The Port of Benton fired its chief financial officer and auditor for unsatisfactory performance during a special meeting Feb. 2. The move is the latest in a series of abrupt changes at the port since commissioners suspended their executive director less than a month ago.  

There’s a saying about square dancing that calls it “friendship put to music.” For members of a 70-year-old local square dancing club, it seems to sum up the heart of the social dance.

Bankruptcies have been on the rise in Benton and Franklin counties and across Eastern Washington since a low point in 2022, and the rate doesn’t look like it will come down just yet. 

Overall, the outlook for 2026 is a positive one, with a relatively steady flow of work going into 2026, according to local design firms who are frequently working on projects months before any dirt is moved on the ground.

A new retail building planned for the busy Road 68 corridor of Pasco is expected to significantly increase traffic to the already busy area, and renderings hint that a Target store may be the anticipated tenant.

After 19 years in business in a tight leased space in Kennewick, a performance car service and parts shop is planning to move to a building of its own in the Horn Rapids area of Richland. 

A first-time children’s author whose life story spans from rural El Salvador to Pasco, as well as profound personal loss, has debuted her new bilingual children’s book, “Mango Market Adventure.”

Documents filed under Washington’s environmental review process reveal a list of projects in the works for the Mid-Columbia. 

Following the paid suspension of Executive Director Diahann Howard, the Port of Benton approved a contract presumably to investigate her actions and appointed an interim executive director at its Jan. 14 meeting.

The Port of Benton Commission has placed Executive Director Diahann Howard on paid administrative leave as it conducts an internal review, a decision approved during a Jan. 7 special meeting.