Local News
Retailer bankruptcies rewriting the Tri-City shopping map
A wave of retail bankruptcies is closing Tri-City stores or putting their futures in question. Here is a look at the chains that have filed for protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this year and what that means for their local stores. Tuesday Morning Tri-City location: 7411 W. Canal Drive, Kennewick Status: Closing by…
New fire station helps set stage for Vista Field redevelopment
Work has begun on a new fire station at Kennewick’s Vista Field, one of two major fire station projects planned in the city. The $7 million project will move Kennewick’s Fire Station 3 to 6941 W. Grandridge Blvd., near the Three Rivers Convention campus and the former Vista municipal airfield. Kennewick also is preparing to…
Help shape the future of Kennewick’s waterfront
The Port of Kennewick is asking the public to weigh in as it updates its plan for the downtown waterfront. The planning area covers Clover Island and other port-owned property along East Columbia Drive in Kennewick. The port will give virtual overviews at 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, and noon Tuesday, Aug. 11. The public…
Bankrupt Tuesday Morning closing Kennewick store
Home furnishings retailer Tuesday Morning will close its Kennewick store after filing for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in May. Dallas-based Tuesday Morning Corp. (NASDAQ: TUES) informed customers of the decision via email on July 23. The company is conducting a store closing sale at 7411 W. Canal Drive until it shutters its doors. The off-price retailer specializes in home furnishings, seasonal decor and other…
Tri-City mayors dream of returning focus to potholes, parks and police
Tri-City mayors expressed a collective desire to move beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and return to the workaday world of potholes, parks and police budgets during their annual “State of the Cities” address. The mayors of the four cities delivered their traditional overview of municipal government on July 22. The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce puts on the annual event, typically…
Richland winery restarts expansion delayed by Covid-19
Bookwalter Winery in Richland will begin its pandemic-delayed expansion this summer. The family-owned winery and restaurant secured permits for the $4 million project in late June. It initially intended to break ground in February but “hit the brakes” when the Covid-19 crisis took hold earlier this year. John Bookwalter leads the winery his father, Jerry,…
Jobless picture improves statewide and in the Tri-Cities
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 in May and four points off the…
Tri-City champion Brad Fisher dies from brain cancer
Brad Fisher, a wealth manager, former Kennewick mayor and unflagging advocate for Tri-City control of the Columbia River shoreline, died July 19, 14 months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. He was 63. Fisher’s daughter, Chelsea Goff, announced his death Monday on Facebook. Goff said her father intended to retire when he was 70. Instead, doctors told him “to…
PPP loans a ‘lifeline’ as Tri-Cities struggles to put Phase 1 behind
As Tri-City business and civic leaders work to tame local Covid-19 infection rates so more businesses can open, some of the Mid-Columbia’ biggest employers say forgivable paycheck loans were a “lifeline” that helped them keep valuable employees. Benton and Franklin counties moved into a modified version of Phase 1 of Washington’s Safe Start economic recovery…
Covid-19 is making Mid-Columbia’s tight housing market tighter
Tri-City home sales are defying the expectations of a stressed economy. But real estate insiders aren’t surprised. A tight inventory of homes for sale coupled with unprecedented low mortgage interest rates and an unemployment rate that’s lower than the rest of the state is keeping the market moving. The first five months of 2020 saw…
