HPM Corporation, the occupational health services contractor to the Hanford site, and its owners, Grover Cleveland Mooers and Hollie Mooers, will pay $2.94 million in restitution and penalties to resolve civil and criminal liabilities associated with allegations they defrauded the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).Vanessa Waldref, U.S. attorney for the...

While many business owners felt fortunate to have emerged from the pandemic still operating, a handful of Tri-City entrepreneurs decided to take the plunge and expand – often to Spokane.After noticing other businesses entering the market two hours north, Rich Breshears of Breshears Professional Photography jokingly questioned, “Is that the...

Non-retirement investment accounts are often set up with wealth management firms.When the account is set up, there is an option to put a beneficiary designation on the account and oftentimes the account is then designated as a TOD (Transfer on Death) or a POD (Payable on Death) account.With this type...

Pasco’s oldest continuously operating restaurant has been serving the Tri-City community for 58 years.Chinese Gardens at 1520 N. Fourth Ave. has been a Pasco cornerstone since late founder Jack Lee opened it in 1965.The building is hard to miss with its mashup of pagoda-esque midcentury brick architecture and flamboyant, dragon-flanked...

Chauné Fitzgerald continues to make a mark on the Tri-City community through her volunteer work and advocacy, operating her own business and starting a successful nonprofit.She’s also working to launch a Tri-City chapter of the Washington African American Chamber of Commerce.But the Richland entrepreneur says she regularly feels unseen or...

Naima Chambers-SmithCEOTri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion CouncilNaima Chambers-SmithNumber of employees you oversee: We have less than five paid employees. However, we have approximately 30 members of the council and over 130 volunteers in the last year alone.Brief background of your businessor organization:Tri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion Council (TCD&IC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit...

Installing unique, shiny granite surfaces is The Granite Guy’s specialty.The family-owned company, located just upriver from the cable bridge in Pasco, has been in business for 10 years.“We basically do anything: kitchens, bathroom, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces,” said Irving Ortega.He, his wife Cassandra, and his brother Omar, own The Granite Guy...

The words scrawled on the walls after a smashing session at Take A Break in Kennewick show the catharsis.“Women Veteran Approved.”“It’s OK to Not Be OK.”“Know Your Worth.”“Cancer Sucks.”“Breathe In, Breathe Out, Swing.”Brigette Rose hatched the idea for Take A Break last summer, saying what the area needed was a...

A young relative asked Jeff Losey if he should wait for the housing market to cool down before purchasing his first home.Losey, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities, said he advised against waiting.“The water level is what it is,” he said, referring to current home prices. “It’s...

Ben Franklin Transit is embedding a transit hub into the heart of a future development in one of the most prominent retail corridors in south Richland.The transit agency will build its hub on a strip of land bordering the Southwest Richland Park & Ride, off Columbia Park Trail near the...