A public utility in north-central Washington broke ground Monday for a hydrogen production facility. It's one of several related actions in the Northwest that reflect renewed interest in hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel. Read More
Washington state plans to roll out mass doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at regional hubs starting Monday, Jan. 25. But some local officials say they received little notice and that they’re far from ready. Continue Reading Read More
Thousands of people are flocking to the Bavarian-themed town in central Washington. The mayor says nearly 70% of Leavenworth merchants’ income comes in these few holiday weeks. Dr. Malcolm Butler, health officer for Chelan and Douglas counties, says visitors are less likely to bring COVID-19 to Leavenworth than get it there. Read More
In a lawsuit against fruit-growing giant Stemilt, workers say allegations stemmed from a change in production standards set forth in the company's guest worker contract. A separate case involved a challenge to Washington's rules on farmworker housing and sleeping quarters during the pandemic. Read More
Small, mostly white rural towns across Washington are standing up in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests. Although dwarfed by comparison with the thousands protesting in places like Seattle and Portland, the people standing up against racism in smaller numbers do not think their message should be dismissed or watered down because they aren’t big enough to make Read More
As more old orchard land in central Washington is converted into housing developments and schools, there are concerns over legacy pesticides in the soil where children play and families live. That’s especially true in Wenatchee and Yakima. Read More
A fire district around Wenatchee has come up with a new way to make wildland fires less severe. Chelan County Fire District 1 is ditching the hand tools and machinery that firefighters traditionally use to thin overgrown brush. Instead, they’re turning to a more natural approach to thin out fuels around the Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow Read More
Four years ago, the Sleepy Hollow Fire burned to the edge of Wenatchee. Flames rushed through, consuming brush and cheatgrass and quickly destroying 28 homes and three businesses. Now, with the help of a federal grant, firefighters are getting rid of some of those grasses to better protect homes. Read More
When you think of made-in-the-Northwest products, diamonds are probably not on your list. But soon, they could be. A contract signed Thursday for Columbia River hydropower clears the way for a foundry to make lab-created diamonds in Wenatchee. Read More
The chemical’s especially dangerous for babies and small children because it can have lasting neurological effects. Chlorpyrifos can blow from orchards into nearby houses; parents who work in orchards can transport the chemical home on their clothes and in their cars; and chlorpyrifos can make its way into developing fetuses through umbilical cord blood. Read More
In our globalized economy, we expect nothing less than to be able to consume our favorite fruits and vegetables all year, even when they're not in season locally. Placing strawberries from Mexico in your shopping cart in February and stocking up on kiwis from Chile in July – that's pretty much normal, even expected.
But to buy an apple in March? That's a whole different Read More
One of the biggest players in the global cryptocurrency space has established a foothold in the Pacific Northwest. China-based Bitmain Technologies held a ribbon cutting for a $20 million data center near the Wenatchee airport on Friday. A celebratory mood ran through the grand opening despite headwinds besetting the virtual currency sector. Read More
When the price of one bitcoin soared to almost $20,000 late last year, an influx of entrepreneurs and developers came to the Pacific Northwest in search of cheap hydropower to do bitcoin "mining." But now cities, counties and utilities at the epicenter in Central Washington are hitting the pause button. Read More
In the wake of the Me Too movement, a sexual harassment and retaliation case at a large fruit company brings the issue closer to home in Wenatchee. Stemilt Growers, a leader in Washington’s apple and cherry industry, has agreed to pay nearly $100,000 to settle a lawsuit with a former employee. Read More
Chelan County PUD in north central Washington's Wenatchee Valley wants to root out a new kind of outlaw: the rogue bitcoin miner. They're attracted to the cheap electricity from the region's hydroelectric dams. Continue Reading Central Washington Read More
Robert E. Lee Elementary in East Wenatchee is making a change. The Eastmont School District board voted unanimously Monday night to amend the name simply to “Lee” Elementary. Continue Reading In Compromise, East Wenatchee School Board Read More
