Richland voters have let the curtain fall on paying for the Tri-Cities’ first large dedicated performing arts facility with a sales tax increase.

Port of Pasco commissioners approved the hire at a special meeting on Jan. 17 and the port’s new executive director will step into the job in the coming weeks as longtime Port of Pasco Executive Director Randy Hayden retires in March. 

The company’s goal is to develop a nuclear supply chain campus with its own manufacturing facility as the anchor. That facility would come through a $3 billion investment while creating 1,000 direct jobs and another 3,000 that would support them.

Company originally planned to sell the entire development to an investor but was unable to secure financing. That led to decision to sell each of the duplexes individually.

The three plaintiffs challenging a wind and solar power facility in the Horse Heaven Hills share in their legal challenges a laundry list of how Gov. Jay Inslee, state agencies and the courts allegedly have violated everything from state environmental protection laws to local land use planning regulations and limited access to proceedings around the decision.

State auditors have identified $116,822 in misappropriated and questionable spending at Benton Fire District 4 between 2011 and 2023, partially a result of inadequate internal controls for safeguarding public funds.

The goal is to have much of the work finished by the end of December 2025 with some work being finished up in early 2026.

Port of Pasco commissioners have nominated a Mesa farmer to fill the seat vacated after the retirement of long-serving Commissioner Jim Klindworth.

The recent decision of the Washington State Supreme Court authorizing a 10-year pilot program that would permit new methods and models of providing legal services in the state could usher in an era where people may not ever need to interact with an attorney in their legal affairs.

The company known for the branded Milky Way tankers seen on highways ferrying milk from dairies to processors is buying land near one of its biggest partners north of Pasco.