Local News
BlockChyp payment terminals adapt alongside Tri-City businesses
A Kennewick tech startup is transforming the way businesses process their payment transactions, even as coronavirus shutdowns and restrictions threatened its business model. “It’s interesting because we’re focused on brick-and-mortar transactions, so when Covid hit, we thought we were dead,” said Jeff Payne, BlockChyp’s chief technology officer. BlockChyp designs payment terminals using blockchain technology to…
Faith leads to virtual reality encounters to relieve stress, prevent suicide
Terry Brown and his wife, Annie Ackerman-Brown, didn’t develop a business plan or research how they could best help young people in mental anguish when they launched BlessedbyKess. Faith led them to create the nonprofit, which uses virtual reality, or VR, technology to help Tri-Citians reduce stress and improve mental health. Faith led them to…
Will tech-heavy labor force lead to technology economy?
The greater Tri-Cities enjoys a strong technology pulse, but the most readily accessible statistics are scant on the evidence. Brenton-Franklin Trends data, for instance, doesn’t carry one “technology” indicator out of the 175 available. This state of our knowledge is largely due to the difficulties in measuring the economic impact of technology. Increasingly, the absence…
PNNL scientist receives $1M for research as distinguished fellow
A material science pioneer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is one of three to be named a 2020 distinguished scientist fellow by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. James “Jim” De Yoreo’s award includes $1 million in DOE funding over three years to pursue new research. De Yoreo is a fellow and…
Working from home is helping to raise the Tri-Cities’ tech profile
The pandemic has altered daily life in many ways, some of which may long outlive the current shutdowns. Technological innovations over the past several years have allowed employees to work from home — a shift that was already well underway before the pandemic, but one that has been kicked into hyperdrive since March. Large technology…
Battelle donates $1 million to boost STEM education
A $1 million Battelle donation aims to improve STEM education to better prepare the next generation of scientists in the greater Tri-City area. The grant will help launch a regional STEM Nexus that will develop and fund experiential learning programs for underrepresented, underserved students in rural communities. A science, technology, engineering and math-based education is…
Lamb Weston earnings take a beating from pandemic
A global slowdown in demand for french fries took a financial toll on Lamb Weston Holdings Inc., a major Mid-Columbia employer as well as buyer of Washington-grown potatoes. Lamb Weston, based in Eagle, Idaho, reported 2020 highlights on July 28 for the fiscal year that ended July 20. The Covid-19 pandemic took hold midway through…
Tri-City school districts offer standalone online schools
Three Tri-City public school districts won’t be throwing open their actual doors to welcome back students in the fall because of high coronavirus rates in Benton and Franklin counties. But they will be ready to greet them online when school starts Sept. 1. The Kennewick, Richland and Pasco school districts are offering additional options to…
As financial disaster looms, Mid-Columbia nonprofits turn to road trips, drawings and more
The cancellations spread quickly as Washington and the world shut down over Covid-19 in March. Breakfasts and lunches, a duck race and a Gatsby-themed gala disappeared from the Mid-Columbia calendar. In-person events that generate badly needed dollars to feed low-income seniors, support cancer patients and more were suddenly too dangerous to go on. The pain…
Private donation boosts Pasco nonprofit to help region’s most vulnerable
A $40,000 private donation is helping a Pasco nonprofit and the people it serves stand a little taller. An unidentified supporter contributed the money to the Knights Community Hospital Equipment Lend Program, better known as KC Help, through the Three Rivers Community Foundation. The donation supports KC Help’s mission to help the most vulnerable Tri-Citians…
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