NEW BUSINESSESOur Cookie House, 8530 W. Gage Blvd., Suite D, Kennewick. The shop bakes and sells giant gourmet cookies. Contact: 509-222-4399, ourcookiehouse.comÀ La Mode Spa and Salon, 1295 Fowler St., Suite 2A, Richland. The salon offers massage services and packages, hair, Aveda hair color, manicures, pedicures, spray tanning. Contact: 509-940-2772,...

The Children's Reading Foundation of the Mid-Columbia has canceled plans to distribute 2,000 books to local children this week because of hazardous air conditions.The local nonprofit that promotes reading 20 minutes a day to young children planned to distribute books Monday in Kennewick, Tuesday and Thursday in Pasco and Wednesday...

Fitness and training facilities in Benton and Franklin counties can resume limited operations under new guidance released Sept. 11 by Gov. Jay Inslee. Indoor fitness and training facilities in the counties still in the modified Phase 1 of the Safe Start program are now allowed to operate under Phase 2 guidance,...

Indoor dining and other activities are now allowed in Benton and Franklin counties. The Washington State Department of Health modified the already-modified Phase 1 restrictions that control activities under the state’s Safe Start program to curtail the spread of Covid-19. As of Aug. 27, allowed activities include:Outdoor group fitness classes with five or fewer people.Indoor religious services at 25% of...

Washington’s uninsured rate nearly doubled in the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic as more than a million workers lost their jobs and their employer-sponsored health coverage. A report issued Aug. 19 by the state Office of Financial Management indicates the uninsured rate remained far above pre-pandemic levels, but the numbers are improving locally and across the state.  Before the pandemic, 6.7%...

A road construction crew working in south Richland struck a Cascade Natural Gas line, forcing eight businesses in the Queensgate area to close shortly after 2 p.m. Aug. 18.Mark Hanson, spokesman for the company, confirmed the company's line was struck near Duportail Street and Keene Road. The company expected to...

Nearly half of Tri-Citians either continued to travel by air during the pandemic or expect to return to flying within three months, according to a passenger survey conducted for the Port of Pasco, which owns and operates the Tri-Cities Airport. The survey was conducted online in June and July and drew...

Help is now available for Tri-City renters who are unable to pay rent because of Covid-19 job losses.The Tri-Cities Home Consortium received $700,000 in Federal HOME funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and began accepting applications for rental assistance on Aug. 17.The consortium consists of the cities of Kennewick, Pasco and...

Tri-Citians are a generous lot. Residents generously give money to Senior Life Resources Northwest to ensure seniors eat courtesy Meals on Wheels. They give to the Kennewick Police Department’s Community Cares Fund to help officers help people in trouble. They reach into their wallets to support important capital projects too. The new...

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...