Treated waste from the Hanford site’s leaking underground tanks continues to move incrementally through what local officials consider the world’s most cutting-edge treatment facility as workers assess its systems and infrastructure.

An HR consultant hired by the Port of Benton has delivered a scathing 28-page report on port operations, calling the organization “immersed in chaos, confusion and leadership neglect” and laying out sweeping recommendations for restructuring. Attorneys for the administrators vehemently dispute the report’s findings, with one calling it a “hit piece” and the other a “hatchet job.”

A slew of events, many of them sports tournaments and competitions, are expected to bring about 20,000 people to the Tri-Cities in April, filling hotel rooms, booking restaurant reservations and benefiting other local businesses. 

A downtown Kennewick bookstore is permanently closing its storefront due to smoke and water damage related to the fire at a neighboring restaurant three weeks ago. 

The first stainless steel containers containing treated wasted are now permanently stored at a designated special disposal facility on the Hanford site. 

A brewery which signed a lease in October for a space at Port of Kennewick’s Columbia Gardens Artisan Village is opening this month. 

State officials recently announced funding for a slew of solar power projects along with a few other clean energy efforts in the Mid-Columbia. 

Research programs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory may be facing more belt tightening if President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year is implemented. 

The for-profit company that runs two of the Tri-Cities’ three acute-care hospitals will soon add another Pacific Northwest hospital to its portfolio.

Ben Franklin Transit’s board of directors will meet ahead of its regular meeting April 9 to review and discuss findings of a special investigation.