A line of hundreds of eager customers waited patiently for Pasco’s newest grocery store to open.The Black Friday-like line outside the new Grocery Outlet extended past the adjacent Planet Fitness and Dollar Tree stores that opened earlier this summer and wrapped around the corner of the building.Some waited for more...

The Food Network taught Leticia Whitten how to cook and even some English.“She watched a lot of Martha Stewart. Well, until (Stewart) got in trouble,” joked Leticia’s husband, Mark Whitten. As a Mexican immigrant, Leticia built her skills in the kitchen while raising three daughters, eventually perfecting her recipes for...

A Tennessee-based health care company now owns two hospitals in the Tri-Cities.RCCH HealthCare Partners bought Lourdes Health Network in Pasco on Sept. 1.The state approved the $21 million Lourdes sale, as well as its conversion from nonprofit to for-profit.RCCH bought Kennewick’s Trios Health on Aug. 4.Lourdes had been part of...

New businesses are opening up left and right in Tri-Cities, while existing ones continue to grow and expand, with new development opportunities like the Vista Field overhaul and other, smaller scale projects on the horizon.But there’s a lot of nuance inherent in starting a new business or expanding an existing...

What causes a kid or teen to drop out of school? The answer to that question can be vast — and attributed to myriad factors, from housing to economic status to food and transportation.nEnter Paulina Valdez, who works for Communities in Schools, or CIS, and has a portable...

The U.S. Department of Energy and Bechtel National Inc. are collaborating with Columbia Basin College in Pasco to help prepare chemists for their work at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s analytical laboratory.The 3,300-square-foot laboratory at CBC will be used to prepare the analytical laboratory’s future staff for work...

By Lori AraujoThe Department of Energy’s Volpentest HAMMER Federal Training Center is a critical resource for worker health and safety at the Hanford site.The facility north of Richland features an 88-acre campus comprised of numerous classrooms, specialty training areas and props that create a variety of hazardous material and emergency...

An event featuring national speakers and activities designed to bring together job seekers, policy makers, educators, labor unions, tribes, veterans and a variety of industries is from Oct. 1-3 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.Called Connect Tri-Cities, the event is part job fair, scholarship challenge and conference that...

By David ForsythOne sign that an industry is maturing and becoming an important part of the regional economy is the development of an educational infrastructure that trains its existing and future workers. David ForsythAdditional support comes in the form of research from some of these same facilities. Such is the...

By Annie FowlerThe uneven blacktop is gone. So are the weeds growing in the middle of the court, and the basketball hoops that had no nets.In their place is a quality playing surface, complete with green keys and gold free-throw lines. The baskets are reinforced to withstand even the mightiest...