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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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. -
A multiuse trail connecting Dayton and Waitsburg may happen after all. Four years ago, two Port of Columbia commissioners effectively froze the project amid a backlash. Now, two newer commissioners are taking another look at it. -
A federal grant of more than $1 million will keep the Walla Walla Center for Children & Families' Head Start program afloat through December, but the funding process has led to staff losses and caused uncertainty for low-income families.
