021

The Pacific Northwest might seem like an unlikely place for mermaids and mermaid culture to catch on given the cold water here. Yet, putting on an eye-catching tail and pretending to be a mythical sea being is a thing across the Northwest. There's even a brand new mermaid museum near Aberdeen, Washington.

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