The pandemic threw the greater Tri-Cities a series of curve balls. Consider known deaths in 2020 due to Covid-19: 217 residents. As Benton-Franklin Trends data shows, this amounted to 9.4% of all deaths in the two counties that year. The rate, unfortunately, was nearly twice as high as that of...

If you have watched the news lately, you may have noticed that saving and paying for college tuition is a stressful part of the American experience.Since the jury is still out on whether leveraging the public debt to pay for private fragility (2008 banks, auto companies, airlines, and student loans)...

With autumn in the air, people are craving bowls of warm, cozy comfort food.At Richland’s Stone Soup, pots are always simmering, no matter the time of year.A different soup is offered daily (tomato pasta, baked potato, creamy mushroom, broccoli cheese, clam chowder and southwestern corn chowder were in rotation recently),...

“Anything you can think of that’s fun in a house, that’s what we do.”That’s how Bryan Brooks describes the services offered by his family’s business, Traffic Jams.The Kennewick-based shop is locally owned and offers more than car audio, including security systems, cameras, central vacuums, network connections and home theater or...

Using a beach analogy, when it comes to change that you aren’t leading, are you more like:Putting your toe in the water and scurrying away if it’s uncomfortable?Wading in, slow to adapt, watchful?Swimming in it, rolling with the current, making it happen?A deep-diver, all-in?Often the reality of change for many...

Here in Washington and across the country, millions of seniors will get relief from a new law that will help reduce drug prices.After years of calling on Congress to make prescription drugs more affordable, AARP won the fight for Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.The new law, passed by Congress...

Reser’s Fine Foods is making mashed potatoes and preparing to add capacity to produce more dishes at its new food processing plant in Pasco.The family-owned company showed off its new $120 million plant at 5526 N. Capitol Ave. in September.The plant began operating earlier in the summer but shut down...

Joann, the sewing and crafts retailer, is moving its Kennewick store to Columbia Center mall, where it is taking over a portion of the space vacated by Sears in 2019.The new store is set to open in April, depending on construction being completed on time, said Joan Davis, Kennewick store...

 Darigold Inc. broke ground on its state-of-the-art milk-processing facility in north Pasco in early September.The $600 million plant will open in early 2024 with the capacity to process8 million pounds of milk per day, supplied by 100 dairy farms in the region. It will employ 200.Darigold first disclosed it had...

Local Bounti Inc., the Montana-based ag tech startup, resumed construction of its $40 million greenhouse complex in east Pasco in September.The company paused the project in April, when it closed a deal to acquire the parent company of Pete’s, a California indoor grower.It disclosed plans to restart work in Pasco...