Erick Bengel
Walla Walla Community ReporterBorn and raised in Oregon, Erick Bengel first came to the Walla Walla Valley as the local newspaper’s Murrow News Fellow covering rural civic issues. Before that, he held reporting and editing roles with EO Media Group. In his spare time, he reads and runs.
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Washington state’s two 5th Congressional District candidates — Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner and Democratic challenger Carmela Conroy — shared their views at a forum at Whitman College. -
Whitman student government denied the Whitman Republican Club affiliation in March. The Republicans, believing their views were held against them, shared their story with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. College staff and the club’s advisor say the collision is an example of students learning how to engage with each other across ideological differences. -
An antique iron school bell that once rang at Walla Walla County’s long-gone Blue Creek School has been restored and brought to Walla Walla High School for sports events. -
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, is making people aware of the dangers of hunting, hiking, fishing and recreating in wildfire burn scars, which can have unstable soil, dead trees ready to topple and other hazards. -
A conversation about the Blue Mountain Action Council's efforts to use gleaning to address a food shipment shortage. -
The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin's printing press became unsustainable from a staffing and financial standpoint, The Seattle Times Company said. The newspaper will be printed in Idaho and delivered on its regular Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule. -
When the Blue Mountain Action Council lost more than half its food shipments, they decided to focus on gleaning — gathering fruits and vegetables from personal gardens and commercial farms — and distribute the produce to regional food panties. -
On Aug. 1, three wildfires flared up in the Spokane area. For hundreds of people, the Spokane Transit Authority was instrumental in helping them evacuate potentially dangerous areas. By sheer coincidence, the supervisor who coordinated the evacuation effort had been in a similar situation before. -
As the Paradise, Hagen and Horse Ridge fires burn in Washington and Oregon counties, Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team 6 provided an update on firefighting efforts -
Another harvest season for Washington’s venerated vegetable — the Walla Walla sweet onion — is at an end. Soft and juicy and fragile like a fruit, sweets are as synonymous with the Walla Walla Valley as is wine. And they’re federally protected: Only onions grown in the area can officially be sold as a Walla Walla sweet.
