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  • Graphic of On Asian America special
    Local News
    On Asian America: Past And Present Stories Of Living In The Rural Northwest
    On Asian America examines the rise in anti-Asian sentiment and it's history in the Northwest. This episode lookes at historically violent acts against Chinese workers in the rural Northwest from the Hell's Canyon Massacre to mobs pushing out the Chinese in small towns. You'll also hear from those of Asian descent who share their experiences living in rural areas and how they are treated. This special is a collaboration with Humanities Washington, KUOW and Spokane Public Radio.
  • It’s taken five years, but injured railroad worker Dwight Hauck sees victory at hand. Washington lawmakers are on the verge of requiring new safety standards for private transport companies that shuttle rail crews between trains. 
 On March 23, 2011, union railroader Hauck nearly lost his life. He was the lone survivor of a crash in a rail yard in Kelso, Washington. 
 “I don’t remember anything at all,” Hauck said. 

 
 Two other passengers and the driver were killed instantly. The driver worked for a private company the railroad hired to transport its crews. It was just another in a string of crashes nationwide involving rail crew transport shuttles. 
 Now these crew haulers as they’re known may soon face new regulations in Washington state. 

 
 “This is truly, I think, a compromise,” Republican state Sen Curtis King said on the floor of the Washington Senate this week. He was touting a bipartisan deal five years in the making to regulate crew haulers. 

 
 “Both sides got something and both sides gave things up,” King said. 
 The van companies agreed to be regulated including vehicle inspections, tracking of accidents, driver standards and drug testing. 
 The railroad workers union agreed to accept one-tenth of the uninsured and under-insured driver coverage it wanted the shuttle companies to carry. 
 Hauck is permanently disabled with a brain injury from the 2011 crash. He said the new safety regulations are a long time coming. 

 
 “I think it’s great that our brothers and sisters are going to have a little better, maybe, drivers or a little bit more protection,” he said. 

The bill now returns to the Washington House for final approval before it goes to the governor for his signature. Copyright 2017 NWNews. To see more, visit NWNews.
    Local News
    Injured Rail Worker Hopeful For New Safety Rules After 5 Years
    It’s taken five years, but injured railroad worker Dwight Hauck sees victory at hand. Washington lawmakers are on the verge of requiring new safety standards for private transport companies that shuttle rail crews between trains.