In a new study, researchers found that doctors are better at explaining the benefits of a common cancer screening that its potential downsides. But overtesting comes with risks and costs of its own. Continue Reading Should You Get Read More
Northwest News
Last March, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced the resignation of one of his longest-serving cabinet members, Employment Security Department head Dale Peinecke. But as it turned out, Peinecke continued to run his agency while working remotely for two more months. He then took paid leave until the end of June when he turned 65—and could retire. Read More
You’ve probably seen and felt it this week: a blanket of grey haze over large parts of the region. Smoke from wildfires in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and California has led to poor air quality, causing health experts to caution: minimize your exposure. So how do people who work outdoors fare? Read More
The U.S. has more than 46 million homes in this wildfire danger zone and more people moving in right when climate change is making for longer, hotter and drier wildfire seasons. Here are a few steps you can take to protect your home from wildfire. Continue Reading How Read More
For people living in the “wildland-urban interface,” wildfire risk is the new normal, and the risk is increasing as more people move into places where cul-de-sac meets forest or sagebrush. Continue Reading Four Read More
In 2005, when Gordon Hempton founded One Square Inch of Silence, he designated a spot, a few miles up the Hoh River Trail into the rain forest, the quietest place in the U.S. and marked it with a small, red stone. "In a place like this your auditory horizon isn't just 1 or 2 miles," he says. "You can hear everything that's happening in this valley. Read More
A Portland-based organization has developed a digital tool called Wildbook that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to expedite wildlife identification. Continue Reading How Conservationists Are Using AI And Big Data To Aid Read More
On Tuesday, Aug. 14, a water-scooping airplane crashed while working the Horns Mountain Fire in northeastern Washington. The pilot walked away with minor injuries. Continue Reading Firefighting Airplane Crashes In Read More
Fires across the region have blanketed the Northwest in smoke. Blazes in California and British Columbia are also adding to the thick, reddish-gray haze. Continue Reading Fires In Canada And California Add To Northwest’s Smoky HazeRead More
Air quality east of the Cascade Mountains has deteriorated as wildfires burn across Washington and Oregon. In Southern Oregon, the air is hazardous. In Central Washington, air quality is unhealthy for everyone. Continue Reading Breathing Read More
Central Washington University fired Republican state Rep. Matt Manweller Tuesday, Aug. 14, from his position as a tenured professor of political science following a months-long investigation into his conduct toward students. Read More
The Federal Communications Commission is considering a rule change for licenses normally reserved for education and public broadcasting. In Washington, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville are calling on the agency to prioritize tribal reservations for improved communication. Read More
It was a wild weekend for wildfire in the Northwest. A cold front brought lightning and high winds -- but no rain -- to the region east of the Cascades already plagued by extremely dry conditions. Continue Reading ‘It Was Read More
The latest on a plane stolen from Sea-Tac International Airport Friday, Aug. 10. Officials say the plane was empty except for the man who stole it, and it had crash landed on the small Ketron Island in south Puget Sound. Read More
An Oregon-based group of shipwreck hunters wants to find the historic remains of the first steamship to provide service in the Puget Sound in the 1800's. The shipwreck search was inspired by one Port Townsend, Wash., man's obsession. Read More
The U.S. Drought Monitor says the entire state of Washington is abnormally dry. In Oregon, nearly 90 percent of the state is facing moderate to severe drought. Continue Reading The Entire Northwest Is Abnormally Dry, Read More
Washington Republicans are regrouping after a primary election pounding Tuesday that extended beyond swing districts to rock-ribbed GOP pockets of the state. Continue Reading ‘We’ve Got Some Work To Do.’ Republicans Read More
Democratic state Rep. David Sawyer of Tacoma was in third place in early primary returns Tuesday night, an indication of the political fallout he’s facing over numerous allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women and an investigation that found he violated House harassment policy. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's orca task force met in Wenatchee this week to come up with a long-term plan to help the recovery of the orca population that spends much of its time in or around the Puget Sound. Continue Reading Can Washington Make A Plan To Save The Read More
Weather predictions across the West are calling for excessive heat and more dry weather this week. That forecast is anything but good news in the Northwest, where significant risk of wildfire continues to increase. Continue Reading Read More
Everyone survived, but Laurie would never be the same again. She had suffered a severe brain injury that left her in a coma-like state for nearly a month. When Laurie emerged from the coma, her personality had changed — a common effect of traumatic brain injuries. Read More
An emaciated orca from the Pacific Northwest’s critically-endangered resident killer whale population could get a pole injection of medicine under the latest preferred option of an emergency response team. Officials with the lead federal agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, described the changing situation Monday morning. Read More
A variety of forest experts say that one of the best ways to reduce the threat of these mega-blazes is to use fire itself. They say we need to increase the pace of prescribed fire and let some wildfires continue to burn when it’s safe to do so. Of course, there’s not nearly as much political support for letting fires burn as there is for putting fires out. Read More
An emaciated, four-year-old Puget Sound orca is drawing alarm. Whale scientists and the federal agency NOAA are weighing what it means to provide food and medicine to this endangered orca. The declining health of the orca has become apparent as it swims and feeds in the border waters between Washington and British Columbia. Read More
Police arrested four people at dueling rallies between the right-wing group Patriot Prayer and counter-protesters in downtown Portland Saturday, Aug. 4. The charges include harassment, reckless endangerment, unlawful use of weapons, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and attempted assault of a public safety officer. Read More
As the sun rose over Idaho on Friday, residents of suburban West Boise awoke to find some noisy new neighbors horning in on their yards: goats. A teeming host of hungry, grunting goats. Local reporter Joe Parris got the scoop. Continue Reading Get Read More
This month, India may impose retaliatory tariffs on American products – including apples. And that could upset the export apple cart. Continue Reading India Loves Washington’s Red Delicious, But New Tariffs May Upset The Read More
With less than a week until the primary election in his district, Republican state Rep. Matt Manweller has released a video accusing his employer—Central Washington University —of pursuing a partisan-driven investigation into his workplace conduct. Read More
Fire officials say this year is on par with 2014 and 2015 – two of the worst seasons on record in the Northwest. Things are ramping up nearly a month earlier than previous years, and resources are stretched thin. Continue Reading Resources Read More
An animal advocacy group says the federal government shouldn’t perform sterilization surgeries on wild horses in southeastern Oregon to control their numbers. Continue Reading Can Oregon Control The Wild Horse Population? Advocacy Read More
In a clash of protected species, Pacific Northwest members of Congress are coming down in favor of salmon. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to vote to make it easier to kill sea lions who feast on Columbia and Willamette River salmon and steelhead. Read More
The National Guard is gearing up to help fight wildfire in central and eastern Washington, and Governor Jay Inslee has declared a state-wide emergency. Continue Reading Wildfire Risk Prompts State Of Emergency Declaration For WashingtonRead More
The West is in the midst of another intense fire season. Fires in California and Oregon have claimed lives and homes and burned up farmland. As part of EarthFix’s ongoing series on wildfire, reporter Tony Schick spoke with interim Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen about what her agency is doing to reform fire management and reverse the fire problem. Read More
For the third year in a row, a military reconnaissance aircraft is joining the battle against Pacific Northwest wildfires. This specialized plane can locate new fires from many miles away. Continue Reading Military Reconnaissance Plane Read More
The race for U.S. House in eastern Washington has taken a negative turn. Despite criticism, 5th District Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers has doubled down on a controversial ad campaign attacking her Democratic opponent, Lisa Brown, using information proven to be misleading and false. Read More
The craft brewing industry in the Northwest is starting to feel pain from the Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs. Those metals are made into beer cans, kegs and fermentation tanks. Continue Reading Bitter Brew: Read More
An initiative that would ban state funding for abortion is heading to the November ballot in Oregon, setting up an election battle over abortion in what has been regarded as one of the most pro-choice states in the country. Continue Read More
The two biggest blood networks in the Northwest say the region's blood supply is suffering a critical shortage.The American Red Cross calls it a blood "emergency." Bloodworks Northwest said its supply of some blood types has dwindled to a critical low of less than one days' worth. Read More
The West is way behind on reducing the buildup of hazardous fuels we created. And much of the work we do to reduce those fuels is missing the key ingredient: fire. Continue Reading Efforts To Reduce Wildfire Risk Fall Short, Buck ScienceRead More
Northwesterners are hearing a lot about mountain lions lately. Since May, an extremely rare fatal attack in the Washington Cascades, a Willamette Valley pool party interrupted by a wandering cat and a viral Facebook video of a mountain lion lounging in a southern Oregon woman’s living room have made headlines across the region.
Are the Northwest’s mountain lions acting Read More
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has finalized shorter hours for several border crossings in northeastern Washington state, effective this fall. The reduction in operating hours in one case was modified based on protests from the local community. Read More
The U.S. and Canadian governments have scheduled a second and third round of negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty. The 54-year-old treaty provides flood protection to Portland and smoothes out Northwest hydropower production. Read More
The Grant County, Washington, Sheriff’s Office is asking for help from anyone who witnessed a pair of alleged assaults at the Gorge Amphitheater last weekend. Continue Reading Two Men Assaulted With Rocks At Gorge Amphitheater, Grant County Sheriff Asks For Read More
While deciding whether to shrink Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Interior Department officials focused on the land’s logging potential. The information was revealed in mistakenly-released documents. Continue Read More
The legend and theorizing about Northwest skyjacker D.B. Cooper just won’t die. A new documentary about the unsolved 1971 hijacking introduces a new twist to the tale. It suggests we might have been looking for D.B. Cooper and his loot in the wrong place for all these years. Read More
The legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington state in 2012 resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of people sentenced for marijuana-related felonies, according to an analysis conducted for public radio by the Washington State Caseload Forecast Council. Read More
A warming climate is knocking nature's rhythms out of sync. High in the Rocky Mountains, scientists have been tracking the impact for decades. Continue Reading In The Mountain West, Spring Is Springing Sooner, Throwing Read More
An FBI agent is facing trial on charges linked to a deadly incident in January 2016 during the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Jury selection begins Tuesday at a federal court in Portland. Continue Read More
During every berry picking season in the Pacific Northwest, blueberry and raspberry growers fight to prevent birds from gobbling up the crop before they can harvest it. This year, some farmers are trying something new and high tech to scare away the thieving birds. It involves lasers. Read More
The push for a bullet train between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, BC, is getting additional backing. The state of Oregon and Microsoft Corporation are putting money into an in-depth "business case analysis" previously launched by Washington and British Columbia. Read More
