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 shut off the gas…

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 468 responses.  8% reported they…

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 Richland, in partnership…

John Corbin is not happy. The Tri-City Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, a franchise he’s helmed for 38 years, closed in March when Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order to curtail the spread of coronavirus.  Just 16 months earlier, he’d moved Chuck E. Cheese to a 14,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building near Kennewick’s…

The property owners of Benton and Franklin counties didn’t miss a beat when it was time to pay property tax bills on some $31.5 billion in real estate in April, when the first of two payment deadlines came due. The county treasurers who collect taxes say collections were normal, despite widespread economic challenges inflicted by…

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 Union Gospel Mission…

Wearing a mask saves lives and saves jobs. And all across the state, Washington employers are leading by example in the fight to stop the spread of the coronavirus. From Seattle to our small towns, workers are masking up before starting their shifts on manufacturing floors, in restaurant kitchens, construction sites and hardware stores. This…

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…

A Pasco company specializing in hauling chemicals, de-icers, pesticides and more has a new ownership group led by the insurance agent who covered its business for decades. Chad Messerly and his partners, Brian May and Morgan Haynes, bought Harms Pacific Transport Inc. in a deal that closed July 1. The sellers were the transportation company’s…