Richland voters have let the curtain fall on paying for the Tri-Cities’ first large dedicated performing arts facility with a sales tax increase.

The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business has selected 25 honorees for its Tri-City People of Influence awards.

Port of Pasco commissioners approved the hire at a special meeting on Jan. 17 and the port’s new executive director will step into the job in the coming weeks as longtime Port of Pasco Executive Director Randy Hayden retires in March. 

He started at the Richland hospital in a part-time role helping with community outreach. In addition to providing the automated voice for Kadlec’s phone answering system, he connected with the community via radio, television and podcasts. He most recently served as Kadlec’s chief philanthropy officer after spending much of his career as director of communication. 

The Kennewick School Board will interview six preliminary finalists as it searches for a successor to Superintendent Traci Pierce. Members of the public may attend and observe the interview process on Jan. 28 and 30, and observers will have the opportunity to provide written feedback to the school board.   

Though downtown Kennewick doesn’t qualify for a National Register of Historic Places historic district designation, several of its buildings are eligible for the register.

The company’s goal is to develop a nuclear supply chain campus with its own manufacturing facility as the anchor. That facility would come through a $3 billion investment while creating 1,000 direct jobs and another 3,000 that would support them.

As the Tri-Cities works to position itself as a clean energy hub, a new college program aims to help fill the workforce pipeline that’s necessary to turn this vision into a reality.

Company originally planned to sell the entire development to an investor but was unable to secure financing. That led to decision to sell each of the duplexes individually.

Building homes hasn’t always been a piece of cake for this Pasco man, but he keeps doing it.