It’s been a story of setbacks and survival for two women trying to launch their business, but with luck and a lot of resilience, they’ve opened a shop in West Richland. 

The president of a nonprofit coalition of the state’s largest companies doesn’t deny business owners are feeling pressured from all sides. But Rachel Smith, president of Washington Roundtable, is “not part of the Chicken Little crowd."

The authors of a study commissioned to look at how the amphitheater at the Reach Museum could be better used is recommending as much as $5 million in improvements. 

A cosmetology school that has been based in downtown Kennewick for years is preparing to move a few blocks away.

Documents filed under Washington’s environmental review process reveal a list of projects in the works for the Mid-Columbia. 
The State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, often provides the first look at the mixed-use projects, mini-storage facilities, apartments, industrial expansions, subdivisions and more that are working their way through the various planning departments of Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties. 
Here’s a look at projects that appeared in the SEPA register in the past month.  

Cities are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to address one of the most persistent sources of housing permitting delays: incomplete applications. And two new streams of federal money aim to help them.

A quarter million Washingtonians who get their insurance through the state’s exchange under the Affordable Care Act face another year of double-digit rate increases. 

A national kidney dialysis provider with a location in Richland will compensate millions of its clients to settle a proposed class action lawsuit after private client data, including Social Security numbers and pictures of checks to pay for services, were released by hackers. 

Seattle-based WaFd Bank is about to expand its footprint and get a new name. 

The city of Connell will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in financing from the state to repair its wastewater treatment lagoons and prevent environmental contamination.