By Andrew KirkSeveral Tri-City employers and nonprofit leaderscriticized the state’s proposal to overhaul its worker overtime exemption ruleat a recent public hearing, citing concerns about their bottom lines andability to serve customers and clients.More than 50 people attended an Aug. 6 hearing inKennewick—one of seven meetings held across the state—to provide...
3 departments merged near Tri-Cities, expanded services coming to Prosser Theprocess of jumping through the required hoops to start new constructionprojects is set to run more efficiently in Benton County once a new “one-stopshop” opens in the Tri-Cities, replicating some services currently onlyavailable in Prosser. Themove will merge the county’s...
Following a successful effort to land a daily, nonstopflight to Los Angeles, the Tri-Cities Airport is setting a course for addingcapacity to existing routes. “I think that’s more realistic than trying to get somenew market when you don’t have any grant dollars,” said Buck Taft, director ofthe airport. “Add capacity...
A Benton County Superior Court judge hasissued a decision against a Kennewick company in one of its three pendinglawsuits.And the state Department of Labor andIndustries has found i-3 Global owes more than $18,000 in unpaid wages to eightformer employees. The business and its president, KristopherLapp, came under fire this spring...
By Andy PerdueOne of Washington’s topwinemakers has consolidated his operations in the Tri-City area.Andy Perdue, Wine Press Northwest Victor Palencia, owner ofPalencia Winery and Vino La Monarcha, recently closed his Walla Walla operationto focus on a tasting room and winemaking facility in downtown Kennewick and anew tasting room in West...
The past year has been a wild ride for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Benton and ranklin Counties.The nonprofit took over the Richland School District’s before- and after-school child care program in June 2018.
By Andrew KirkDespite recent ownership challenges, the Tri-Cities CancerCenter is not going anywhere and there will be no noticeable difference in itsoperations or the care it provides to cancer patients. That’s the message Chief Executive Officer Chuck DeGooyeris working hard to share.It’s an important message because a lot recently haschanged....
Athalia Clower has always wanted to help people.And she has done so for more than 25 years.“I have been a certified physician assistant (PA-C)since 1993,” said Clower in an email interview. “I started working for Kadlecduring March of 2010.”For Clower, this has been a high calling.But so has her charity...
United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties is kickstartingits annual fundraising campaign in September.And it is armed with hard data showing where the twocounties it serves are falling behind.Last year, United Way recruited a group of volunteeranalysts to identify key data points in hopes of measuring the overall healthand safety—or...
By Andrew KirkAs Tri-City baby boomers age, the number findingthemselves losing vision is expected to balloon. One in six Americans develop a visual impairment afterage 70, according to National Center for Health Statistics. It’s a scarystatistic people do their best to ignore, said Paul Shane, the new executivedirector at Edith...
