Articles by Jeff Morrow
A new generation takes a swing at Pasco Golfland
For as long as she can remember, Justine VerMulm has known Pasco Golfland as both her playground and her workplace. “My mom was pregnant with me when they were selling golf balls out there from a fireworks stand,” she said. “I worked out there as a kid. As a family, we’ve always celebrated birthdays there,…
Sporthaus has been serving Tri-City outdoor enthusiasts for 40 years
Steve McConnell’s life changed the day his parents took him skiing for the first time in his life. “I was a basketball player, but I was lucky that my folks introduced me to skiing when I was in seventh grade,” he said. “From the first time I skied down the hill, I knew I found…
K-12 Education: Pandemic doesn’t slow new school projects
It’s been an unprecedented year for Tri-City public school districts in the wake of the pandemic. Though students left classrooms in March 2020 and then started the year with remote learning, the districts’ construction projects have been chugging along. Richland School District The most recent state data shows 2019-20 enrollment for the Richland School District…
Higher Education: CBC, WSU-Tri-Cities building for a future when students return to campus
The Tri-Cities’ higher education campuses don’t have many students on campus this fall. The coronavirus pandemic sent the majority to remote learning platforms at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College for the fall. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t planning for their students’ eventual return to campus. Both institutions are moving ahead with…
Former Tri-Citians return to sell their popular cookies
Ashley Meehan is a cookie connoisseur. She has special recipes for at least 12 types of cookies, all of them large and tasty. And for more than two years, she has been selling them to a famished public – from her car, her house, at pop-up stands. “Just to see the joy it brings people,…
Contractor assesses buildings so businesses can ‘comeback with confidence’
Sooner or later, more Mid-Columbia businesses are going to try to bring their workforce back into their buildings. As a first step toward that goal, MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions is offering building confidence reports through its Comeback with Confidence program. Pat Roberts, general manager for MacDonald-Miller’s Eastern Washington office, said many businesses and workers don’t know…
Bike shop vet opens Reborn in Richland’s Uptown
Charles Conte Jr. decided late last year it was time to move to the Tri-Cities, where his wife Susan’s family lived. In January, the family moved from Virginia, where Charles worked in his father’s bike shop chain, Conte’s Bike Shop. He intended to work for a local nonprofit. “Susan was born and raised here,” Charles…
A big bite: $3B apple industry is the MVP of Washington ag
The Washington apple industry has had a challenging year. Retaliatory tariffs. Labor shortages. And now a pandemic that has contributed to a slowdown in the supply chain. On the other hand, growers of Washington’s top agricultural product produced another large crop featuring a new star — the Cosmic Crisp, a new variety that is quickly…
Richland company rushes to roll out temperature screenings
Richland’s Lisa Chapman-Rosa is always looking for innovative ways to help her companies thrive. Not that she’s really needed to. Her Tri-Cities Mobile Drug & Alcohol Testing business has had plenty of work around the Mid-Columbia. The construction company she started in 2007, Total Site Services LLC, a woman-owned business, has earned millions of dollars…
Sylvan Learning pilots app to connect tutors to Tri-City students
The franchise owner of the Sylvan Learning Centers in Kennewick and Richland has figured out several ways to meet student needs in the Tri-City area since 2005. There are the learning centers in Kennewick and Richland where students come for tutoring. There are in-home visits, where Sylvan sends a tutor to the student. And then…
