Tom Banse, Author at Northwest Public Broadcasting

Pacific Northwest startup wants to expand private flying beyond the ultra-rich

By Tom Banse May 12, 2023

KinectAir CEO Jonathan Evans disembarks from a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft in Kalispell after joining a customer's flight from Vancouver, Washington

For a few years now, aviation enthusiasts have teased the idea of a Jetsons-style future in which small electric aircraft whisk us to work or across the state and region. That future is not here yet, though a handful of companies, including one based in the Pacific Northwest, are trying to get a head start on the future of flying using conventional planes.Read More

Retired Alaska Airlines turboprop to get new life as ‘world’s largest’ hydrogen-powered plane

By Tom Banse May 5, 2023

Tom Banse / NW News Network Elected officials and corporate leaders gathered in a Paine Field hangar to celebrate the handover of a retired Alaska Airlines Q400 turboprop, which will be converted to hydrogen-electric propulsion over the next year

Alaska Airlines ceremonially handed over a surplus turboprop airliner on Monday to a company that aims to turn it into the largest hydrogen-powered plane yet to fly.Read More

‘Build in Washington’ rule may be cast overboard to obtain new ferries affordably and quickly

By Tom Banse March 23, 2023

The aging state ferry Spokane was in drydock at its birthplace, the Vigor shipyard, as 2023 began. Whether future Washington ferries will also be built in Seattle is increasingly uncertain

Every new car ferry added to the Washington State Ferries fleet over the past fifty years was built at a Puget Sound shipyard. Now, state lawmakers are considering a break from past policy in order to obtain new vessels faster and cheaper for the troubled state ferry system.Read More

Stockpile of Boeing 737 MAX jets assures Moses Lake years of work

By Tom Banse March 10, 2023

Boeing continues to store large numbers of undelivered 737 MAX jets at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake.

Moses Lake, Washington, doesn't have commercial airline service, but the casual visitor to Grant County International Airport might assume otherwise. Shiny Boeing 737 MAX jets are parked wingtip to wingtip in row after row on two sides of the expansive airfield. They sport colorful liveries from a wide variety of exotic carriers such as Xiamen Air, Ukraine International, Read More

Hydrogen-powered airliner makes first flight at Moses Lake, offering preview of possible future

By Tom Banse March 6, 2023

The Universal Hydrogen flight test crew posed for pictures after a successful first flight of the company's hydrogen-electric Dash 8 airliner on March 2, 2023

The largest aircraft yet to fly on hydrogen-electric power made a successful first flight in Moses Lake, Washington, on Thursday. The maiden flight of a converted turboprop airliner offered a preview of one possible pathway for how to make your future flights more eco-friendly. Hydrogen fuel is one of several options the aviation industry is testing to reduce its carbon Read More

Struggling Northwest kelp forests sending out an SOS. Help is coming

By Tom Banse March 3, 2023

Bull kelp routinely washes up on West Coast beaches after storms, but there are more reasons to worry about the health of the kelp forests just offshore

There's a rallying cry at various bays and beaches up and down the West Coast; it's "Help the kelp!" The towering brown seaweed with the floating bulb on top is in steep decline. That's alarming because underwater kelp forests provide shelter and food for a wide variety of sea life. The crew now answering the call runs the gamut from seaweed farmers to hammer-wielding Read More

Democratic lawmakers steer pay-per-mile into slow lane to replace gas tax, eventually

By Tom Banse February 24, 2023

The road ahead may charge by the mile, but change rolls slowly in the Northwest

Would you prefer to pay a couple of cents for every mile you drive in exchange for not having to pay gas tax or those steep electric car registration fees? A mileage-based tax is the top choice of Pacific Northwest policymakers to make up for the long-term decline in gas tax revenue. But imposition of any new tax tends to be politically fraught, and this one is no exception.Read More

Electric fire trucks are coming to the Pacific Northwest

By Tom Banse February 17, 2023

Portland Fire & Rescue would be the second department nationally to take delivery of an electric fire engine built by Pierce Manufacturing. This is the first one in service with the Madison Fire Department in Wisconsin

You probably no longer bat an eye when an electric car passes by on the road. More novel battery-powered vehicles are soon joining the parade to help operators achieve their sustainability goals. Electric ferries are coming to Puget Sound and hybrid electric airplanes are being tested in Washington. Now, several Pacific Northwest fire departments have ordered their first Read More

Lawmaker proposes ban to keep foreign entities from buying Washington forest and farmland

By Tom Banse February 17, 2023

Conversations with farmers in the Skagit Valley, seen here from Samish Overlook, inspired a Democratic state legislator to propose to bar foreign entities from buying Washington croplands

Legislators in Washington state are joining more than a dozen other states that are considering whether to restrict or ban foreign entities from buying farmland. The initial hearing on Olympia's version of the foreign ownership restrictions however drew more criticism than support on Tuesday.Read More

Legalizing jaywalking to reduce enforcement inequities considered at Washington statehouse

By Tom Banse February 10, 2023

Police would write no more tickets for jaywalking if the Washington Legislature overcomes skepticism about a pending legalization proposal

Racial and social justice advocates asked Washington legislators Wednesday to repeal laws against jaywalking. However, a bill to do that generated lots of skeptical questions during a state House committee hearing and its prospects are unclear.Read More

School class makes a prickly proposition that sticks: designate an official state cactus

By Tom Banse February 9, 2023

A Columbia Plateau cactus, aka basalt cactus, pictured growing near Mitchell in eastern Oregon in 2021. This native Northwest cactus species could soon be the official cactus of Washington state.

The Washington Legislature has a lot of prickly problems on its plate. But there's a new one that may be the prickliest of all: Should lawmakers designate an official state cactus?Read More

Before enormous, emotional crowd, Boeing delivers final 747

By Tom Banse February 1, 2023

The factory doors opened to display the last 747 to thousands of guests who had gathered for the celebration on Tuesday, January 31, 2023, at Boeing’s factory in Everett.

Thousands of former and current Boeing workers joined customers and other guests to bid farewell to the company's final 747 jumbo jet.Read More

Roadway carnage has lawmakers pitching everything from more photo radar to fewer right turns on red

By Tom Banse January 26, 2023

An officer works in a speed enforcement van along I-5 in Medford during construction in 2018. The effort to slow drivers nabbed one speeder going 91 mph in the 40 mph work zone

If you have spent any time behind the wheel since the pandemic began, you've surely noticed people driving more aggressively and way too fast. That correlates with a rise in traffic fatalities that last year reached levels not seen since the 1990s in Washington state and Oregon.Read More

What if voting were not just a right, but a legally required duty?

By Tom Banse January 26, 2023

Voting in federal elections has been compulsory in Australia for the past 99 years. Australia is frequently held up as a model by supporters of universal voting

Numerous Democrats in the Washington Legislature are backing a new proposal to make voting in elections compulsory. Citizens are required by law to cast ballots in about 25 counties, but in no other U.S. states.Read More

Foam dock floats, laundry filters, hotel shampoo amongst newest bids to reduce plastic pollution

By Tom Banse January 12, 2023

This decaying plastic litter on the beach at Newport, Oregon, is on its way to becoming microplastic pollution

Everywhere they look, Pacific Northwest scientists find teeny-tiny plastic pollution. Broken down particles are in our water, falling out of the air, in salmon, shellfish and in our own bodies. Scientists, environmental advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Olympia and Salem have seen enough to make them seek more regulations.Read More

Gov. Inslee leans into housing and homelessness in 2023 State of the State address

By Tom Banse January 10, 2023

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee walks through the Capitol building in Olympia, en route to deliver his annual State of the State address, Jan. 10, 2023

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee emphasized housing construction and homelessness response during his 2023 State of the State address on Tuesday. The issue is a bipartisan priority for the state Legislature, but approaches differ among the lawmakers who convened in Olympia this week.Read More

Here are six issues atop the agenda for the 2023 Washington Legislature

By Tom Banse January 6, 2023

The flowers in the Washington State Capitol's sunken garden will be back in bloom by the time the 2023 Washington legislative session wraps up in April. The session starts Monday, January 9

Washington state voters and lawmakers appear to be in close alignment on their top priorities for the incoming Washington Legislature. The 2023 session gavels to order at noon on Monday, January 9.Read More

Pacific NW ‘hydrogen hub’ pitch to federal government treated as top secret

By Tom Banse December 23, 2022

Cars, ships, planes, fertilizer factories, refineries and steel mills are among the sectors that could be consumers of "green" hydrogen.

The states of Washington and Oregon have submitted a joint bid to the U.S. Department of Energy to get a share of $8 billion that Congress set aside to launch "Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs" around the nation. But good luck trying to learn what exactly the bi-state bid entails, other than the safe presumption that at least one industrial hydrogen production facility would Read More

Lighting the way for 150 years: Yaquina Head Lighthouse prepares for sesquicentennial

By Tom Banse December 21, 2022

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse celebrates its 150th birthday in 2023

The stewards of Oregon's tallest lighthouse are sprucing up the popular landmark on Oregon's central coast for its 150th anniversary in 2023.Read More

Lots of whales spotted around offshore wind farm zones along West Coast

By Tom Banse December 20, 2022

Northwest scientists are looking into the possible impacts that offshore wind farms might have on marine wildlife.

The federal government has commissioned Oregon State University to look into the possible impacts of offshore wind farms on marine wildlife. In the first year of this four-year project, the researchers spotted sizable numbers of seabirds and whales — including the largest animal on Earth — in the Oregon and Northern California areas that could one day host floating wind farms.Read More

Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in somewhat choppy Northwest waters

By Tom Banse December 15, 2022

Workers harvest kelp in Hood Canal at Washington's first commercial seaweed farm, Blue Dot Sea Farms.

Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It's gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Their harvests could be sold for human food, animal feed or fertilizer.Read More

Captains of big ships eased up on the throttle during trial slowdown to help endangered orcas

By Tom Banse December 11, 2022

Many captains of large commercial vessels agreed to slow down in a stretch of northern Puget Sound shipping lanes where endangered orcas are frequently seen in the fall.

The majority of captains of big commercial ships entering and leaving Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to slow down temporarily to reduce underwater noise impacts to the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales. The duration of the experimental slowdown – modeled on a similar project in British Columbia – will be extended into the new year, Read More

Slow down, people! Surge in traffic deaths continues in West Coast states

By Tom Banse December 7, 2022

Crash fatalities on the roads surged during the pandemic and have hardly slowed as traffic volumes and congestion returned.

While many of the disruptions of the pandemic have eased this year, the surge in traffic fatalities is showing few signs of abating. Policymakers are trying a number of tactics to respond.Read More

Some freeways may be useable following ‘the Big One’ per new modeling by UW

By Tom Banse December 5, 2022

WSDOT contractors seismically retrofitted a bridge at the I-405/I-5 interchange in Tukwila, Washington, in 2019.

New modeling by the University of Washington of the impacts of a major Cascadia earthquake offers a less dire picture of the aftermath of the so-called "Big One" — specifically when it comes to highway bridges.Read More

Reducing collisions between ships and whales? There’s apps for that, but they need work

By Tom Banse November 8, 2022

A way to prevent large ships from striking and killing whales is to transmit alerts to the officers at the helm when whales are nearby.

Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often in the Pacific Northwest that ships collide with whales. But when it does, it's upsetting, tragic and the whale probably dies. Three separate teams have developed smartphone-based systems that can alert commercial mariners to watch out, slow down or change course when whales have been sighted nearby. A recent ride-along on a big Read More

No labels: Some election overseers want to make their offices nonpartisan to inspire greater trust

By Tom Banse October 13, 2022

Unaffiliated candidate Julie Anderson is challenging incumbent Democrat Steve Hobbs in the race for Washington Secretary of State

Should the top elections official in Washington state officially be a nonpartisan? That's one difference between the top two finalists running for Washington Secretary of State.Read More

Partisan Election Officials, or Non?

By Tom Banse October 12, 2022

Should the top elections official in Washington state officially be a nonpartisan? That’s one difference between the top two finalists running for Washington Secretary of State.Read More

Independent candidates test how fed up Northwest voters are with both parties

By Tom Banse October 11, 2022

Independent challenger for state Senate Chris Vance said he goes doorbelling up to six days per week, here in Auburn, Washington

A quartet of independent candidates on the ballot this November in Oregon and Washington state will test voter appetites for a centrist “third way.” They are experienced contenders running for state senate, Oregon governor and Washington Secretary of State. Unaffiliated candidates are popping up around the nation too, with a common theme of being fed up with a divisive Read More

The last of the Salish Sea reefnetters don’t want to be the last

By Tom Banse October 6, 2022

Riley Starks, on spotter tower, and his reefnet fishing crew harvested coho salmon in September off Lummi Island, Washington

Only 12 commercial fishing captains still hold permits to go reefnet fishing in the Pacific Northwest out of a fleet that once numbered in the hundreds. The distinctive fishing technique dates back thousands of years as an Indigenous method to catch salmon. Its practitioners today say the gear should proliferate as the preferred way to harvest healthy salmon runs while Read More

All-New, All-Electric Commuter Aircraft Takes Off On Maiden Flight From Moses Lake

By Tom Banse September 29, 2022

The all-electric Eviation Alice commuter plane took off on its maiden flight at sunrise Tuesday from Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington

An aircraft maker from Western Washington on Tuesday provided a glimpse at one possible future for sustainable air travel — electric commuter planes. Eviation celebrated the maiden flight of an all-new, short hop airliner named Alice in Moses Lake.Read More

Rising Tide: Pacific Northwest Could Soon Double Or Triple Its Small Number Of Seaweed Farms

By Tom Banse September 26, 2022

Lummi Island Sea Farms proposes to grow sugar kelp during the cool part of the year on part of the marine footprint used in summer by anchored reefnet fishing gears in Legoe Bay

There's a rising tide of interest in opening seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest. If even half of the current applicants succeed, it would more than double the small number of commercial seaweed growing operations in Oregon and Washington state.Read More

Explosive Demolition Of Boardman Coal Plant Underscores End Of Coal-Fired Electric Generation In Oregon

By Tom Banse September 16, 2022

The towering smokestack at Portland General Electric’s shuttered coal-fired power plant near Boardman has fallen, heralding the end of the era of coal-fired power generation in Oregon, Sept. 15, 2022.

A demolition contractor on Thursday imploded the towering smokestack and 19-story boiler building at Portland General Electric’s shuttered coal-fired power plant near Boardman, bringing a symbolic close to the era of coal-fired power generation in Oregon. Imported electricity generated from coal still flows through transmission wires across the Pacific Northwest, but that Read More

Not Your Father’s ‘Near Beer’: Northwest Craft Brewers Rethinking Drinking With Nonalcoholic Quaffs

By Tom Banse September 13, 2022

Craft brewers are tapping into a new growth market with nonalcoholic beer that tastes as good as full-strength brews.

Half a dozen Pacific Northwest craft breweries are diversifying into making nonalcoholic beer. But instead of brewing bland and watery "near beer," they're injecting quality and variety into a space that used to be dominated by a few national brands. A swelling customer base is lapping it up.Read More

Washington And Oregon Among States With Longest Life Expectancy, But Pandemic Hurt

By Tom Banse September 2, 2022

Many of the best states for life expectancy of a child born in 2020 were in the American West

Washington and Oregon rank in the top ten states for the longest life expectancy, according to new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The high rankings come with the caveat that the pandemic has thrown lengthening human lifespans into reverse across the U.S.Read More

Animal Crossings Over And Under Highways Can Save Big Dollars — Not Just Lives — Says New Study

By Tom Banse September 1, 2022

This landscaped overpass allows wildlife to safely cross newly widened Interstate 90 near Keechelus Lake in the Washington Cascades.

Collisions between vehicles and large animals, like deer, are not only scary. The medical, car repair and cleanup costs really add up. That is according to a new study out of Washington State University that supports the case for building more wildlife crossings on highways.Read More

Up, Up And Away. Forest Service Looking At Special Balloons To Monitor Big Wildfires

By Tom Banse August 19, 2022

A balloon more than 100 feet tall loitered over the Moose Fire in Idaho for 11 days in early August to demonstrate its surveillance capabilities to wildfire commanders.

The U.S. Forest Service is looking at something different — very different — to improve situational awareness at big wildfires: high altitude balloons.Read More

Massive New Climate Law Could Give Pacific Northwest Green Businesses A Boost

By Tom Banse August 18, 2022

Tim and Bev Acker, CEO and CFO respectively of Biosonics, stand beside the Seattle company’s new ocean-bottom sonar device, which is designed to facilitate marine energy permitting by identifying and tracking nearby sea life.

Companies large and small around the Pacific Northwest say they are excited by growth opportunities that may flow from the climate, healthcare and tax package signed by President Biden on Tuesday. Turbocharged federal spending could benefit the region’s green energy sector in particular, although congressional Republicans remain dubious that Americans on the whole will Read More

Coastal Washington Tribe Creates Higher Ground By Building Tsunami Tower, First Of Its Type Here

By Tom Banse August 10, 2022

The first free-standing tsunami refuge in North America is now open in Tokeland in Pacific County, Washington.

There is a new option to escape a tsunami if you’re on the southwest coast of Washington when the Big One strikes. The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe on Friday dedicated a 50-foot tall evacuation tower in Tokeland, Washington. Tribal leaders and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the new tsunami refuge platform should be an example and inspiration for other Read More

Some Otterly Pleased By New Report On Bringing Sea Otters Back To Oregon Coast, Others Paws Down

By Tom Banse August 5, 2022

Applause and concern are swirling around a new feasibility assessment of restoring sea otters along the 900 miles of vacant historical range in Oregon and northern California.

A federal study ordered by Congress concluded it would be feasible to reintroduce sea otters to the Oregon and northern California coasts. However, that finding doesn't mean the super-cute predators will be relocated into their former ocean habitat anytime soon.Read More

Archaeologists On Surprising Trail Of Japanese Families Who Lived In Vanished Lumber Company Town

By Tom Banse August 2, 2022

Southern Oregon University's Keoni Diacamos at work on July 21 excavating the site of a home in the vanished company town that once surrounded the Baker White Pine Mill.

The classic black-and-white photos from early decades of the American West often fail to capture the diversity of the people who came here. Chinese migrants helped build the railroads and were big in gold mining. Basque people from Spain became known for sheep herding. The first Filipino cannery workers arrived around the turn of the last century. Now, Oregon Read More

Beware Of Polar Bears! Washington Adventurer Aims To Be 1st Through Northwest Passage On Paddleboard

By Tom Banse July 28, 2022

Adventurer Karl Kruger set out from Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, on July 24 to conquer the Northwest Passage with an estimated 150 pounds of food and gear strapped to his paddleboard.

An adventurer from Western Washington cast off this week trying to become the first person to traverse the Northwest Passage on a standup paddleboard. The passage is the fabled, but normally frozen, sea route between the Atlantic and the Pacific across the far north of Canada.Read More

World Track Championships Wrap Up With More Golds For USA, Praise For Host City Eugene

By Tom Banse July 26, 2022

Oregon native Ryan Crouser won the gold medal in shot put at the 2022 World Track and Field Championships in Eugene.

The first World Outdoor Track and Field Championships held on American soil sprinted to a joyful conclusion Sunday night in Eugene with back-to-back U.S. victories in the 4x400 relays. The full stadium was also treated to a new world record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles by Nigeria's Tobi Asuman and a new world record in men's pole vault by Sweden's Mondo Duplantis. The Read More

7 Northwest Athletes To Watch At Upcoming World Track & Field Championships In Eugene

By Tom Banse July 14, 2022

Former Ducks standout Cooper Teare secured a spot in the Oregon 22 World Championships by winning the 1,500-meters at U.S. nationals in June on his home track, Hayward Field in Eugene.

Nearly 2,000 of the world's best runners, jumpers and throwers from 192 countries have arrived in Oregon for the 2022 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which start Friday and go through July 24. The big event, Oregon 22, is happening on U.S. soil for the first time and in a smaller host city than ever before, Eugene. More than 30 athletes who are from the Read More

Age Is Just A Number For Some Elite Marathoners At World Track & Field Championships In Eugene

By Tom Banse July 14, 2022

Portland marathoner Galen Rupp in this file photo runs his way to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He's hoping for similar success in Eugene this year.

An elite field featuring most of the world's best marathoners has arrived in Oregon for this year’s World Track and Field Championships. Competitors from 34 countries will race through the streets of Eugene and neighboring Springfield this coming Sunday morning for the men and Monday for the women. Some of the marathoners are trying to outrun both their rivals and Father Time.Read More

Track Star Aims To Win In Not One, But Two Pro Sports, Beginning At World Champs In Eugene

By Tom Banse July 12, 2022

Two-time Olympian Devon Allen has ambitions to win on the track and on the football field this year.

It's uncommon for athletes to compete and excel in two professional sports, especially ones as punishing as football or sprint hurdles. But a Seattle-born speedster who ran track and played football at the University Oregon is now attempting that rare feat.Read More

Amazon Drone Deliveries Nearly Ready For Prime Time With Oregon Crashes In Rear-View Mirror

By Tom Banse June 28, 2022

This latest iteration of Amazon's package delivery drones will be used to drop off packages in customers' backyards.

Amazon made news this month by announcing it will start package deliveries by aerial drone to real customers in a northern California town. In the run up to the U.S. debut, the company conducted extensive flight tests in Eastern Oregon, where it experienced a spate of crashes. Amazon said Monday the upcoming rollout of commercial drone delivery signifies the refined Read More

Surge In Homes Powered By The Sun, But Do Your Homework So You Don’t Get Burned

By Tom Banse June 18, 2022

Residential solar electric installations are booming in the Pacific Northwest, along with potentially deceptive marketing of such.

Solar power installations on home rooftops are surging in Oregon and Washington state. Alongside, you may have noticed an uptick in ads pitching rooftop solar, or even gotten an in-person solicitation. Some of the sales pitches contain dubious or potentially misleading claims. And now, consumer watchdogs are urging homeowners to do their homework before signing any contract.Read More

The ‘Best Worst Idea.’ Race To Alaska For Engineless Boats Returns After Pandemic Hiatus

By Tom Banse June 14, 2022

Race to Alaska entrants of many shapes and crew sizes were getting ready for the 750-mile engineless, unsupported boat race in Port Townsend on June 12, 2022.

A Northwest adventure race that some call "the best worst idea" has returned after a long, pandemic hiatus. The 2022 running of the Race to Alaska for engineless boats cast off at the first light of dawn Monday amid high winds in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that the organizers characterized as “between seasick and dangerous.”Read More

By Air And By Bike, Civilian Pilots And Cyclists Rehearse Delivering Aid After ‘The Big One’

By Tom Banse June 10, 2022

Private pilots and cyclists will separately take to the air and the streets this month to practice delivering relief supplies after a catastrophic earthquake.

A huge dress rehearsal for regional earthquake disaster relief was supposed to happen next week until the ongoing pandemic forced its cancellation. The scrubbed Cascadia Rising exercise would have involved more than 22,000 participants – chiefly U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen as well as state, local and tribal emergency planners. Some smaller drills are going ahead this Read More

New Top Gun Sequel Starring Tom Cruise Includes Pacific NW Scenery. But We’re A ‘Rogue’ State

By Tom Banse May 30, 2022

Actor Tom Cruise repeatedly flew low and fast over the Cascade Range in a Whidbey Island-based Navy electronic attack jet during filming of the Top Gun sequel.

The summer movie blockbuster season kicked off May 27 with the release of a long-delayed sequel to the 1980s hit "Top Gun." And Pacific Northwest moviegoers may recognize some familiar mountain scenery in the background.Read More

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