The Port of Kennewick is asking the public to weigh in as it updates its plan for the downtown waterfront.The planning area covers Clover Island and other port-owned property along East Columbia Drive in Kennewick.The port will give virtual overviews at 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, and noon Tuesday, Aug....

Home furnishings retailer Tuesday Morning will close its Kennewick store after filing for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in May. Dallas-based Tuesday Morning Corp. (NASDAQ: TUES) informed customers of the decision via email on July 23. The company is conducting a store closing sale at 7411 W. Canal Drive until it shutters its doors. The off-price retailer specializes in home...

Tri-City mayors expressed a collective desire to move beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and return to the workaday world of potholes, parks and police budgets during their annual “State of the Cities” address. The mayors of the four cities delivered their traditional overview of municipal government on July 22. The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce puts on...

Bookwalter Winery in Richland will begin its pandemic-delayed expansion this summer. The family-owned winery and restaurant secured permits for the $4 million project in late June. It initially intended to break ground in February but “hit the brakes” when the Covid-19 crisis took hold earlier this year.  John BookwalterJohn Bookwalter leads...

The jobless rate fell sharply in June across Washington and in the Tri-Cities as local economies partly reopened under the Safe Start program, according to figures released July 21 by the Washington Employment Security Department. In the Tri-Cities, unemployment fell to 9.1%, down three full points from the 12.3% rate posted in May and...

Brad Fisher, a wealth manager, former Kennewick mayor and unflagging advocate for Tri-City control of the Columbia River shoreline, died July 19, 14 months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. He was 63. Fisher’s daughter, Chelsea Goff, announced his death Monday on Facebook. Goff said her father intended to retire when he was 70. Instead, doctors told...

As Tri-City business and civic leaders work to tame local Covid-19 infection rates so more businesses can open, some of the Mid-Columbia’ biggest employers say forgivable paycheck loans were a “lifeline” that helped them keep valuable employees.Benton and Franklin counties moved into a modified version of Phase 1 of Washington’s...

Tri-City home sales are defying the expectations of a stressed economy. But real estate insiders aren’t surprised.A tight inventory of homes for sale coupled with unprecedented low mortgage interest rates and an unemployment rate that’s lower than the rest of the state is keeping the market moving.The first five months...

Great disruptions can bring great opportunities.For Derrick Stricker, a Tri-City commercial real estate broker, working during the Great Recession in Chicago drove that idea home.Now, a decade older and working in the Mid-Columbia, he’s one of the many local entrepreneurs who see new opportunity in the Covid-19 pandemic.Or rather, an...

Ballots for Washington’s Aug. 4 primary election will be mailed July 17 and hit local mailboxes a few days later.Results will set the stage for the Nov. 3 general election, when everything from the presidency to local county commission posts are up for grabs.Ballots must be returned or postmarked by...