Three local investors team up for $2M indoor family fun centerA trio ofentrepreneurs is investing $2 million in a large indoor family fun center planned near Columbia Centermall in Kennewick. Developers hope to make an announcement soon about thelocation for Washington state’s first Launch Trampoline Park and hope to openit...

PFLAG’s Benton-Franklin chapter offers several training sessions every month for employersJanie Romine remembers the time she was counseled byadministrators against openly talking about her gay son with her colleagues. It taught her a valuable lesson: the workplace is notinclusive and supportive by default.“That was a glaring example of discrimination of...

By D. Patrick Jones“Women hold up half the sky,” ChairmanMao Zedong famously uttered, when discussing the role of women in the Chineserevolution. Since then, the phrase has become a rallying point for many women.Do they hold up half of the economic sky in the greater Tri-Cities? Some dataare available to...

The Evergreen State is among the top 10 best states forfemale entrepreneurs.That’s according to FitSmallBusiness.com, a digital business publication.Washington ranked No. 4 on the list after Texas (No. 1),Ohio (No. 2) and Minnesota (No. 3). FitSmallBusiness.com said the state is well positioned to be the next Silicon Valley, thanks to...

By Andy PerdueThis month,wine grape growers from across the state and throughout the Northwest descendedon the Tri-Cities for the Washington Winegrowers Association’s annualconvention and trade show Feb. 11-14.About 2,000members of the wine industry were expected at the Three Rivers ConventionCenter and Toyota Center to attend seminars, learn about the latest...

Road 100 branch to feature 7,000 square feet; $645,000 in improvements planned at headquartersGesa Credit Union will open its 18thbranch this summer in Pasco.Construction on the $2 million projectalready has begun on the two-acre plot of land at 4824 Broadmoor Blvd. Kennewick-based Banlin Construction isthe general contractor for the project....

Farmers National Co. says larger acreage is scarceThe average cost-per-acre of Washington farmland dippedslightly this year compared to last year, according to a recent land valuesreport from Farmers National Co.The employee-owned, Omaha-based company is an ag landownerservices company managing more than 5,000 farms and ranches in 28 statescomprising more than...

Ford Group to invest $3.6M on commercial building for up to 7 tenantsA small project grew to 10 times its original size whenthe Ford Group decided to put a 34,000-square-foot building on nearly two acresof open land in Richland. “We just wanted a place to store our boat,” said GregFord,...

 MH Construction’s new owner isn’t new to companyThe new owner of a Kennewickconstruction company is as comfortable working over a profit and loss statementas he is behind the controls of a mini excavator. It’s one of the reasons Alex Lindebought the nine-year-old MH Construction company Jan. 1. Linde, 40, worked...