Sky watchers in the Northwest can anticipate a large, pink moon Wednesday night, June 27. Continue Reading See The Northwest’s Strawberry Moon This WeekRead More
Earlier this month the Washington state Supreme Court brought to an end to a school funding fight which began more than a decade ago. What's the history of the very important decision? Continue Reading McCleary Case: A Read More
As housing prices increase in SeaTac, one group of mobile home owners has banded together to buy their land - and save their homes. Continue Reading Threatened By Rising Housing Prices, Some SeaTac Homeowners Fight BackRead More
The story of Seattle’s first Major League team, and how its single disastrous season led to the creation of the Mariners. Continue Reading Seattle’s (Not Quite) Forgotten First Major League Baseball TeamRead More
In 1889, three massive - and mysterious - fires engulfed Washington cities. Continue Reading How Three Major Fires Reshaped Washington’s CitiesRead More
Orcas survive largely on a single food source: Chinook salmon migrating from Northwest rivers. As Chinook populations have declined, orcas have struggled to find enough to eat. Continue Reading Three Things You Should Know About Chinook Read More
In January 2018, around 100 homes were destroyed by mudslides in Montecito, California. The same conditions that brought that destruction could exist here in the Northwest – after all, we’ve had the same kinds of wildfires that California saw in December. Continue Reading It’s Not Just Read More
Snow in the Cascades. Rain in Seattle. Both on the Palouse. It must be another Northwest Christmas. Looking for something to do, or just want to learn a bit more about this amazing region? Here are five things to know, from Christmas lights to Christmas-time disasters. Read More
The western monarch butterfly is disappearing. With its distinct orange-and-black wings, the monarch is one of America’s best-known butterflies. But for the past few decades, their numbers have dropped, threatened by climate change, pesticides and habitat loss. Read More
Gun dealer Don Teague behind the counter at his gun store in west Olympia. Guns and domestic violence are a deadly combination. Now domestic violence survivors in Washington can find out if their abusers illegally attempt to buy a gun through a licensed dealer. That’s because of a first-in-the-nation law that took effect this summer.… Read More
The end result of careful selection and pollination: an edible apple, in this photo a crimson gala. Photo credit: John Clements Facebook Google+ Twitter Email Anyone who’s tried to plant apple seeds in their backyard was likely disappointed by the results. Fruit that was small, tasted bad, and if it grew at all wasn’t even… Read More
Malus sieversii, the ancient apple, seen here in Kyrgysztan. Sieversii comes in many sizes and colors, but are generally inedible. Photo credit: Creative Commons The apple as we know it – crisp, sweet, and juicy – is a modern invention. It’s a strange way to think of tree fruit, which we often imagine as… Read More
The Northwest is home to many of the world’s most popular apples. But it also has apples many believed no longer exist. On eastern Washington’s Steptoe Butte, researchers found two apple varieties they thought extinct, the Spokesman Review reports. The cultivars known as Arkansas Beauty and Dickinson aren’t the first lost apples found in Washington. Another, the… Read More
Before robots will begin picking apples, machines like this, which help human pickers do their jobs faster and more easily, will bridge the gap. Right now, your apples are harvested by humans. But Washington may soon face a shortage of apple pickers: as soon as 2021, according to Washington State University economist Karina Gallardo.… Read More
Honeycrisp apples are popular and profitable – but only as long as the quality keeps up. Photo credit: “Andria,” Creative Commons Facebook Google+ Twitter Email The sweet, tart crunch of a Honeycrisp apple is a powerful food experience. It brings taste, smell, and sound together in a single bite. Is it any wonder that… Read More
Brandon Hopkins is a WSU honey bee researcher who developed a method for freezing honey bee semen, allowing for easier bee breeding. Photo credit: Max Bartlett American honey bees don’t do well in winter. It’s a serious problem for beekeepers. They experience their biggest losses during winter – and beekeepers lose about a third… Read More
A honey bee feeds on – and pollinates – an almond blossom at a California orchard. Bees are essential to the almond industry. Forty-two percent of America’s honey bees died in 2014. On average, beekeepers lose about 30 percent of their colonies annually – a number seen since 2006. As a trend, the numbers look… Read More
Mt. Rainier seen in October 2014 It was a warm winter in the Northwest this year. It certainly rained, and it was plenty gray, but there wasn’t much snow. And that means low snowpack. The Washington Department of Ecology says Washington snowpack is at 21 percent of normal levels. This has many concerned about this summer’s… Read More
A fire fighter burns out fuel to create a containment line. Burning fuel that fires could use to spread is one of several methods to create a fire line, including digging wide trenches. Photo credit: Gila National Forest Facebook Google+ Twitter Email Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2014. It continues to be… Read More
The Benton County Courthouse in Prosser. Facebook Google+ Twitter Email Imagine you’ve committed a crime, served prison time, and been released. You’re trying to rebuild your life when there’s a knock on the door. There’s a warrant for your arrest – not because you’ve committed another crime, but because you couldn’t pay your court fees.… Read More
