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Local News/Northwest News Network Primary Format : News Language : English Also Listed as: City : Pullman State/Province : WA Country : USA Region : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of Northwest News Network Podcasts Methings.com listings of Northwest News Network Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

Newport Prepares To Welcome NOAA A fleet of federal research ships is moving from Seattle to the Oregon coast. This weekend, state and local leaders in Newport are celebrating the transition with festivities. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Toxic Weed Rears Its Flowered Head In Northwest This year's prolonged wet weather is having the side effect of re-invigorating a noxious weed. The Northwest is seeing a comeback of tansy ragwort, a toxic species of sunflower that farmers thought they had vanquished years ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Plastic Bag Opponents Make Their Case City-By-City Advocates of banning plastic grocery bags are taking their cause to smaller cities. An effort to ban the bags statewide failed in both the Oregon and Washington legislatures this year. Now, supporters are making their case to city councils across the Northwest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Wildlife Officials Say Watch Out For And Keep Your Distance From Mountain Goats Wild life officials and park managers are refining a better strategy to keep aggressive mountain goats at bay. Billy goats are getting the goat of hikers in several Northwest mountain ranges. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | High Unemployment Not Budging This Summer High unemployment in Oregon and Washington isn't budging this summer. Washington's Employment Department reported Wednesday the July jobless rate stood unchanged at 9.3 percent. It was the same story Tuesday in Oregon: July's unemployment rate stagnant at 9.5 percent. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Kitzhaber Names Education Advisor SALEM, Ore. - Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has named a new education adviser. Kitzhaber tapped fellow Democrat Ben Cannon, a state representative from Portland. But it doesn't mean Cannon is in line to become the next Oregon school superintendent. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Making a Bigger Deal About Smaller Fish WARRENTON, Ore. - Perhaps you've had salmon, tuna, or swordfish for dinner recently. Or maybe it's on the menu tonight. Every big fish that lands on your plate got that big by eating lots and lots of little fish. If you don't have abundant small fish in the ocean, you won't have the big fish. That's why some scientists, fishery managers and advocacy groups are paying more attention to the small prey in the sea. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Seattle Voters Side with Gregoire on Ref 1. SEATTLE - Washington Governor Chris Gregoire seems to be on her way to a political victory, thanks to Seattle Primary voters. Voters are overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure connected to a Seattle mega-project that Gregoire supported. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Captor Of Idaho Soldier Listed As Terrorist The Obama administration has officially designated the man linked with the capture of a Northwest soldier as a terrorist. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Family Of Lakewood Officer Griswold Joins Litigation Against State The family of slain Lakewood police officer Tina Griswold has filed a notice to sue the state of Washington over its handling of Maurice Clemmons. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | No Change for Oregon's July Unemployment Rate Oregon's unemployment rate remained stagnant in the month of July. Nick Beleiciks is one of Oregon's employment economists. He says the state's unemployment rate was 9.5 percent last month. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Tiny, Twangy Jew’s Harp Takes Center Stage Surprisingly, the Jew’s harp has absolutely nothing to do with the Jewish people. But it does have a distinctive sound and a lot of fans in the Northwest. Deena Prichep traveled to Bay City, Oregon, where musicians came together this month to celebrate the tiny instrument. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Un-damming The Elwha Part I For the past 20 years there’s been talk of removing the two dams and now the roads are closed off and construction crews are moving in to start that work in mid-September. In the first part of our series on the Elwha, Ashley Ahearn reports on how scientists are getting the “before” shot of the Elwha so they can see how things change once the river is dam-free. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford Union Raises Concerns With Hanford Waste Treatment Plant The Department of Energy has given the go ahead to fabricating key elements of Hanford’s waste treatment plant despite serious concerns being raised by engineers. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Regence BlueShield Fined $100K Over IUD Removal One of Washington’s largest health insurers faces a hefty fine for refusing to pay for the removal of a certain type of birth control device. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Youth Authority Braces for Major Changes SALEM, Ore. - Due to budget cuts, the Oregon Youth Authority is getting ready to release dozens of juvenile offenders from secure lock-ups into halfway homes. The agency says there's nothing to worry about. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Whidbey Island Race Remembers Iraq's First Fallen Female Marine Officer WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash - A 5K and 10K foot race on Saturday at the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island will honor the first female Marine officer killed in combat in the Iraq War. Simultaneously, Marines stationed in Afghanistan will participate in a race honoring their fallen comrade. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Court Sides with WA, ID and Other States Against Health Care Reform OLYMPIA, Wash - A federal court of appeals Friday sided with Washington, Idaho and 24 other states in a challenge to the new health care reform law. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta tossed out the provision that requires nearly every American to have health insurance by 2014 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Harry & David Close To Emerging From Bankruptcy MEDFORD, Ore - One of the best-known Northwest brands is closer to getting out of bankruptcy. A federal judge has given a tentative okay to the recovery plan for Oregon gourmet food and gift retailer Harry & David. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Roman Artifact Helps Nuclear Waste Storage RICHLAND, Wash - Researchers say ancient Romans can help predict the durability of modern-day nuclear waste storage. Scientists are experimenting with 1,800-year-old glass to better understand how nuclear waste storage will hold up for millennia to come. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Redistricting with Accurate Representation OLYMPIA, Wash - Monday is the last day to submit public comment to the members of Washington State’s Redistricting Commission before members go draw their own maps. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Environmental Groups Say New "Conservation Fund" Misnamed SALEM, Ore. - Environmental groups in Oregon say a new fund to boost predator control is appallingly misnamed. Even Governor John Kitzhaber complained of the name when he signed the measure into law. It was one of the last bills he signed from the 2011 legislative session. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Apple Harvest Could Yield Smaller Fruit This Year RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State harvests about 65 percent of the nation's apples each fall. But this year because of the chilly spring, those cheery orbs of goodness could be a bit smaller and possibly less sweet. Correspondent Anna King reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | USDA Hopeful to Save Greater Sage-Grouse REDMOND, Ore - Federal agriculture officials say the greater sage-grouse could be the ranching community's equivalent of the spotted owl. And Thursday the U.S. agriculture secretary said a program to help the bird is showing signs of success. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bargain Basement Mortgage Rates Get Bank Phones Ringing COEUR D'ALENE, ID - Mortgage rates fell to near-record lows this week: The nationwide average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 4.3 percent according to Freddie Mac. Rates that low are proving to be catnip to consumers in an otherwise dismal week. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Black Bear Spotted at Hatchery CASCADE LOCKS, Ore - A trap is set and warnings about a bear are posted today at the fish hatchery next to Bonneville Dam. OPB's Vince Patton reports the bear wandered in on Tuesday and showed no fear of humans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commentary: Mount Rushmore Up Close Bad plastic surgery... Micheal Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Mt. Rushmore? Commentator Corinna Nicolaou shares her up close visit to Mt. Rushmore and is taken aback by concrete and nose jobs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Next Generation of Priests Face Abuse Fallout How are new priests dealing with the fallout of sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Friendship Forged Out of a Dark Childhood Checks will soon be going out in the mail to some 500 victims of clergy sex abuse across the Northwest. They're part of a major settlement with an order of Jesuits based in Portland. Most of the victims are from reservations and native communities from Montana to Alaska. We hear from two victims in this story. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Young Farmers Learning to Use Draft Horses A new generation of farmers is learning the craft of plowing fields and mowing hay with draft horses. It’s one way to reduce agriculture’s footprint on the earth. But it’s also just a lot of fun. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | To Sue or Not? Wolf Advocates Ponder The recent ups and downs of wolf de-listing have split environmentalists over strategy. This week, a handful of conservation groups filed an appeal in San Francisco to return wolves to the endangered species list. But other groups feel the battle won't be won in the courts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Senator Murray Ready to Work on Super Committee Washington Senator Patty Murray was in Seattle yesterday and she talked about her appointment to the new congressional debt-reduction “super committee.” Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Report Says Black Youths Disproportionately Affected By Measure 11 A new report claims that Oregon's Measure 11 sentencing law disproportionately pushes black youth into the adult criminal justice system. Measure 11 mandates compulsory sentencing for most violent crimes. And if you're a youth, it means you're tried as an adult. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Gets Another Chance To Win Major HUD Contract Oregon will get another chance at winning a multi-million dollar HUD contract it recently lost to a Seattle suburb. Oregon and other states that lost contracts filed a formal complaint about the federal agency so it's re-opening the bid process this fall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gary Locke Wants to Make Washington Proud The new U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Locke, says it’s his Washington roots that made him what he is today. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Next Generation of Priests Face Abuse Fallout SPOKANE, Wash. - This week we're taking a look at how the Catholic Church and its victims move forward from the legacy of abuse. Today: New priests. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Deficit 'Super Committee' Selection Sen. Murray Proves Controversial OLYMPIA, Wash - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has named Democrat Patty Murray of Washington to co-chair a powerful "super committee" charged with finding more than $1 trillion in deficit cuts this fall. The choice immediately drew cries of disbelief from conservatives. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fighting Gang Violence with Picnic Baskets OUTLOOK, Wash. – This past spring we brought you the story of an Eastern Washington dairy town plagued by gang violence. Now, several months later residents of Outlook, Washington are fighting gangs with summer camps and social gatherings. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Businesses Seek New Salmon Policy RICHLAND, Wash - Northwest business, fishing and food industry leaders are asking for a new approach to salmon policy. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Archivists Warn Of Lack of Preparedness SALEM, Ore. - The people in charge of preserving historical artifacts and documents in Oregon say the state is woefully unprepared in the event of a disaster. A recent survey found that just 15 percent of the state's archives, libraries and museums have a plan in place to deal with things like flood-waters or even bug infestations. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Short-Line Railroad Floats Third Coal Export Terminal Proposal in Washington GRAYS HARBOR, Wash - A short-line railroad is taking a hard look at opening a coal shipping terminal at the Port of Grays Harbor. This is the third location proposed by different developers in western Washington. The railroad anticipates coal exports would be its main business. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Experiencing Hells Canyon through Boyd Norton’s Lens HELLS CANYON, Ore - Boyd Norton is an internationally known photographer and writer who uses his talents to shed light on environmental problems around the world. Aaron Kunz spoke with Boyd on his recent visit to Hells Canyon this summer. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | When It's Legal to Shoot a Grizzly Bear BONNERS FERRY, ID - A North Idaho man could face fines and prison time for shooting a grizzly bear on his property. The animal is considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act and federal law allows people to kill grizzlies only in certain situations. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington’s New Corn Plant Might Influence Crop Around World A new agricultural plant near Othello in Eastern Washington is breeding highly specialized corn for the world-wide seed company Monsanto. The laboratories and growing facilities are slated to help the company more quickly distill the genetics of corn to get top characteristics to market. Correspondent Anna King reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Irrigators Move Into The Hydropower Business A series of small dams and turbines are being constructed along the vast network of canals that carry water to farms in Central Oregon. Irrigation co-ops are one of the few groups adding new hydropower to the grid in the northwest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | E. Coli Found in Oregon Strawberries Oregon health authorities say strawberries from a farm in Newberg are responsible for 10 confirmed E. coli-related illnesses. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | No State-Level Downgrade Expected, But Cuts Loom In Olympia The Standard & Poors downgrade of federal debt is unlikely to have much near term effect on the borrowing costs of states in our region. That according to the respective state treasurers. But the faltering economy more generally is having ripple effects in the most populous Northwest state. Correspondent Tom Banse reports from Olympia. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Logging Protesters Gear Up Again Another round of timber protests is under way in Oregon. 16 people were blocked from entering a logging site near Coos Bay Monday. It follows the recent arrests of six people who were protesting timber sales on state forest land. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wallula Carbon Sequestration Project Experiments with Basalt For nearly two decades, researchers have looked into ways of storing excess carbon dioxide. It’s one way to help offset climate change: making sure CO2 doesn’t reach the atmosphere. Courtney Flatt has more on a Washington project that could develop a new type of carbon sequestration… in basalt formations. Scientists are updating the Northwest Council on where the project goes from here. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Debate Over Whether Taxes Cause Migration Rages On The debate continues to rage in Oregon over whether raising taxes on the rich prompts people to leave the state. A new study claims the answer is no. But as Correspondent Chris Lehman reports, the new research doesn't put the controversy over last year's Measure 66 tax hike to bed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Berry Farms Fined for Child Labor Law Violations The US Department of Labor imposed fines on three berry farms in Washington State this week for violations to child labor laws. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | No DNA Match To Purported D.B. Cooper Hijacking Suspect A DNA test has failed to connect a deceased central Oregon man to the unsolved 1971 hijacking of a Northwest Orient jet. This is according to D.B. Cooper’s niece. She came forward this week to finger her uncle as the legendary fugitive D.B. Cooper. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Political Icon Mark Hatfield Dead At 89 Long-time US Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon has died at the age of 89. The Republican's political career spanned five decades Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Raw Oysters Source of Recent Bacteria Cases Above-average temperatures have brought a rise in oyster related illnesses around Puget Sound and along the Washington coast. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bill Sizemore Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion SALEM, Ore. - Conservative Oregon initiative activist Bill Sizemore will serve 30 days in jail. The former Republican nominee for governor pled guilty Thursday to three counts of tax evasion. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Competition Heats Up To Insure Poor People in Washington OLYMPIA, Wash. – In Washington, there are more people on Medicaid than there are kids in public school -- 1.2 million. And that number will grow significantly in 2014 when the new federal health care overhaul kicks-in. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | D.B. Cooper Expert Casts Doubt On Latest Hijacking Suspect The man said by a relative to be the infamous airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper is buried in Bend, Oregon. An Oklahoma woman went public this week with the claim her late uncle was the mysterious bandit. But an expert on the 40-year-old case is dubious about this latest suspect to emerge. Correspondent Tom Banse has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Kitzhaber Schedules Election To Replace Wu Voters in Oregon’s first congressional district will have to wait until next January to find out who will succeed David Wu. The disgraced Congressman officially resigned Wednesday night. Correspondent Chris Lehman has more on the process to replace him. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Highways Await Mexican Trucks The next time you head down the interstate, that truck in the lane next to you could be from Mexico. That's because of a recent cross-border trucking accord between the U.S. and its neighbor to the south. Opponents say putting Mexican trucks on U.S. roads is risky. But there's little evidence to show that Mexican trucks are actually a hazard on the highway. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Natural Gas Prices Expected To Remain Stable If you heat your home with natural gas, the cost of keeping toasty this winter isn't expected to go up. That's what Oregon's three natural gas utilities told state regulators Wednesday. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wyoming Reaches Wolf Management Deal The state of Wyoming has reached a wolf management agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ending years of litigation over the issue in that state. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NW Tribes Seek New Permits To Remove Sea Lions The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Fisheries Service this month lifted permits for Northwest tribes to remove problem sea lions that feast on Salmon trapped by dams on the Columbia River while a challenge from the Humane Society of the United States works its way through court. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Wolf Compensation Bill Signed Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed the state wolf compensation bill Tuesday. It creates a $100 thousand dollar fund to pay ranchers who lose livestock to the legally protected predators. Aaron Kunz has reaction from those who could benefit from the newly established fund. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Patty Murray Wants Governors to Track Soldier Suicides US Senator Patty Murray wants the nation’s governors to help report veterans suicides to the VA. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Salmon Protection Updates Postponed BOISE - Tuesday, federal Judge James Redden struck down the federal government’s plan for managing salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers. Correspondent Aaron Kunz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wolf Recovery Plan Finalized SEATTLE - The state is now home to five packs of gray wolves – numbering just shy of 30 animals. They’re still listed as endangered state-wide and the Department of Fish and Wildlife has put together a management plan for wolf recovery that will be presented in Olympia on Thursday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Suquamish Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage KITSAP COUNTY, Wash - Same-sex marriage is now legal for a tiny sliver of Washington State. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Post Offices May Be History FORT ROCK, Ore - Last week, the Postmaster General released a list of 3-thousand 600 post offices across the country that are under review for closure. Forty-one of those offices are in Oregon. Many are in small towns, like Fort Rock. David Nogueras visited the town to see what residents think about the possibility of their post office closing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Model for Cyber Security: Ants RICHLAND, Wash. – Ants have an incredible ability to track down food and swarm together against enemies. Now, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Lab are hoping to use the same model to fight off cyber-attacks. The new tools are called digital ants. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bird Eggs Swapped To Reverse Lark Decline Wildlife biologists are employing a little trickery to stop the downward spiral of a rare grassland bird in Western Washington. Biologists are taking eggs from healthier larks in Oregon and swapping them into western Washington nests, hoping the lark mothers don't notice. Correspondent Tom Banse reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Study: Intensive Thinning Needed to Cut Wildfire Risk A new study by the Forest Service finds that tree stands need to be "intensively" thinned to effectively prevent wildfires. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Could Keep Nuclear Waste For 100 Years Under Recommendation President Obama appointed the Blue Ribbon Commission to look into the question of where to store the nation’s worst nuclear waste. The new report says one option may be to store the waste at regional centers for more than 100 years while the country looks for a suitable permanent repository. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford Layoffs Not Based On Seniority Seniority won't be the only criteria for layoffs at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. Pink slips are expected in six weeks. Anna King reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mercury Removal Proposed for Port of Bellingham Bellingham, Wash - An old industrial site on the downtown waterfront has extreme levels of mercury contamination. The chlorine plant that spewed the mercury closed a decade ago. The Port of Bellingham is proposing to remove *some* of the worst toxic crud from the site in the coming months. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Army Corps Slow To Release Report Assessing Oil Tanker Risk SEATTLE - Colonel Anthony Wright left his post as Seattle District Commander of the Army Corps of Engineers on Friday. He’s steered the Northwest through major flooding events and millions of dollars in military construction projects. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Concerns on Natural Gas Drilling Idaho, Oregon, and Washington are known to hold large pockets of natural gas. That has a few companies exploring with hopes of producing fuel. In some instances, a controversial method called hydraulic fracturing has come into play. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Still Issues Unemployment Benefits the Old Fashioned Way OLYMPIA, Wash. – In this era of plastic, Washington still issues unemployment benefits the old fashioned way: by check. That's a stark contrast to neighboring Oregon where jobless benefits are loaded on a debit card, so what are the trade-offs? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commission Recommends New Agency To Site Nation's Nuclear Waste Repository The nation needs a new agency to site a federal nuclear waste dump. That's the recommendation issued Friday by a presidential commission. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Could Keep Nuclear Waste For 100 Years Under Recommendation The Northwest could end up keeping Hanford’s nuclear waste for 100 years or more under a recommendation issued Friday by a presidential commission. President Obama appointed the Blue Ribbon Commission to look into the question of where to store the nation’s worst nuclear waste. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WA's AG files new lawsuit to clean up Hanford Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna announced Friday that the state has filed a new lawsuit against the federal government. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Allows Wolf Hunting Season With Traps, No Kill Quota The Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted Thursday for a plan that sets hunting and trapping season for the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf. But critics object to Idaho allowing hunters to use trap. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Standoff Puts Some Airport Construction Projects In Limbo The Congressional stalemate over the debt ceiling isn't the only Washington standoff in the news this week. A separate showdown over spending by the Federal Aviation Administration is having an immediate effect on jobs and airport construction in our region. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford Contractors Work To Reassure Workers Waste Plant Safety Culture ‘Is Strong’ The heads of two Hanford Nuclear Reservation contractors tried to reassure workers with a memo this week. It says there is a strong safety culture on the massive waste treatment plant now under construction. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | More Hanford Workers Raise Safety Concerns More Hanford workers are starting to raise safety concerns about a massive nuclear waste treatment plant under construction in southeast Washington. A federal nuclear watchdog agency has called the safety culture at the Hanford facility “flawed.” Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Fish And Game Meeting Draws Crowd Of Wolf Foes The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will vote Thursday on a plan to allow wolf hunting this fall without a cap on the number of wolves being killed in the state. And for the first time in the lower 48, trapping of the gray wolf would also be allowed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gray Whale Washes Up Near Bremerton Biologists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are studying a gray whale that washed up near Bremerton in Puget Sound. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon State Hospital To Open New Wing The troubled Oregon State Hospital is preparing to open a new wing. The Salem mental health institution plans to move 216 patients next month from a crowded mid-20th century hospital ward to a brand new building called "Trails." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Prisons Fined For Safety Violations After Officer Murder Lapses in training and "serious" safety violations may have contributed to the murder of a Washington correctional officer earlier this year. Those are the findings of a six-month investigation by Washington's workplace safety watchdog. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Tribal Canoe Journey and Science Connect In Salish Sea Seattle, Wash - This week, thousands of American Indians from Alaska to Northern California will converge on the Swinomish Reservation 80 miles North of Seattle. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Study: Genetically Modified Atlantic Salmon Can Breed With Wild Fish A new study of genetically-modified Atlantic salmon shows they can breed with their wild counterparts. Critics worry escaped farmed fish could weaken wild stocks. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Audit Of Idaho National Lab Says Miscalculation Will Give Contractor Big Payout A new federal audit criticizes the way the U.S. Department of Energy calculated costs of clean-up work at the Idaho National Laboratory. The report finds that a contractor may end up getting large bonuses as a result. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford Cleans Up Waste In Underground Trenches Earlier Than Planned Hanford Nuclear Reservation workers have retrieved a key portion of radioactive waste ahead of schedule. That announcement came from the federal government Tuesday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wu's Resignation Will Force Special Election Voters in Oregon's First Congressional District will vote to replace David Wu now that the Democrat has announced his resignation. But the exact date for a special election is unclear. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Feds Revoke Authority to Kill Sea Lions On Columbia Federal officials revoked the permission Tuesday they had given to Oregon and Washington to trap and kill sea lions on the Columbia River. But Rob Manning reports it may be just a temporary move. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Conifers Drink Lightly in Wet Northwest Winters Scientists at Oregon State University have learned that Douglas fir and hemlock trees struggle to transport water from their roots to their crowns in the winter. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford Whistleblower Tamosaitis Responds To Department of Energy A high-level Hanford whistleblower is accusing the Department of Energy of being too cozy with its contractors at the federal nuclear reservation. Walter Tamosaitis made that accusation in a letter released Monday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | David Wu Not Planning To Resign House Seat David Wu is not planning to resign his job in Congress, even as he faces a possible ethics investigation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The controversy follows an allegation that he sexually assaulted a young woman last year. Rob Manning reports from Oregon Public Broadcasting. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Banking On New Wetlands When Old Ones Vanish Washington has lost almost half of its wetlands since European settlers first arrived, according to estimates from the Department of Ecology. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lawsuit Targets Washington “Supermajority” Law to Approve New Taxes A group of education advocates, Democratic legislators, and citizens filed a lawsuit Monday in King County Superior Court. The case seeks to overturn an initiative that made it harder for the Washington State Legislature to raise taxes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Local Governments Brace For Unknown Fallout From Debt Stalemate The ongoing conflict over whether to raise the nation's debt ceiling is giving local governments heartburn. Northwest cities and counties say their cash-flow relies heavily on federal payments. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | High-Speed Motorcycle Crashes Claim 3 NW Soldiers Since April Three Washington-based soldiers have been killed in high-speed motorcycle accidents since April. And it turns out all three were riding the same model of high performance bike. The Washington State Patrol says the accidents were horrific and avoidable. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Congressman Wu Likely Faces House Ethics Probe Congressman David Wu appears to be headed toward an ethics investigation in the U.S. House of Representatives. That follows an allegation that he sexually assaulted a young woman last year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest’s Giant Palouse Worm Denied Endangered Status From U.S. Fish and Wildlife The giant Palouse earthworm has had a celebrity status among Northwest species. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the worm endangered status Monday. The federal government said the worm has been found in more habitats than previously thought and in more abundance than expected. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Nearly 300,000 Washington Drivers Suspended For Failure To Pay Tickets: Part 1 BURIEN, Wash. – In Washington, nearly 300,000 drivers currently have suspended licenses—not because they've driven drunk or committed a hit-and-run, but because they failed to pay their traffic tickets. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Scientists Scramble to Save Crater Lake’s Whitebark Pine. Global warming, beetles, and disease are pushing one of the west’s iconic trees near extinction. So biologists are trying to breed a better whitebark pine. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Protests Loss of $4 million HUD Contract SALEM, Ore. - The Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services isn't the only agency facing budget cuts. What's unusual is the reason for its 14 looming layoffs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Village Dig Focuses On Ancient Societal Transformation GALIANO ISLAND, BC - Archaeologists believe humans arrived in our part of North America roughly 10,000 years ago. Those pioneers lived a nomadic lifestyle of hunting and gathering. Then starting about 2,000 years ago, Coastal Salish people settled in large, permanent villages. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Endangered Pygmy Rabbits Finally Breed Like, Well, Bunnies Biologists say the endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is breeding for the first time in a decade in its native habitat. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Teamsters Union Calls Investigation Into Officer Death An “Insult” The union that represents frontline prison workers in Washington is reacting angrily to the findings of an investigation into the murder of Officer Jayme Biendl. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest States Grapple With Reduced Federal Funding State lawmakers in the Northwest had to put together spending plans this year with a lot less help from Uncle Sam. A new report shows Oregon took the biggest hit among the Northwest states. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idahoan's Idea To Pave Road In Solar Panels Gets Federal Funding The Federal Highway Administration has awarded $750,000 to a Northwest electrical engineer who thinks he can turn highways into solar power plants. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Prison Investigation: Staff Errors After Officer Murdered A Washington prison guard was absent from his post when an inmate allegedly murdered correctional officer Jayme Biendl last January. That's a key finding of an internal investigation released Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commentary: A Tsumani of Dinosaur Bones The rate of China’s economic growth is often reported in the news. But China is experiencing another bonanza, too. Dinosaur bones are flooding the market, but are you getting the real deal? The Rock Doc weighs in. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Deer Flat Puts A Name On Public Access Battle Controversy is brewing in western Idaho, where a federal agency is reconsidering whether powerboats can co-exist with birds, frogs and other species that call the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge home. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Goats-For-Hire Whack Pervasive Weed In Boise Foothills This week, trail users in Northwest Boise might be surprised to see hundreds of goats grazing amongst the sagebrush. Idaho's capitol city has rented the animals to manage a pesky weed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Convicted Murderer Haugen Get Psych. Evaluation Date A Salem judge has set a date for a psychological evaluation of convicted murderer, Gary Haugen. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, lawyers settled a number of technical issues at a hearing Thursday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lane County Oregon Jail Lets Prisoners Go The Lane County Jail released 84 inmates over a 6 day period earlier this month. The jail is reducing its capacity in response to budget cuts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Alaska Air Profit Slips Amid Higher Jet Fuel Costs The corporate parent of Alaska and Horizon Airlines Tuesday reported a 51 percent decline in net second quarter profit. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Alleged “Kill Team” Leader Back In Court The credibility of the prosecution's star witness is the key issue at the moment in a war crimes case unfolding at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Communities Await Army’s Closure Plans For Umatilla Chemical Depot The U.S. Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot is set to shut down this fall. But the question of who should decide the future of the northeast Oregon depot reached the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday. The bill that won approval would keep that authority in the hands of a local commission rather than a federal agency. Oregon's Democratic U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley co-sponsored the measure. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | American Airlines Orders Boeing 737s Governor Chris Gregoire congratulated Boeing on its strategic maneuvering in snagging nearly half of the largest airplane order in history. That means Boeing will be making 200 new small engine 737s for American Airlines over the next five years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | ExxonMobil Looks For Other Routes For Megaloads The on-again/off-again plans to transport huge parts of an oil refinery across Idaho and Montana are off … again. The latest setback for ExxonMobil has the company looking for other options. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Adopts Core Education Standards Washington became the latest state Wednesday to align its education standards with a national movement. 44 states have now committed to what are dubbed “common core standards” for Language Arts and Math in public schools. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington’s Jobs Losses In May An Error Washington has posted ten straight months of job growth. That streak comes after the state revised its May jobless report. Instead of losing 700 jobs in May, it turns out Washington actually gained 2,500 jobs that month. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Natural Disaster Declared in Twelve Idaho Counties, Five Counties in OR and WA The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 12 counties in Idaho as natural disaster areas. The designation comes after heavy winter snowpack and high runoff damaged farmland. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Natural Disaster Declared: Idaho, Oregan, Washington Boise, ID - The US Department of Agriculture has designated 12 counties in Idaho as natural disaster areas. The designation comes after heavy winter snow-pack and high runoff that damaged farmland. Ron Abrahmovich is a hydrologist with the USDA. He says this is one of the longest runoff seasons on record for Idaho. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Why Homeless Advocates Don’t Always Believe Homeless Data Advocates for the homeless say a recent population count in Idaho doesn't jibe with what they’re seeing in their shelters. The survey found that the number of people living on the streets has decreased since 2010. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Enthusiastic Response For “Buy Washington” Bonds It was a two-day buying frenzy. Retail investors snapped up nearly $90 million in Washington highway bonds Monday and Tuesday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Unemployment Rate Shows Little Hiring Oregon's unemployment rate was essentially unchanged last month. State officials say June marked four months of stagnation in hiring. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | State Workers In Oregon Closer To Paying Portion Of Health Insurance State workers in Oregon are closer than ever to paying a portion of their health insurance premiums for the first time. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Seattle Eases Street Food Rules Vendors who sell so-called "street food" in Seattle can finally sell it... on the street. Since the 1980s, food trucks have been restricted to private property. The city council passed a measure that now gives them the go ahead to hawk goodies from public curbs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Controversial Wash. Data Center Project Opens The newest building on Washington’s capitol campus came in under budget, but nonetheless remains controversial. The doors opened Monday on the office tower portion of a new $300 million data center complex. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Corrections Union Wants More Attention to Officer Safety The union that represents Corrections Officers at Washington State Prisons says officials need to do a better job addressing the safety concerns of staff members. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Litter Line Falls Victim To Budget Cuts OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington's litter hotline is no more. The toll free number to report people throwing trash out of their cars has fallen victim to state budget cuts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Thompson Brigade reaches Astoria Astoria, Ore- A hardy crowd of well-wishers braved chilly, rainy weather on the waterfront Friday at a ceremony welcoming the David Thompson Columbia River Canoe Brigade. They're a troupe of history buffs and canoeists who paddled 1,000 miles to honor their hero. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | North Idaho Town Honors Two Fallen Soldiers Coeur d'Alene, Idaho remembered two fallen National Guard soldiers this weekend. Sergeant Nathan Beyers and Specialist Nicholas Newby died earlier this month in an attack on their convoy in Baghdad. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bee Counters Saturday, several thousand Washingtonians were counting bees in their back yards for the Great Bee Count Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Pesticide Exposure Investigation in Residential Area BLACHLY, Ore- The State of Oregon plans to begin testing residents of the Triangle Lake area for exposure to pesticides used on clear cuts. At a packed Grange Hall in Blachly Thursday night, state and federal officials explained the details of the “exposure investigation.” Correspondent Jes Burns reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho National Lab Requests Emissions Permit For Research On Radiation A new facility at the Idaho National Laboratory would test the effects of radiation on the materials that could be used to build future nuclear reactors. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Book Looks At Hanford’s Role In The Atomic Age A new book explores how southeast Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation helped shape the atomic age. It's called "Made in Hanford: The bomb that changed the world." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Departing Mt. Rainier Superintendent Gets Emotional It's not every day you hear the superintendent of a national park get teary-eyed. But longtime Mt. Rainier chief Dave Uberuaga was feeling emotional Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UT-Arlington Joins Idaho and Seattle in the Western Athletic Conference The University of Texas at Arlington will be joining Idaho, Seattle and the other members of the Western Athletic Conference on July 1, 2012. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | On The Road Again, But Megaloads Taking New Route Imperial Oil will try out “plan B” Friday night in its effort to ship pieces of an oil refinery to Canada. The ExxonMobil subsidiary met stiff resistance with its original route on a scenic Idaho highway. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Yucca Mountain In Nevada Still Kicking After U.S. House Vote A bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would breathe new life into the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The House will vote Friday on a larger spending bill that includes a budget increase for reviewing the project. Correspondent Anna King explains what that means for the Northwest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Business Models Being Used in UI's Research and Extension Services State budget cuts in 2009 and 2010 have led to major changes in the way the University of Idaho manages its agricultural research and extension centers across the state. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Haugen To Get New Lawyers In Execution Bid An Oregon death row inmate who's trying to speed up his execution convinced a judge to replace his lawyers Thursday. But Gary Haugen will still have to submit to an evaluation of his mental competency. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mental Hospital Staff Bear Brunt of Patient Violence It's a place where people go to heal. It's also the most violent workplace in Washington. At Western State Hospital, healing of the severely mentally ill often comes at the expense of their caregivers' health. This is next installment in the series, Danger at Work. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | "Prophet Of Doom" Preaches Tsunami Preparedness The State of Oregon employs its own "prophet of doom" to deliver a quake-up call to anyone who will listen. He's James Roddey with Oregon's Department of Geology. His main message is to be better prepared. The Northwest is due for a colossal earthquake and tsunami. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Pays A Premium For Electronic Benefits JPMorgan Chase charges Washington approximately $700,000 a month to issue food and cash welfare benefits via debit card. But public records show Washington is paying more than some other states, sometimes considerably more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mental Competency Of Death Row Inmate To Be Evaluated An Oregon death row inmate will get an evaluation to see if he’s mentally fit to decide whether to speed up his own execution. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Pays A Premium For Electronic Benefits Washington pays JPMorgan $1.65 per client per month for the service. But that’s nearly 70-cents more than what Colorado pays JPMorgan. Why is that? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Congress Debates Payments To Timber Counties A congressional committee will meet Thursday to discuss the future of an aid program for rural counties. The program has offset revenues counties once collected through logging on federal forest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | CDC in Seattle for Vaccine Input National health officials were in Seattle yesterday (Tue) as they consider a major decision on children’s vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control took public input at a Shoreline conference center. This is the first time the CDC is gathering public input on childhood immunization. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Historic B Reactor at Hanford Recommended For National Park Status The National Park Service Wednesday gave its support to turning part of the Hanford nuclear site into a new national park. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Violence in the E.R. Part 1 Most of us face little risk of being assaulted while we're on the job. But if you're a cop, a convenience-store clerk, or a cab driver, your line of work can quickly turn violent. The same is true for people working in hospitals and nursing homes. This is the third installment of our “Danger at Work Theory” series; correspondent John Ryan examines violence in the emergency room. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Cities Adapt To Food Cart Demand SEATTLE & PORTLAND - This week, we've been looking at food carts in the Northwest. These mobile restaurants are popping up all over the region, but regulations vary -- some cities make it easier than others. In the final installment of our series, food journalist Deena Prichep looks at how cities are adapting to increasing demand for street food. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fish and Wildlife Service Will Tackle Species Backlog MEDFORD, Ore- The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service agreed today to resolve the status of hundreds of potential endangered species by 2018. That means the end of a long wait for a northwest frog. Correspondent Amelia Templeton reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Quincy Data Centers’ Diesel Generators To Be Discussed The eastern Washington town of Quincy may get another 28 large diesel engines for its growing data center industry. That’s the subject of a state-run public meeting Wednesday at Quincy’s city hall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Investigators Recommend Clearing Treasurer's Staff Of Ethics Complaints State investigators are recommending that the Oregon Ethics Commission dismiss all remaining conflict of interest complaints against several investment officers at the Oregon Treasury. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | President Awards Medal Of Honor To NW Soldier President Barack Obama says the Medal of Honor could not be going to a "nicer guy." At the White House Tuesday, the president honored Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry , who's based in western Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Living The Dream: The Truth About Life Inside Food Carts When you grab a great meal from a food cart, it's easy to fantasize about quitting your day job and opening up one of your own. Cooking your favorite meals, not worrying about big overhead, no boss looking over your shoulder. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Workplace Safety Inspections Often Miss Their Target By law, all employers have to provide a safe workplace. Even so, someone dies on the job in Washington state about every four days. Somebody reports being injured at work every few hours. Many more injuries go unreported. And when state officials do try to enforce the law, they often look for workplace hazards in the wrong places. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Investigation Planned Into Hanford’s Safety Culture The U.S Department of Energy plans to launch a new investigation into safety culture at Hanford’s waste treatment plant. That was one piece of news from the agency’s Deputy Secretary during pep talks to thousands of workers at the nuclear site Monday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Convicted Murderer Joseph Duncan To Get New Competency Hearing Joseph Edward Duncan III pleaded guilty to the murder of a young boy in north Idaho and was sentenced to the death penalty by a federal court in Boise. Duncan waived his right to appeal that sentence and that has lead a court to order part of his case to be reconsidered. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Megaload Opponents File New Motion Megaload opponents want a hearing officer's decision that recommends 200 oversized shipments on Highway 12 be reconsidered. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Scatology Used to Study Orca Decline SEATTLE, Wash-- The resident Orca whales of Puget Sound have been on the endangered species list since 2005 and there are several hypotheses for why they’re not recovering. Scientists suspect lack of food, vessel traffic and pollution are to blame, but no one knows for sure. Ashley Ahearn reports on one team of researchers that’s relying on a secret weapon with a killer nose to figure out what is troubling orca whales in Northwestern waters. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Food Carts Fuse Cultures To Create New Cuisine SEATTLE, Wash - Throughout the Northwest, a new breed of food cart is emerging. These mobile restaurants sell fusion food, bringing together various ethnic dishes and ingredients to create a new American cuisine. This week, food journalist Deena Prichep brings us stories from food carts around the Northwest. And her series starts with a Korean taco. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Energy’s Deputy Secretary to Speak at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant RICHLAND, Wash. – The number two manager at the U.S. Department of Energy is scheduled to speak to workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Monday July 11th. As correspondent Anna King reports, the visit comes after criticism of Hanford's safety culture by a federal nuclear safety watchdog. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lineworkers: Bringing Power to the People, Without a Net SEATTLE, Wash-- Three years ago, federal officials called it the most dangerous job in America. The number of people killed while climbing cell phone towers has declined since then. Working on steel towers remains one of the nation's most dangerous jobs, right up there with commercial fishing. Correspondent John Ryan reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Gets 2000 Internment Camp Photos Washington State University in Pullman will soon get the largest collection of photos from a World War II internment camp Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Regional Weather "Normal" Is Warmer, Less Snowy The official definition for what we consider "normal" weather around here is changing. A division of the science agency NOAA has calculated new averages for U.S. weather stations. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Cherry Season Begins Late, Pickers Pass Time With Song The cherries are finally ready for harvest in the Northwestern U.S. A cold spring means that this is the latest cherry season anyone can remember. The Northwest News Network’s Anna King has this audio postcard from one of the largest fruit orchards in the world. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Liquor Privatization Initiative Appears Headed To Wash. Ballot It appears Washington voters will have another chance to decide whether to end the state’s monopoly on liquor sales. Backers of a measure to privatize the distribution and sale of hard alcohol say they submitted more than enough signatures Friday to qualify for the November ballot. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Release Wolf Hunting Season Proposal Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game Friday announced proposed seasons for wolf hunting. Emily Schwing reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fish Shift Up West Coast Predicted By Climate Study Climate change may push fish native to the Northwest coast further northward. That's according to a forthcoming study by American and Canadian fisheries biologists. They suggest West Coast fishermen will need to adapt to different prey if the Pacific Ocean warms as projected over the next fifty years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Forest Service and BLM Settle Lawsuit Over Old Growth Forest Species Two federal agencies have settled a lawsuit with environmental groups over some of the slimier species that thrive in old growth forests. None of the species are endangered, but each is unique to old growth forests. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Farmers Hope To Regain Mexican Market U.S. produce is about to get cheaper in Mexico. That includes apples, pears and potatoes from the Northwest. Mexico has agreed to lift a tariff it added three years ago in retaliation over a dispute with the U.S. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Governor Names New Prisons Director Washington Governor Chris Gregoire named former state prisons director Bernie Warner as the new secretary of corrections. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Chicken Cage Ballot Measures Shelved In OR & WA Animal welfare groups in Oregon and Washington are shelving initiative petition drives that could have required egg producers to give hens more spacious cages. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lane County, Oregon Cutting Jail Beds, Sheriff's Patrol The Lane County Sheriff is closing 84 jail beds and cutting back on patrol and probation. This is due to a nearly $2 million budget cut. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Kibbie Dome Renovation Project On Schedule at U of Idaho University of Idaho officials say the latest phase of renovations to the Kibbie Dome is on schedule and should be completed in time for the fall athletic season. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Despite Tuition Increase, WSU Still Has Millions To Cut A recently approved tuition increase at Washington State University has not meant an end to budget problems there. In fact, there's a long way to go. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NW National Lab Still Recovering From Cyber Attack The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state gets about 4 million cyber attacks a day. But workers there are still trying to get fully back online after a sophisticated attack shut down most Internet services last Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Solondz Returns To Face Charges From 2001 UW Arson One of the FBI’s most wanted is soon on his way back to Tacoma. He’ll face charges from an arson that destroyed the UW Urban Horticulture center ten years ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Media Moguls Talk Tech In Sun Valley Some of the biggest names in media and technology converge on Sun Valley, Idaho this week. Think: Zuckerberg, Gates and Murdoch, all attending an annual retreat known to produce major industry-shaping business deals. This year digital media companies are flexing their clout. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Public Utility Commission Opens Investigation into Rural Telephone Issues SALEM, Ore- The Oregon Public Utility Commission opened a formal investigation Tuesday into long distance telephone problems in rural areas of the state. Correspondent Angela Kellner reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Former Wash. DOC Chief Admits To Affair With Staffer OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington’s former prisons chief, Eldon Vail, has admitted to an extramarital affair with a subordinate. Seattle TV stations are airing video they say shows Eldon Vail leaving a motel with that staffer. Vail resigned suddenly last Friday. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Cleanup Continues Along Yellowstone River HELENA, Mo --The cleanup is continuing along the Yellowstone River near Billings, Montana. An ExxonMobil oil pipeline burst over the weekend, spewing an estimated 42-thousand gallons of crude into the water. Correspondent Emilie Ritter says it’s still unclear just how far reaching damage from the spill will be. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Cleanup Continues Along Yellowstone River An ExxonMobil oil pipeline burst over the weekend, spewing an estimated 42,000 gallons of crude into the water. Montana Public Radio’s Emilie Ritter says it’s still unclear just how far reaching damage from the spill will be. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Health Science Center in Spokane Receives $35 Mil. In State Funding $35 million appropriated by the Washington State Legislature will allow construction to begin on a new Washington State University Health Science Center at the Riverpoint campus in Spokane. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | As Idaho Plans Wolf Hunt Without Quotas, New Pack Confirmed in Cascades The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is developing a proposal that could make this year's wolf hunting season even more controversial. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford Whistleblower Says He'd Do It Again Anna King reports on Walt Tamosaitis, the Hanford safety whistleblower. It has been a year since Tamosaitis blew the whistle. What has happened in his life and at Hanford since? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | First North Cascades Grizzly Sighting in 50 Years Bear experts have confirmed the first grizzly bear sighting in Washington’s North Cascades in over 50 years. Ashley Ahearn reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A Fixer-Upper Yields Valuable Chinese Artifacts A fixer upper is paying unexpected dividends for a couple in The Dalles, Oregon. The back parking lot is yielding artifacts that give rare insight into the lives of pioneer Chinese immigrants. Tom Banse reports Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Prisons Chief Resigns; New Details Emerge On Attempted Prison Break Washington’s prisons chief has resigned suddenly citing personal reasons. The announcement late Friday comes the same week an inmate was fatally shot during a prison escape attempt. Governor Chris Gregoire’s staff says she did not ask Eldon Vail to tender his resignation. Meanwhile new details emerged about the incident at Clallam Bay prison. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Deputy Secretary Of Energy Tells Hanford Employees To ‘Reach Out’ With Safety Concerns The U.S. Department of Energy says it doesn’t agree with the finding that the safety culture at Hanford is “flawed.” Even so, the department says that it’s working to make improvements at the waste treatment plant under construction in southeast Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Begins Deporting Some Prison Inmates Early Washington has begun to deport some prison inmates before their sentences are up. The new program is expected to save two-million dollars a year. But it has immigrant rights advocates concerned. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commentary: My Country Tizovee When you were a kid, did you sneak candies and hide the wrappers so your parents wouldn't find the evidence? Commentator Corinna Nicolaou did too. As we head into the 4th of July weekend here's a story of rebellion, and the sweet land of liberty, as a child sees it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Kitzhaber Enjoys Productive Session, Avoids Vetos As Oregon lawmakers head home after adjourning their 2011 session in Salem, many give Governor Kitzhaber high marks. Even with a closely divided House and Senate, lawmakers passed many of his priorities. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Even As The West Prepares, Climate Still A Sticky Issue Among Western Governors The governors of western states have a new agreement with the federal science agency NOAA. The aim is to share and develop climate information to help predict catastrophic events. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Adjourn 2011 Legislative Session The Oregon Legislature has adjourned for the year. Thursday House and Senate leaders gaveled the session to a close. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Dept. of Energy Seeks Confidential Details From Hanford 'Safety Culture' Investigation The Department of Energy is trying to get confidential details about an investigation by a federal nuclear safety watchdog. But that investigative agency says that keeping the information confidential is critical to its probe into Hanford’s safety culture. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | More Details Emerge In Wash. Prison Break Attempt Washington's Clallam Bay prison remains on lock-down after a brazen escape attempt Wednesday that left one inmate dead. New details are emerging. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Inslee Won’t Rule Out Tax Increases Washington’s newly announced Democratic candidate for governor does not support the current two-thirds requirement for lawmakers to raise taxes. And if elected, Jay Inslee says he won’t rule out higher taxes to pay for education or other priorities. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Feds Release Plan to Recover Spotted Owl Federal authorities rolled out final plans Thursday for recovering the Northwest icon, the Northern Spotted Owl. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Two Years On, Idaho Town Hopes For Local Captive's Homecoming It's been two years since since the Taliban captured an American soldier who grew up in Hailey, Idaho. Bowe Bergdahl remains the only U.S. soldier in Taliban captivity. Getting him back will be a delicate matter for international peace negotiators. In the meantime Bergdahl's hometown will quietly mark the anniversary of his imprisonment on Thursday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Negotiators Agree On Plan To Redraw Ore. Congressional Districts Oregon lawmakers have reached a deal on redrawing the state's congressional boundaries. If the Senate and the House pass the plan Thursday, it will mark the first time lawmakers have agreed on federal and state political maps since 1981. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Health Transformation Bill Wins Final Passage The Oregon Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would dramatically alter the way the state delivers health care to low-income and disabled Oregonians. It's called the health care transformation bill. It aims to coordinate teams of health care providers that would encourage preventative care to avoid expensive ER visits. Democrat Alan Bates told his colleagues these changes would lower the cost of insuring the state's Medicaid recipients. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Cuts to Juvenile Parole Puts Convicted Killer Back On The Street One of the three teens convicted of killing a popular Seattle street musician in 2008 continues to make headlines for his tangles with the law. Billy Chambers -- who's now an adult -- was most recently locked up for hit-and-run. It turns out he did not qualify for supervision by a juvenile parole officer because of state budget cuts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Couple Takes Long-Brewing Clean Water Act Controversy To Supreme Court A north Idaho couple's fight with the Environmental Protection Agency is attracting attention from some of the largest corporations in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to take up the property rights case this fall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Inmate Shot and Killed During Escape Attempt at Clallam Bay Corrections Center The State Department of Corrections says an inmate was shot and killed after an apparent escape attempt at Clallam Bay Corrections Center Wednesday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Klamath Salmon Migration In Jeopardy MEDFORD, Ore. -- A panel of independent scientists says a billion dollar plan to remove four dams and balance the needs of agriculture and fish on the Klamath River might not increase Chinook salmon runs. Correspondent Amelia Templeton reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Potatoes, Defended BOISE - Idaho's governor and the potato commission are defending the state's famous tuber. Boise State Public Radio’s Scott Ki explains why. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Budget Writers Break Corrections Logjam A budget puzzle that began months ago is nearly complete. Oregon lawmakers began this year's legislative session with one goal: pass a budget that balances a $3.5 billion shortfall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Governor Kitzhaber Creates New Education Board Governor John Kitzhaber Tuesday signed the first of a series of bills aimed at overhauling Oregon’s education system. The new law creates a single oversight board to coordinate all education spending in Oregon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Secretary Of State To Retire Washington voters will select a new Secretary of State in 2012. Republican Sam Reed announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of his third term and not seek re-election. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Former Wash. DOC Supervisor: Agency “Completely Failed” In Clemmons Case The Washington Department of Corrections failed to adequately supervise Maurice Clemmons from the day he arrived in Washington from Arkansas. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Human Services Budget 10 Percent Less Than Current Services The Oregon House approved a social services budget Tuesday that includes nearly 10 percent less money than the estimated cost of current services. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | ExxonMobil Megaloads Get The Green Light In Idaho A hearing officer in Boise has issued a long-awaited recommendation that will likely determine whether ExxonMobil's so-called "megaloads" can travel a scenic Idaho highway. The opinion comes down in favor of the oil company. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Some Bills Languish As Oregon's Legislative Session Ends Oregon lawmakers say they're on track to finish by the Thursday deadline. But on their way to the exit, they're letting some bills drop by the wayside. One measure hung up in committee is aimed at giving small businesses easier access to state-backed loans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | July 4th: Independence, Fires and Injuries One Fourth of July sparkler in the hands of a supervised child is probably pretty safe. But fire marshals warn they’ve seen people wrap three hundred of the sparkly wires together to create a homemade bomb. Each year, fireworks cause more damage and injury than you might expect. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Supreme Court of Washington to Hear Oral Arguments on K-12 Funding The Supreme Court of Washington State is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on a question that’s hung over the state for 30 years: How to pay for public education. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Inslee Announces Run for Wash. Governor Democratic congressman Jay Inslee has officially jumped into the race for Washington state’s next governor. He kicked off his campaign in Seattle Monday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | High-Tech ‘Crops’ Growing Fast In Quincy In the last five years, the town of Quincy has become a regional center for online data storage. As correspondent Anna King reports, this new crop of buildings in Quincy, has already changed the rural community, but will the bounty last? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Soldier Overcomes War Wounds, Gets MBA A gravely injured Army captain proudly graduates from business school. This is correspondent Austin Jenkins' final installment of a year-long series following soldiers who were members of the 5th Stryker Brigade. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Group Files Ballot Measure For Additional Egg Reform The group Oregonians for Humane Farms is filing a ballot measure to give egg-laying hens more room. The move is the latest twist in an on-going debate over how chickens should be treated in the Oregon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Scholarships For Libyan Students In NW Secured Despite Ongoing War As if fighting in their homeland wasn't enough of a worry, Libyan students in the Northwest had another pressing concern. Sanctions on the Libyan government threatened to cut off their scholarships and possibly make some of them homeless. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Town Marks Two Years Since Taliban Captured Hometown Soldier President Obama's announcement that he will begin drawing down troops from Afghanistan was a reminder to residents of Hailey, Idaho, that they're still waiting for one of their own to return. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is the only U.S. soldier in the captivity of the Taliban. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Budget Negotiations Continue In Salem Oregon lawmakers will not adjourn their 2011 session this week as many had anticipated. Budget negotiators are still trying to reconcile their differences over how to patch an $18 million hole in the Department of Corrections budget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | War Crimes Case May Have Fueled Alleged Terror Plot The Seattle terror plot federal authorities say they foiled this week may have been fueled – in part – by alleged war crimes committed by Washington-based soldiers. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Campaign Launched Against Human Trafficking Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna announced a nationwide campaign to help victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and called for stiffer punishments for traffickers on Thursday as he visited Chicago to accept the role of president of the National Association of Attorneys General. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington's New Pain Management Law Beginning To Take Effect Starting in July the state of Washington will begin to implement new regulations for physicians and prescribers who treat their chronic pain patients with opiates, meant to provide patients with better pain care and to prevent overdose deaths. But what effect will this have on a vulnerable population of chronic pain patients? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Transformation Bill Key To Oregon Health Authority Budget House lawmakers Thursday passed a two-year budget for the Oregon Health Authority. This agency oversees health care for low-income and disabled Oregonians. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Governor Kitzhaber Signs 'Cool Schools' Initiative Governor John Kitzhaber Thursday signed into law Oregon's so-called "Cool Schools" initiative. The measure helps schools access financing to pay the upfront costs of energy and seismic upgrades in K-12 classrooms. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WA Governor Proposes Partnership To Build Wind Energy Storage Governor Chris Gregoire wants Washington state to lead the way toward figuring out how to store surplus wind power. The governor invited two of the world's biggest energy companies to join a R&D partnership during a stop on her European trade mission. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Illegal Journalist Reveals Gap In Wash. Driver’s License Screening A Pulitzer prize winning journalist who is in this country illegally managed to obtain a Washington driver’s license – even though he doesn’t live in Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Schools Frustrated With State-Mandated Computer System The head of public instruction in Idaho says the state won't comply with parts of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and will substitute its own standards for assessing student achievement Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running This weekend, an Army widow named Lisa Hallett will lead a group of runners in Seattle's Rock 'n' Roll marathon and half-marathon. They are members of a running club that formed during an especially deadly deployment of Washington-based soldiers to Afghanistan. For Hallett and her teammates, running has become not only a way to remember their loved ones, but an outlet for their grief. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. Higher Education Budget Includes Tuition Increases The cost of higher education for students will rise under a budget approved by House lawmakers Wednesday. Tuition and fees at Oregon universities would increase by 7.2 percent on average over the next year. That translates to about $7,000 per student. Di Saunders speaks for the Oregon University System. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bill Would Reimburse County Jails For Holding Repeat Drunk Drivers Oregon lawmakers hope to adjourn this week. One of their final tasks is to reconcile their differences over the Department of Corrections budget. The Senate did agree Wednesday on one way to manage some prison costs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Pharmaceutical Company Searches NW Mountains For Cancer Drug A Massachusetts pharmaceutical company is hoping a Northwest plant long considered a toxic weed could have cancer-fighting properties. The firm’s scientists are a long way from proving that, but they’re scouring the West for a plant known as the “corn lily.” Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Initiative Seeks to Legalize Pot The national debate about marijuana legalization now has a new battleground in Washington State. A coalition of high-profile advocates filed a comprehensive, pro-pot initiative this morning. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. House Votes To Compensate Ranchers Who Lose Livestock To Wolves Ranchers who lose livestock to wolves would receive compensation under a measure approved Wednesday by the Oregon House. The bill would also provide grants to help ranchers implement nonlethal wolf control techniques. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Columbia Barge Traffic Normalizing As High Water Recedes Barge operators say the Columbia and Snake river system is slowly getting back to normal. High water levels driven by heavy snowmelt made navigation difficult for the past month and backed up cargo shipments. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. Education Bills Move Forward A legislative session known for its lack of drama is ending on a fiery note. Oregon lawmakers are hotly debating a raft of education bills aimed at overhauling Oregon's education system. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NW Soldiers Prepare To Deploy As President Plans Troop Drawdown Six hundred Northwest soldiers are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan even as the president plans a troop drawdown in that country. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Department Of Energy Responds To Safety Culture Criticism In Letter To Employees The U.S. Department of Energy is defending its safety culture at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. The agency sent its workers a letter in response to harsh criticism this month in a report by a federal nuclear watchdog. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho’s Payette County Oks Nuclear Plant The company that wants to build a nuclear power plant in southwest Idaho has cleared its last obstacle at the local level. Payette County commissioners voted Monday afternoon to rezone land for the project. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Spotted Winged Fruit Fly Worries Northwest Fruit Farmers Some of the first Northwest fruit of the season – blueberries -- are weeks from harvest. But a minuscule Asian fly with spotted wings once again has West Coast fruit growers worried they might lose their crops. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Begin Work On Education Reform Bills Oregon lawmakers began voting Monday on a variety of bills to make sweeping changes to the state's education system. The Senate has already passed many of the proposals, but momentum is slower in the House. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. Lawmakers Begin Work On Edu. Reform Bills Oregon lawmakers began voting Monday on a variety of bills to make sweeping changes to the state's education system. The Senate has already passed many of the proposals, but momentum is slower in the House. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Spotted Winged Fruit Fly Worries Northwest Fruit Farmers Some of the first Northwest fruit of the season – blueberries -- are weeks from harvest. But a minuscule Asian fly with spotted wings once again has West Coast fruit growers worried they might lose their crops. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov in Paris: “Thank goodness we’re the home of Boeing” Boeing has announced more than $11 billion in sales at the Paris Air Show. The order includes 17 of the aerospace giant’s newest generation 747 jumbo jets – built in Everett . Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Seeing the Future of Our Landscape THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. - Oregon researchers have set up a kind of time machine to test how a warmer climate might affect the region's grasslands and prairies. Our intrepid correspondent Tom Banse asked to see the wildflowers of the year 2075. He's back from the future and brings us this report on how much color you can expect. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington State Parks to Charge Fee OLYMPIA, Wash. – Free access to Washington state parks and recreation lands is about to end. Starting July 1st, visitors must pay a $10 per day fee or buy an annual pass for $30. The new fee system comes as the state cuts off funding to the park system because of tight budget times. Austin Jenkins reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hunting and Fishing Increases as Economy Declines The recent economic downturn has caused an interesting blip in hunting and fishing license sales. Tom Banse obtained spreadsheets from the three state Fish and Wildlife agencies in the Northwest and has this report. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | After Federal Guilty Plea, Colton Harris-Moore Expected to Plead in Washington State Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called “Barefoot Bandit,” pleaded guilty to seven charges in federal court in Seattle Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Nuke Power Plant Startup Delayed After Maintenance Closure A $125 million remodel of Energy Northwest’s nuclear power plant near Richland, Wash., is now behind schedule. It’s the only commercial nuclear power plant in the Northwest and was supposed to come back online at the end of the month. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. DSHS May Push To End 85-Cent Chase Fee Washington may push JPMorgan Chase to stop charging welfare recipients 85 cents to withdraw cash at an ATM. That’s the word from an official at the Department of Social and Health Services. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Controversial Education Bills Begin To Move In Oregon Legislature The Oregon Senate Friday passed a bill that gives public universities more authority over their own affairs. For one thing, the legislature will no longer be able to take back money from Oregon universities that have money left over from tuition hikes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Some Layoffs At Hanford A Sign Of Cleanup Progress Layoffs are tough in any town, but in Richland, in southeast Washington, they’re sort of expected. That’s because work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has always been up and down. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Shellfish Growers Seek Help To Fight Sea Grass "Infestation" Pacific Coast shellfish growers say the spread of a non native sea grass is threatening clam production. For the second year in a row, the industry's trade group is asking Washington State to follow California's example by listing Japanese eelgrass as a noxious weed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. Senator Accused Of Stifling Union Criticism Oregon Senate budget chair Richard Devlin is under fire. He's being accused of muffling criticism of an SEIU plan to add 7,000 workers to its union roster Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Revenue Forecast Takes $570M Bite Out Of Reserve Washington lawmakers left town last month with a balanced budget and $700 million in a reserve fund. Now most of that reserve is wiped out in the latest revenue forecast released Thursday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Latest Invasive Weed Not Following Usual Script The usual story of invasive species goes something like this. An exotic plant or critter hitches a ride on an incoming cargo ship. Alarm bells go off. An eradication campaign starts. But now there's a non-native seaweed on the West Coast that breaks the mold. Japanese eelgrass has defenders along with its critics. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. To Require JPMorgan Chase To Disclose 85-Cent Fee Washington Governor Chris Gregoire says JP Morgan Chase must figure out a way to make their ATM machines warn welfare clients of an 85-cent fee to withdraw cash. The governor made her comments Wednesday after she declined to veto the disclosure requirement. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon National Guard Troops Return From Afghanistan About 70 Oregon National Guard soldiers were welcomed home from Afghanistan Wednesday. The 400-day mobilization for the Pendleton-based team included a 10-month deployment to Afghanistan. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mill Closure Spikes Dream Of A Young Entrepreneur The Northwest economy is improving, but rural counties continue to grapple with high unemployment. Nearly four years ago we brought you the story of young professionals moving back to timber-ravaged Grays Harbor County on Washington's central coast. Today we have a follow-up and the news isn't good. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Accused Eco-Saboteur Changes Plea to Guilty In UW Arson Case A former Olympia resident changed her plea to guilty Tuesday in a notorious case of eco-sabotage. Briana Waters admits to serving as the lookout at a 2001 arson attack at the University of Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Widow: Husband’s Death A Reminder Hanford Still A Dangerous Place To Work Some people who worked in the tank farms at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have developed a strange brain disease. A handful have come forward. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov. Signs Budget To Close $5B Gap Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has signed into law a two-year operating budget that closes a $5 billion budget gap. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Loses 700 Jobs in May “Fairly disappointing.” That’s how Washington’s chief economist describes the May unemployment picture that came out Wednesday. Dave Wallace says the state experienced a net loss of 700 jobs in May after eight months of job growth. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. Lawmakers Close Cell Phone Loophole Oregon lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would further limit the number of Oregonians who can use a cell phone while driving. Under current Oregon law, drivers who claim they're using their phone for business are not required to use a hand-free device. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon's Unemployment Rate Continues to Drop The latest figures pin it at 9.3 percent. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, that's the lowest it's been in two-and-a-half years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Health Authority Budget Relies On Second Year Cost Savings The Oregon Senate passed a health care budget Tuesday that relies on the state implementing cost-cutting measures next year. The Oregon Health Authority oversees health care for low-income Oregonians and the disabled. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WWII Bomber Appearance Cancelled After Fiery End To 'Liberty Belle' The owners of a vintage B-17 bomber have cancelled an appearance this weekend at an air show in Olympia. The decision comes after a fiery crash landing Monday of another World War Two-era "Flying Fortress" in Illinois. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon's Unemployment Rate Continues to Drop The latest figures pin it at 9.3 percent. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, that's the lowest it's been in two-and-a-half years Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant Project Has ‘Flawed’ Safety Culture A high-level whistleblower from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is meeting with members of Congress this week. The topic: the safety culture at Hanford’s $12 billion waste treatment plant. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov’s Race: Gregoire Bows Out, Inslee Says Announcement "Shortly" Washington Congressman Jay Inslee says he will make his intentions regarding a bid for governor known “shortly.” The Democrat issued that statement Monday after incumbent Governor Chris Gregoire announced she will not seek a third term. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Hope For Deal On Congressional Redistricting Oregon lawmakers say they still hope to reach a deal on redrawing U.S. Congressional districts before they adjourn. That map was not part of the historic legislative redistricting plan signed into law Monday by Governor John Kitzhaber. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Silver Valley Cleanup Gets New Infusion From Hecla Settlement The long-running cleanup of toxic mining pollution in north Idaho's Silver Valley turned an historic corner Monday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Safety Culture At Hanford “Flawed” A federal nuclear watchdog says the safety culture at Hanford’s massive waste treatment plant is flawed and puts people and the project itself at risk. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gregoire Won’t Run For Third Term The path is now clear for Congressman Jay Inslee – and other Democrats - to enter the race for Washington governor. Incumbent Democrat Chris Gregoire announced Monday she will not seek re-election. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Silver Prices Kindled By Unorthodox Investors The price of silver has gone sky-high. That's spurred talk of new mine developments in north Idaho's Silver Valley. It's one of the most productive silver-mining regions in the world. But the silver market is especially finicky. In part, that's because the people who buy silver are not your typical suit-and-tie investors. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Climate Controlled Prairie Experiment Gives Window Into NW Future Oregon researchers have set up a kind of time machine to test how a warmer climate might affect the region's grasslands and prairies. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Plastic Bag Ban Dead, At Least For Now Proponents of an Oregon plastic bag ban have given up... at least for now. The bill would have banned single-use plastic bags at grocery checkout stands and other retail stores. Paper bags would have cost a nickel Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Budget Bills Signal End Is Nigh For Legislative Session Oregon lawmakers are picking up the pace in Salem. One sign they're likely to finish the session in the next few weeks is the flurry of activity on budget bills. The Senate passed more than a half dozen agency spending plans Thursday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Zealand Snails Invade Seattle Scientists have found a tiny invader from New Zealand in the Seattle area for the first time. Federal scientists tracking water quality actually found the snails clinging to rocks in the creek two years ago. But nobody recognized these snails for what they were—alien invaders from the other side of the planet—until last month. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | McKenna Supports Parental Consent For Abortion Washington’s first official candidate for governor in 2012 says he supports a parental consent requirement for abortion. Republican Rob McKenna weighed in on several hot button social issues in an interview Thursday with our Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Watchdog Questions Hanford Treatment Tank Science A federal nuclear watchdog agency is questioning some of the science behind a massive treatment plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Death Penalty Opponents Plan To Ask Oregon Supreme Court To Block An Execution An Oregon man on death row who says he's ready to be executed, recently fired his attorneys. Another lawyer says the way this played out is against the law. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | North Cascades Wolves Hit Hard By Poachers; Indictments Filed The long prison terms looming over three people indicted this week for killing wolves could send a message to poachers. But it won't bring back the first wolf pack to re-establish in Washington state. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Governor Signs ‘Bottle Bill’ Expansion Oregon's iconic bottle deposit system will get an overhaul under a bill signed into law Thursday by Governor John Kitzhaber. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Attorney General Announces Gubernatorial Intentions Attorney General Rob McKenna officially launched his campaign for governor on Wednesday. He made his announcement at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, his high school alma mater. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon's Timber Harvest Bounces Back Oregon's timber industry bounced back in 2010 according to new data released by the state's Department of Forestry. Lane and Douglas Counties led the way. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Redistricting Plan Raises Some Skepticism Oregonians will get a chance to weigh in for the first time Thursday on a new plan to redraw Oregon's legislative districts. In Salem the bipartisan agreement has raised some eyebrows. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gregoire Unveils Strategy To Keep Boeing 737 In Wash. "Project Pegasus." That's the code name Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has for a new effort to convince Boeing to build its next generation 737 jetliner in Washington and not elsewhere. Gregoire unveiled her strategy Wednesday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Defense Attorneys Ask Judge for New Trial for Pete Seda Pete Seda was back in federal court in Eugene Tuesday asking a judge for a new trial. The co-founder of an Islamic charity in Ashland was convicted last year of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and filing a false tax return. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov Unveils Strategy To Keep Boeing 737 “Project Pegasus.” That’s the code name Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has for a new effort to convince Boeing to build its next generation 7-3-7 jetliner in Washington and not elsewhere. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ore. Lawmakers: No Midwest Firewood In My Backyard Oregon lawmakers gave final approval to a measure Wednesday that would ban untreated firewood from outside the Northwest. Proponents hope the bill will prevent the spread of invasive species like the Asian long-horned beetle in Oregon forests. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sick Hanford Workers Say Safety Isn't A Priority Workers at the Hanford nuclear site complained about their health issues being a low priority at a conference organized by watchdog group Hanford Challenge yesterday. They are asking for fair compensation and to keep their safety a priority. Correspondent Anna King has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Nuclear Power Plant Rezoning Decision Postponed Commissioners in Payette County, Idaho have postponed a decision on whether to rezone agricultural land to build a nuclear power plant. Correspondent Aaron Kunz has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lawmakers Call For Wash. To End Contract With Chase JP Morgan Chase charges Washington more than $8 million a year to disperse welfare benefits electronically. Now 35 Washington House Democrats have signed a letter asking the state to cancel that contract as soon as possible. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Unveil Redistricting Plan The four Oregon lawmakers in charge of redrawing the state's legislative boundaries say they’ve reached a milestone. They unveiled a redistricting plan Tuesday they believe will pass the Oregon legislature. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | GOP Source: Rob McKenna Will Announce For Wash. Governor Wednesday Washington’s 2012 governor’s race is underway. Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna is expected to announce his candidacy at an event Wednesday night. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Governor Signs 'Buy Oregon First' Bill State and local governments could give preference to Oregon businesses even if those contracts are slightly more expensive. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Regents Approve Sixteen Percent Tuition Hike The Regents of Washington State University have approved a sixteen percent increase in in- state undergraduate tuition. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Anglers’ ‘Hackles’ Raised Over New Hair Trend Fly fishermen are having a hard time getting a crucial piece of equipment they need to attract fish. One of the key feathers used in fly-tying is suddenly becoming scarce. It turns out, one man’s hackle is another woman’s hair extension. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Latino Farmworkers Union Papers Archived by U of O A part of Oregon’s Latino American history will be preserved for posterity, thanks to a new partnership between the University of Oregon and the farmworker union. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | More Taxpayer-Funded Electric Car Charging Stations Unveiled A project to build the biggest electric car charging network in the Northwest kicks into higher gear this week. The first public charging stations in that taxpayer-financed network will be unveiled at ceremonies outside Portland Tuesday and in Seattle later this week. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Chickens To Get Housing Upgrade Oregon chickens may get a housing upgrade. House lawmakers passed a measure Monday aimed at giving egg-laying hens more room to move around. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Chase Bank Lobbies For Veto Of Wash. Fee Disclosure Requirement JP Morgan Chase – the second largest bank in the country - is lobbying Washington Governor Chris Gregoire for a line-item veto. Lawmakers voted last month to require Chase to alert Washington cash assistance clients of an ATM fee the bank charges. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Nuclear Regulators Pressure Hanford To Step Up Safety Federal nuclear regulators are pressuring managers of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to step up design safety at its waste treatment plant. The massive 12-billion-dollar vitrification plant is designed to treat millions of gallons of radioactive sludge. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Scientists Enjoy One Last Birds-Eye-View of Forest Canopy It was a kind of last frontier. For 15 years researchers have used a 25-story construction crane to explore the canopy of an old growth forest in Southwest Washington. But this summer, the crane is getting stripped down. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Senate Okays Person-to-Person Car Rental The Oregon Senate Monday voted 25 to 3 to change insurance rules. The new rules of the road would allow private car owners to join car sharing services without jeopardizing their auto coverage. The measure is now one step away from the governor's desk. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The ABC's of the Affordable Care Act A major building block of the Affordable Care Act is about to come to the health care system. Beginning in January, so-called Accountable Care Organizations will be the latest initiative to improve patient care, and to contain skyrocketing medical costs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Snowpack and Rising Temperatures Lead to Flood Concerns on the Columbia Waters are rising in the Columbia River system because of the wet spring and the heavy snowpack. In Vancouver, Wash., the river is at 17 feet. That’s considered flood stage. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Re-enactors Embark On Epic Paddle Down Swollen Columbia River Nearly 200 adventurers and historical re-enactors have embarked on 1,000 mile canoe journey down the length of the Columbia River. The party is retracing the trailblazing journey of Canadian explorer and fur trader David Thompson. Correspondent Tom Banse reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Brother of Imprisoned Hiker Visits Cottage Grove, Oregon American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer have been imprisoned in Iran for nearly two years. Saturday was Josh's 29th birthday. His brother joined friends in Cottage Grove for a somber celebration. Correspondent Rachael McDonald reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Deciding the Future of Nuclear Power in Payette County Payette County Commissioners consider the future of nuclear power in Southwest Idaho tonight. A company called Alternate Energy Holdings Incorporated wants land rezoned for a potential reactor. Correspondent Scott Ki reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Harmful Algal Blooms Bad News for Salmon Sometimes massive blooms of algae show up in coastal waters of the region, making shellfish unsafe to eat. These algae have a little-known cousin that’s bad news for salmon. Ashley Ahearn reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gates Foundation Unveils New Seattle Headquarters The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation unveiled its new headquarters on Thursday. It’s across the street from the Space Needle in Seattle. Officials say the $500-million-dollar campus shows the foundation’s commitment to the Northwest, and to global philanthropy. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash., Oregon, Alaska Tops Among Vaccination Refusers A new federal study says Washington state has the highest rate of parents refusing at least some mandatory vaccinations for their kids. Oregon and Alaska are also in the top five for their vaccine refusal rates. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Island Tries Peer Pressure To Save Energy Starting this weekend, residents of two neighborhoods on Bainbridge Island, Washington will get an in-your-face reminder of how much energy they’re using. Bainbridge is one of three Northwest cities to receive a federal grant to do aggressive energy efficiency outreach. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | House Dems Attempt To Dislodge In-State Tuition Bill Democrats in the Oregon House launched another effort Thursday to yank a high-profile bill out of committee. The measure would allow undocumented residents to qualify for in-state college tuition rates. But such parliamentary tactics are rarely successful. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Superintendent Releases Complaints Over Teacher Politicking Idaho’s superintendent of schools is accusing teachers of engaging in political activity on school grounds. And now he’s released the complaints from parents that he says prove it. This is just the latest battle in an ongoing fight between Idaho teachers and the head of public instruction. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sturgeon Decline In Northwest Part Of Larger North American Trend Decades of state and federal efforts to recover endangered salmon in the Northwest are well-publicized. What’s less well-known is a project in its infancy—white sturgeon recovery. World conservation groups report the Northwest is home to one of the last stable sturgeon populations on earth Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Need Cash? Rent Out Your Car Your car may be your most prized personal possession. But the vast majority of the time it’s parked not doing anything, isn’t it? Now, several startup companies propose to help you rent your own car to someone else when you don’t need it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Army Alcohol Treatment Program Breaks Barriers Almost 30 percent of the Army’s suicide deaths between 2003 and 2009 involved alcohol or drugs. Yet Army research shows that many soldiers are reluctant to seek help on their own because it involves notifying unit command. In response, the Army has been testing out new ways to reach out to soldiers in need of help by offering a confidential treatment option. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | BPA Ban Remains In Flux Despite Signature Shortage An effort in the Oregon legislature to ban the chemical BPA from children's beverage containers has fallen short...at least for now. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Tops Northwest In Pedestrian Safety The most dangerous place for pedestrians isn't downtown. It's out around strip malls. That's according to a new report that examined pedestrian and bike fatalities nationwide over the last decade. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Health Insurance Exchange Bill Moves In Advance Of Deadline Oregon's version of a health insurance exchange marketplace is back on track. An Oregon House panel voted Wednesday to advance a measure that would create a marketplace for affordable health insurance. The action came just before a legislative deadline to keep certain bills alive. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Investigated Energy Employees Get Their Jobs Back An investigation released Wednesday has cleared four Oregon Department of Energy employees of any wrongdoing. The probe was related to a contract given to a company partly controlled by Governor John Kitzhaber's girlfriend. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gregoire Defends State Tab for Paris Air Show Governor Gregoire’s trip to the Paris Air Show later this month will cost the state tens of thousands of dollars. The 9-day trip will cost taxpayers about 40-thousand dollars. Gregoire calls it a good investment. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Technology Helps To Keep Tabs On Oregon Wolves It’s been more than a decade since gray wolves crossed the Idaho border into Oregon in 1999. Northeastern Oregon’s Imnaha pack has several confirmed livestock kills in Eastern Oregon near the town of Joseph. But as Correspondent Aaron Kunz explains, newer technology and cooperation with the state is aiding ranchers in tracking the wolves’ whereabouts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Early Summer Crops Are Particularly Late This Year The Northwest's cold and wet spring is leading some farmers to take extreme measures to ready their crops for market. Alfalfa throughout the region is nearly a month late and sweet cherries will be hard to find for the Fourth of July. Correspondent Anna King has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Human Service Cuts Come Into Sharper Focus Low-income Oregonians who receive cash assistance will likely get a reprieve. A key legislative committee voted Tuesday to avert cuts to that program. Correspondent Chris Lehman has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Turbines Going Off Line For Historical Dam Removal Nearly 100 years of hydro-power production comes to a close today on the Elwha River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The turbines at the two dams on the river are going off line for good in preparation for the biggest dam removal in North American history. Correspondent Tom Banse has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Major Cause Of Idaho Cattle Deaths Similar To Common Cold A report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service shows that the leading cause of recent Idaho cow deaths was similar to the common cold and flu. Correspondent Emily Schwing has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Excess Water Kills Fish At Grand Coulee Farm-raised steelhead trout are dying by the thousands below Grand Coulee Dam in Washington because federal operators are releasing so much water. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho More Youthful, Oregon Grayer Than National Median Age The American West is home to more young people than any other region of the country according to new data from the U.S. Census. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Measure Would Expand Use Of Ignition Interlock Devices More people convicted of a DUI in Oregon would be required to install an ignition interlock device in their cars under a measure making its way through the Oregon legislature. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Bill Would Extend More Authority To Tribal Officers Tribal police officers would get more authority to arrest people off-reservation under a measure moving forward in the Oregon Legislature. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Idaho Educational Reforms Still Under Debate The ink is barely dry on three education reform laws in Idaho, but opponents say they have gathered enough signatures to send the laws to a statewide vote. The reforms stirred up quite a controversy at the state capitol this winter. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Voter Initiative At Odds With Privatized Liquor The state legislature took the first step toward privatizing liquor distribution this week. The new legislation allows private companies to submit bids to be the sole distributor of liquor in the state, and not all advocates of privatizing liquor are happy with the development. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Central Washington Water Project Named For Adversary You can file this next item under the “strange bedfellows” category. Farmers and ranchers in central Washington’s Kittitas Valley will dedicate a major stream restoration project Friday in memory of a former adversary. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Economic Impact Of New Clean Fuel There are two coal burning power plants in Centralia, and they’re set to shut down in 2020 and 2025. Environmentalists are excited, but Lewis County officials worry about the economic impact. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon High Court Bolsters Miranda Rights The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday that people accused of crimes need stronger warnings about their rights to legal defense. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Former Gov. Locke Gets Friendly Reception At Confirmation Hearing Former Washington Governor Gary Locke Thursday promised to forcefully raise human rights concerns with the Chinese government if he is confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to Beijing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Electric Car Road Fee Dies in Wash., Still Alive In Ore. Electric car enthusiasts and the nation’s biggest car maker are breathing a sigh of relief. That’s because the Washington Legislature adjourned Wednesday without approving a new annual fee on fully electric cars. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Foes Of Merit Pay, Teacher Union Reforms Say Petitions Are Full The ink is barely dry on three education reform laws in Idaho, but opponents say they have gathered enough signatures to send the laws to a statewide vote. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Lawmakers Adjourn Special Legislative Session Wednesday night, lawmakers wrapped up a special legislative session aimed at producing a two-year, $32 billion dollar operating budget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho River Communities Brace For Flooding Emergency officials in Idaho say rivers are starting to approach 1997 levels. That's the year the state saw record-setting floods. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Lawmakers Adjourn Budget Session Wednesday night, lawmakers wrapped up a special legislative session aimed at producing a two-year, $32 billion dollar operating budget. Afterwards, Governor Chris Gregoire commended lawmakers on a bipartisan effort. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Clergy Abuse Case Becomes Spiritual Struggle for Idaho Attorney One of the largest clergy sex abuse cases in the country has turned into the case of a lifetime for one Northwest attorney. The settlement between the Northwest Jesuits and abuse victims will soon go before a federal judge in Portland for confirmation. The north Idaho attorney who helped negotiate this $166 million deal says he was a small town “nobody” before the case. Correspondent Jessica Robinson tells the story of how going up against the Catholic church shook up his own long-hel ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Send Bottle Bill Expansion To Governor Oregon lawmakers Wednesday approved a major overhaul of the state's bottle deposit system. The measure would potentially increase the deposit from a nickel to a dime and expand the types of containers it applies to. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Health Care Union Files Initiative To Soften Cuts The Washington state budget plan released Tuesday will cut funding for in-home health care workers. In reaction, one health care workers’ union has already filed an initiative aiming to mitigate the effects of some of those reductions. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Columbia River Sea Lions Get a Reprieve With New Agreement No more sea lions on the Columbia River will be captured or killed this year. Rob Manning of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports on a new agreement. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wine Makers Fret Over Cool Spring, Still Hold Out Hope For Good Vintage Northwest winemakers are holding out hope for a good 2011 vintage despite this being the coldest spring they can remember in decades. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Violent Crimes Trend Downwards Nationwide According to new statistics from the FBI violent crime around the nation dropped five-and-a-half percent last year. Cities in the Northwest echo that trend with decreased violent crime all around. Correspondent Kristian Foden-Vencil has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bill Allows Canned Good Sales Direct From Farmers A bill clarifying what products farmers’ market stands can sell directly to consumers heads to to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. Correspondent Laura McCandlish has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest Lawmakers Crack Open Egg Controversy The Northwest egg industry is changing the way it houses chickens. But animal rights activists in Oregon and Washington say the change isn’t going far enough. Correspondent Chris Lehman has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Marijuana Bill Dies, Referendum Introduced There's another twist in the battle over how to regulate medical marijuana in Washington. A cannabis advocacy group has filed a referendum to overturn the legislation largely vetoed by Governor Chris Gregoire. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) Killing Northwest Horses, Shutting Down Show Season The states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho have asked horse owners to quarantine their animals. State agriculture officials are asking stables to practice biosecurity for at least two more weeks due to an outbreak of Equine-Herpes-Virus-One. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Legislative Leaders Unveil Budget Plan Teachers in Washington would face a 1.9 percent pay cut from a state budget released by legislative leaders Tuesday. K through 12 administrative staff would face a 3 percent cut in salary over the next two years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Supreme Court Ponders Red Light Camera Initiatives Several Washington cities are asking the state Supreme Court to rule that red light traffic cameras cannot be stopped by local citizen initiative. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Spring Rains and Low Tempatures Have Idaho Farmers Concerned Farmers in Idaho should be pleased with all the spring rain, but all those storm clouds have kept temperatures low, sunlight to a minimum and seeds from sprouting on time. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | BPA Struggles to Balance Hydropower and Wind Energy At a wind energy conference in California today, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer criticized Bonneville Power Administration for shutting off wind turbines last week when there was too much hydropower coming onto the grid. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Man Sets Out on the Pony Express Trail The Pony Express was the FedEx of the late 1800s. The trail became the nation's most direct route for mail between Missouri and California. The 10-day trip crossed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. Today, an Idaho man sets out from Kansas on that route with his horses. Most of us have a bucket list – the things you've always wanted to do. Tom Noll is no exception. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | High Gas Prices Hurting Meals On Wheels Gas prices in the Northwest are inching downward again after peaking near four dollars a gallon earlier this month. The trend comes too late to erase the blow delivered to Meals on Wheels programs around the region. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Take Aim At Faith Healing Defense Oregon lawmakers want to prevent parents from using their religious faith as a defense for withholding medical treatment from their children. The Oregon Senate advanced a measure Monday that could lead to murder charges when a child dies as a result of relying on faith healing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Communities Bracing For High Water From The Snake River And Tributaries Federal managers on the Snake River in eastern Idaho are making tough choices this week. The river and its tributaries are swollen with rain and a heavy snow melt. Some nearby residents are packing up to leave. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Lawmakers Reach Budget Deal They have yet to release specifics, but Washington’s legislative leaders say they’ve reached an agreement to close Washington’s $5 billion budget shortfall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Move To Lease Liquor Distribution Alive Again Washington would have the option to privatize the state’s liquor distribution system under a measure that passed the state Senate Saturday. Correspondent Bryan Buckalew reports it’s the latest compromise in a long-running debate over the future of Washington’s liquor system. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WA Lawmakers Strike A Deal On Workers’ Comp Washington lawmakers say they’ve finally reached an agreement on how to overhaul the state’s workers’ compensation system. The issue has been one of the main sticking points during this spring’s special legislative session. Bryan Buckalew reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Turning Down The Volume Underwater This month in Victoria and Seattle, separate groups of scientists are sharing their observations that the ocean is getting noisier. Correspondent Tom Banse reports conservationists and shippers are also talking about how to dial down the volume. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Union Rally Draws Thousands To Oregon Capitol Public employees turned out in droves for a rally at the Oregon state capitol Friday. It comes as lawmakers are seeking ways to bridge a three-and-a-half billion dollar budget gap. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Running Start Students Face Tuition Increase High schoolers in Washington can get a jump start on college by taking classes at community colleges during their final years of high school. Right now, the courses are almost free, but that could change. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Jobless Rate Drops For First Time In Four Years Idaho may finally be joining the rest of the Northwest on the path of economic recovery. The state's unemployment rate dropped last month for the first time in four years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Study Says Earthquakes Near Hanford Not As Unlikely As First Thought For years top scientists have said a big earthquake near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is highly unlikely in our lifetimes. Now, a new geological study is being published, and what it says is shaking up assumptions. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Ready for Wolves to be Removed from Endangered List Idaho has officially gone back to its own wolf management plan. Now that states once again have authority over wolves, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted Thursday to adopt its previous plan for managing wolves. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Little Plastic Pieces and Our Marine Life Photographs of strangled sea birds and suffocated sea turtles have widely publicized what happens when plastic gets into the ocean. But what happens when that water bottle or plastic bag breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Post-Release Parolees to Recieve Less Supervision Low and moderate risk parolees would get less supervision under a bill approved by the Washington State Senate today. The measure could save the state roughly ten million dollars. The bill does not include the Senate’s original proposal to cut 60 days off inmate sentences. Republican Senator Mike Carrrell explained his support on the floor of the Senate Thursday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hurdle For Passing The Washginton Budget: Logistics Washington lawmakers are inching toward a handful of agreements that would allow them to pass an operating budget and adjourn this month's special session. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | OSU Vet. Doc Says Keep Horses Stalled Until Deadly Horse Virus "Blows Over" Oregon veterinary experts say horse owners should keep their animals in their stables until a potentially deadly virus passes. The advice comes after veterinarians determined that equine herpes virus killed two horses in Idaho. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon High Court OKs Concealed Weapons For Pot Patients Medical marijuana users in Oregon can no longer be denied concealed handgun licenses. That's the upshot of a ruling Thursday from the Oregon Supreme Court. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | As Yakima River Flood Waters Recede, Residents Clean Up Some areas of the Northwest remain at risk of flooding. But residents along the Yakima River are cleaning up flood damage as the water recedes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Moscow, Idaho Company Recieves International Humanitarian Reward A Moscow, Idaho environmental engineering company has received an international humanitarian award from the United Nations for its work in Nigeria to mitigate the worst lead poisoning crisis on record. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sen. Murray Questions U.S. Secretary of Energy about Nuclear Cleanup Washington Senator Patty Murray grilled Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on the Obama Administration's plans to fund the Hanford cleanup in 2012. She asked him questions during a Senate hearing Wednesday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Professor Recieves Prestigious Wolf Prize Retired Washington State University professor R. James Cook has won the 2011 Wolf Prize in Agriculture, one of the highest honors in the field. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Roseburg Forest Products to Lay Off More Than 200 Roseburg Forest Products announced Wednesday it is laying off more than 200 workers at three plywood plants in Oregon. Vice President of Human Resources, Hank Snow, says the continuing slump in homebuilding has hurt their industry. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Eugene Voters Reject Income Tax for Schools Voters in Eugene defeated a proposed income tax that would have prevented teacher layoffs and furlough days in the cities two school districts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | BPA Turns Off Northwest Wind Turbines Northwest dam operators turned wind turbines off Tuesday night – putting into practice, a policy established just last week. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Judge Sets August 16 Execution For Gary Haugen A judge in Salem Wednesday signed a death warrant for what would be Oregon's first execution in 14 years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Continues to Add Jobs Washington’s economy continued its slow comeback last month. The state added 5,800 jobs in April according to numbers released today. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | West Richland Couple Save Turkeys, Chickens, Ducks and Goats From Flooding The Yakima River in southcentral Washington, continues to flood nearby communities and roadways. The river crested at nearly 16-feet Wednesday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Steam From Manhole Covers, Renewable Energy Source? Steam rising from a manhole cover is an iconic urban image. Steam which is now being considered as a model for efficient, renewable energy for the future. Ann Dornfeld has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Unemployment Rate Dips To Single Digits Oregon's unemployment rate continues its downward trend. New figures released Tuesday show the state's jobless rate has reached single digits for the first time in more than two years. Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Feds Consider Hanford Site To Store Radioactive Waste Federal Energy managers are considering the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southcentral Washington, as a possible place to dump long-lived radioactive trash. Government officials took public comment last night in Pasco on the waste dump plan. Correspondent Anna King has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sixth Soldier Charged In Afghan Murder Case The Army has charged a sixth soldier based in western Washington in the murder of three Afghan civilians last year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | B.C. Parliamentarians Add To Call For Parvaz Release Members of the British Columbia Parliament pounded on their desks Tuesday to demand that Iran release Canadian-American journalist Dorothy Parvaz. She’s the former Seattle-based reporter who has not been heard from for more than two weeks. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Some WA Guard Units May Deploy Again Some Washington National Guard members have learned they may be deploying again soon. The Pentagon is considering parts of the 81st Brigade combat team and a unit within the 506th military police company for future overseas missions. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Central Washington Rivers Flooding, Causing Grief Residents in central Washington are watching their swollen rivers closely. Flooding is due to recent heavy rains, a hefty mountain snow pack and warmer weather. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Jobless Figure Back In Single Digits Oregon's unemployment rate is finally back in single-digit territory. State labor economists Tuesday announced that the seasonally-adjusted rate fell to 9.6 percent in April. That's the lowest it's been since December of 2008. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Feds Re-Authorize Catching and Killing Sea Lions California Sea Lions can once again be trapped or killed near Bonneville Dam, under a new federal authorization announced Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Will Boost Freshman Enrollment This Fall Washington State University will boost freshmen enrollment this fall to help offset state budget cuts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. House Says Chase Must Disclose EBT Fee The Washington House voted Friday to require JP Morgan Chase to disclose a fee it charges welfare clients who live on just a few hundred dollars a month. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Death Row Inmate Says He's "Cool" With Possible Execution An Oregon death row inmate is one step closer to becoming the first person to be executed in the state since 1997. Defense attorneys for Gary Haugen tried to get an outside mental evaluation for the convicted murderer. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Blue Ribbon Commission: DOE Shouldn’t Determine Home For Nation’s Nuclear Waste The U.S. needs a new federal agency with the mission of finding and building a home for the nation's nuclear waste. That's according to draft recommendations from a Blue Ribbon Commission meeting Friday, in Washington, D.C. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Extending California Dredge Ban Forces Miners North A California legislative panel has proposed action that would extend a ban on suction dredge gold mining for five years. The full legislature has yet to take final action. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington Cigar Smokers Push For Space Of Their Own Cigar aficionados could light up at their favorite bar under a bill up for a vote in the Washington Senate this week. The measure would allow cigar lounges in some bars and tobacco stores. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Aim to Reduce Child Prostitution Oregon lawmakers have approved a bill that would create tough penalties for people who pay for sex with minors. Right now people who are convicted of soliciting prostitutes are penalized the same regardless of the sex worker's age. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Astoria Celebrates Bicentennial With Look Back To 1811 Quick, name the oldest city in the Northwest. You get a gold star if you answered Astoria, Oregon. It is named for wealthy fur trader John Jacob Astor. The settlement at the mouth of the Columbia River celebrates its bicentennial this year. The official kickoff is this weekend . Correspondent Tom Banse reports Astoria’s founding has left legacies that span the whole Northwest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Rules Distance Boats From Endangered Orcas Whale watching is a popular activity in the border waters between Washington State and British Columbia. New rules that take effect today require vessels to give a wider berth to the iconic resident killer whales. Correspondent Tom Banse has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Time Is Running Out For Wash. Special Session It’s do-or-die week in the Washington legislature. A budget deal will have to come together over the next several days if lawmakers are to finish business within the 30-day special session. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Businesses Tapping Into Growing Latino Buying Power The buying power of Latinos in the U.S. has more than doubled in the last 10 years, even growing through the recession. But many businesses are still learning how to tap into the Latino market. The intersection of cultures was recently on display at a business expo in Kennewick, Washington. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Latinos' Growing Numbers And Affluence Attract Marketers Northwest companies hoping to reach Latino consumers gathered in Kennewick, Washington this weekend for a business expo. It came on the heals of recent census figures that show Latinos represent the fastest growing market segment in terms of buying power. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Death Row Inmate Denounces Attorneys, Requests Execution An Oregon death row inmate told a judge in Salem Friday that he doesn't appreciate attempts to block his execution. Attorneys for Gary Haugen unsuccessfully tried to persuade a judge that the convicted murderer suffers from a variety of mental defects. Correspondent Chris Lehman has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. House Says Chase Must Disclose EBT Fee The Washington House voted Friday to require JP Morgan Chase to disclose a fee it charges welfare clients who live on just a few hundred dollars a month. The vote came in response to a series of stories we brought you in the last week. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Blue Ribbon Commission: DOE Shouldn’t Determine Home For Nation’s Nuclear Waste The U.S. needs a new federal agency with the mission of finding and building a home for the nation's nuclear waste. That's according to draft recommendations from a Blue Ribbon Commission meeting Friday, in Washington, D.C. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Death Row Inmate Says He's "Cool" With Possible Execution An Oregon death row inmate is one step closer to becoming the first person to be executed in the state since 1997. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Feds Re-Authorize Catching and Killing Sea Lions California Sea Lions can once again be trapped or killed near Bonneville Dam, under a new federal authorization announced today Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Will Boost Freshman Enrollment This Fall Washington State University will boost freshmen enrollment this fall to help offset state budget cuts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commentary: The Great Crack in the Atlantic The island nation of Iceland is particularly hard hit by the economic crisis. Dr. Kirsten Peters, "The Roc Doc," ponders the possibility of a geologically based resurgence of the Icelandic economy. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Libyan Student Funds Frozen by U.S. The fighting in Libya’s civil war is threatening to spread collateral financial damage—and hardship-- among Libyan students in the United States and Canada. Northwest Public Radio’s John Paxson has this report. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Famous Racer's Ride Restored The Indianapolis 500 is celebrating its 100-year anniversary and if you are a car enthusiast it is the place to be, because the IMS is hosting 1000 vehicles this month. One of those cars is a Vollstedt 67-B, driven by two-time world champion race-car driver Jim Clark. There’s a northwest link here: the car was restored in the Tri-Cities. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Desmond Tutu - "It's the Little Things" The former Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and Nobel Peace Lauriat, Desmond Tutu is scheduled to speak to more than 7,000 people at the Tacoma Dome Friday night. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Environmentalists Drop Suit Against Wolf Kill Environmental groups have dropped a legal fight to keep state wildlife officials from killing two wolves in northeastern Oregon. The wolves are blamed for recent livestock deaths in that area. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Trial Lawyers Keep Washington Vulnerable to Litigation The amount of money Washington is paying to settle lawsuits has nearly doubled in the past five years. Yet, a series of proposals to limit Washington’s exposure to litigation failed this year in the legislature. The effort faced opposition from a lobby group that holds significant sway in Olympia – trial lawyers. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Libyan Tuition Freeze Worries Students The fighting in Libya’s civil war is threatening to spread collateral financial damage—and hardship-- among Libyan students in the United States and Canada Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Get Mostly Positive Revenue Forecast Oregon lawmakers finally got some good news from state economists. After nearly two years of downward revenue forecasts, Thursday's prediction was actually higher than the one before. But the increase wasn't big enough to get everyone singing a happy tune. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Moscow Concerned Over Megaloads on U.S. 95 Moscow, Idaho - Imperial Oil- ExxonMobil wants to move oversized loads from the Port of Lewiston along US 95 through Moscow, Idaho to its oil refinery project in Alberta, Canada. Residents of the Moscow area have questions about the proposal. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Taking Another Look at Medical Marijuana Legislation OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington Governor Chris Gregoire says she wants all the states that allow medical marijuana to ask the federal government to reclassify the drug. She scheduled a conference call among those states Thursday. Meanwhile, a state Senate committee heard testimony Wednesday on a last ditch effort to pass an overhaul of Washington’s medical marijuana law. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Pygmy Rabbits Reintroduced to Washington EPHRATA, Wash. – In north central Washington, scientists are trying once again to reintroduce a tiny endangered rabbit species into a big, predator-ridden landscape. Next week scientists plan to release about 100 young pygmy rabbits -- each one the size of a tennis ball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Debate Over In-State Tuition for Undocumented Residents SALEM, Ore. - An emotional debate continued in Salem Wednesday. It's over whether to allow the children of undocumented residents to qualify for in-state college tuition rates. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Army Fancies Unfinished Nuke Plant For Training The quest to find new uses for an uncompleted nuclear power plant in western Washington has a new twist. The U.S. Army has taken a liking to training soldiers in the tunnels, plazas and towers of the old Satsop complex. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Redistricting Maps Released Lawmakers in Salem are getting their first look at maps that could shape their political careers. Democrats and Republicans released competing plans Wednesday to redraw political boundaries in Oregon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov Approves 6 New Health Care Laws Washington residents under age 19 won't be refused health insurance even if they have a pre-existing condition. Governor Chris Gregoire signed that protection into law Wednesday along with several other health care measures. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Lawmakers Slash Funds for Performance Audits Bonanza. Windfall. Surge of funds. Those are some descriptions of a recent tax amnesty program in Washington State. It delivered a surprising payout of $320 million. State lawmakers cheered the news last week. But now, some legislators want to slash funding for the program that suggested the idea in the first place. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wind Power Headed For Great Expansion The amount of wind power in the Northwest is likely to double – and perhaps triple– over the next 15 years. Correspondent Rob Manning reports on a new estimate delivered yesterday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bridgeport Sad About Loss, Happy For National Attention Teachers at Bridgeport High School are telling students not to feel like they lost President Obama chose a school in Tennessee yesterday to deliver a commencement address. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has this story from the tiny Northwest school that made the top three in the White House competition. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Microsoft's Skype Acquisition May Have Been Defensive Move Microsoft may have been acting defensively, when it decided to acquire internet telephone and video company Skype. Correspondent Derek Wang has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Law Aims To Sway Immunization Skeptics Washington parents who want to send their children to school without vaccinations may find it tougher to do so under a new law. A bill signed by Governor Chris Gregoire Tuesday requires parents to consult with a medical professional before opting out of mandatory immunizations. Correspondent Bryan Buckalew has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | $20 Million Climate Change Research Project Kicks Off A five year, $20 million research project looking at the impact of climate change on wheat and barley production in the Pacific Northwest kicked off Monday at the University of Idaho. Northwest Public Radio’s Glenn Mosley reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | DSHS Must Address Welfare ATM Fees Washington House Representative and chair of the Early Learning and Human Services Committee, Ruth Kagi, says hidden ATM fees by Chase bank must be addressed. Correspondent Austin Jenkins has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bankruptcy Court Blesses Harry & David Financing A bankruptcy court judge has blessed key portions of a restructuring plan for the famous Northwest retailer Harry & David. Correspondent Tom Banse says the decision increases the likelihood the Medford-based company will survive, but its pension plan may not. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Obama Won’t Go To Bridgeport, WA Students at Bridgeport High School reacted with sadness to word that President Obama will not be their school’s commencement speaker. Instead, a school in Memphis won the president’s Race to the Top competition. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Partial Truce Announced Over Endangered Species Listing Morass The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the process of adding animals and plants to the endangered species list has become practically paralyzed by lawsuits. The agency Tuesday announced a settlement with one of its most frequent petitioners. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lifelong Search for Endangered Family Flower Its bloom time for wildflowers just outside Jacksonville in the Cascade foothills and at low elevations across the Northwest. Reporter Amelia Templeton went searching for an endangered lily that only grows on a few hillsides in southern Oregon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | City Of Sunnyside Tables Anti-Gang Resolution The city council of Sunnyside debated a resolution Monday, to allow police to use counter-terrorism techniques to fight against gangs. But as correspondent Anna King reports, the resolution proved too controversial to win final approval, at least for now. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Governor, Legislative Leaders Say They've Reached Budget "Agreement" Oregon's governor and legislative leaders say they've reached a budget agreement following a daylong, closed-door summit Monday. But as Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman reports, the announcement contains few details. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash House Approves Higher Tuition, More Financial Aid Another round of double-digit tuition increases appears imminent at Washington universities. Legislation passed today would allow the schools to set their own tuition rates for the next eight years with some restrictions. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hecla Profits Reach All-Time High Despite Miner Death One of the largest mining companies in the Northwest says its first-quarter earnings doubled compared to a year ago, reaching an all-time high. Hecla Mining makes the announcement amid new volatility in the silver market and less than a month after one of its miners died in a cave-in in north Idaho. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Government Announces Rail Grants For Oregon and Washington The federal government announced $2 billion in high-speed rail grants today Monday. Oregon's share was just $1.5 million. But as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports from Oregon Public Broadcasting, rail supporters say it's still a step in the right direction. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Grapple With Cuts To Social Assistance This Thursday will be a big day among insiders at the Oregon capitol. But the numbers they’re watching will have an impact statewide. Lawmakers will hear the final forecast of state revenues before they finalize the cuts included in the next two-year budget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bridgeport Waits For White House Call tudents and staff at Bridgeport High School in north central Washington are on pins and needles Monday. They’re waiting for a call from the White House saying whether or not President Obama will deliver the school’s commencement address. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Columbia River Court Hearing Focuses on Future of Fish It’s now only a matter of time before the Northwest gets a decision on how the federal government should run dams on the Columbia River without killing off threatened salmon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UW Crow Research Aids Hunt for bin Laden We’ve all heard now about how a team of U.S. Navy Seals took down Osama bin Laden. But the decade-long hunt for the terrorist leader also got some help from an unlikely partner connected to the University of Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Chase Bank Collecting Hidden ATM Fees From Welfare Clients Public records show that JP Morgan Chase has been collecting hidden ATM fees from Washington welfare reciepients. Correspondent Austin Jenkins has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sunnyside, Washinton Prepares To Take A Hard Stance Against Gangs The city council in Sunnyside, Washington will decide today if they will declare war on local gangs. Correspondent Anna King has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Portland Judge Hears Salmon Preservation Case A district judge in Portland hears oral arguments today in a case that's nearly a decade in the making. The endangered Snake River sockeye salmon is at the heart of it all, only surviving by human intervention. Correspondent Aaron Kunz has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Gates Urges Optimism, Barely Mentions Bin Laden In WSU Speech Less than a week after overseeing the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the U.S. Secretary of Defense barely mentioned the incident in the commencement speech he delivered at Washington State University Saturday. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | California Commission Approves Removal Of Four Southern Oregon Dams A California regulator will allow energy company PacifiCorp to remove four of its dams in the Klamath River basin. Amelia Templeton reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Watchdog Says Radioactive Waste May Remain At Hanford For A Long Time Washington Governor Chris Gregoire reacted with frustration to a report regarding the costs and shut down of the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository in Nevada. Correspondent Anna King reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Nearing Decision In Juvenile Lockup Bill Lawmakers in Oregon are close to signing off on a bill that would disallow locking up juveniles in adult jails while they await trial. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Governor Calls a Budget Summit Governor John Kitzhaber has summoned key lawmakers to his official residence on Monday, in an attempt to broker a plan for Oregon's next two-year budget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NW Pilots Credited With Flying Bin Laden Mission Washington state senators Wednesday praised Northwest chopper pilots for flying a celebrated mission that no one can confirm they were on. That would be the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. Correspondent Tom Banse explains. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Stand-Off Over Workers’ Comp Delays Wash. Budget A stand-off over changes to Washington’s injured workers system could drag out the current special session of the legislature. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | With De-Listing, Wolves' Only Predator (People) Prepare For Hunt Now that authority over gray wolves is in state hands, Idaho and Montana have some numbers to consider: “take” quotas. That is, how many wolf tags they'll issue this hunting season. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Boeing Whistleblowers Not Portected Under Sarbanes-Oxley Act The Ninth Circuit Court of appeals says two former auditors for Boeing were justifiably fired for going to the Seattle PI with complaints about the companies auditing practices. Patricia Murphy reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Dem: End Tax Breaks For Bull Semen And Chicken Bedding Lawmakers meeting in special session in Olympia took up the issue of tax breaks for big banks, chicken farmers and cattle breeders Wednesday. Some Democrats want to end those exemptions to avoid deeper budget cuts. But it would take a two-thirds vote. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon House Approves Bottle Bill Update Oregonians would pay a deposit on more types of beverage containers under a bill approved Wednesday in the Oregon House. The broad changes to the state's first in the nation bottle deposit law would also double the deposit to a dime if recycling rates drop below a certain threshold. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NW Pilots Credited With Flying Bin Laden Mission, But Unconfirmed Washington State Senators Wednesday praised Northwest chopper pilots for flying a celebrated mission that no one can confirm they were on. That would be the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Nuclear Watchdog: Hanford’s Tank Farm Piping ‘Not As Safe As It Could Be’ Some of the underground pipes that are being used to transport radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation date back to the 1960s. And the federal agency that oversees Hanford wants more assurances that the piping system will be safe. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wolf De-Listing Kicks In Thursday Starting Thursday , gray wolves in the West will officially be off the endangered species list. U.S. wildlife officials announced they're turning over management to Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Boeing Whistleblowers Not Portected Under Sarbanes Oxley The Ninth Circuit Court of appeals says two former auditors for Boeing were justifiably fired for going to the Seattle PI with complaints about the companies auditing practices. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lucky Friday Mine Set to Expand Despite Death Hecla Mining Company held its annual shareholders meeting in Boise Tuesday. The company operates the Lucky Friday mine in northern Idaho where a miner died in April. That death has pushed back an earnings report but it hasn't stopped a plan to expand the mine. Sadie Babits reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NW Developers Vie To Construct “World’s Greenest” Buildings Developers in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, BC are striving to build the “greenest” commercial buildings in the world. Tom Banse reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Combat Vet Loses GI Bill For Smoking Pot And Spice Smoking marijuana can help some people relax, and for one soldier dealing with post-traumatic stress it helped him adjust to life back in the states. But the consequences for smoking pot? Losing his GI Bill. Austin Jenkens reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Capital Gains, Kicker Deal In The Works Lawmakers in the Oregon Senate are close to deal that would make sweeping changes to state taxes on capital gains and Oregon’s iconic kicker law. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov: Tax Amnesty Money Should Aid Budget Deal A tax amnesty program has netted ten times what the state of Washington expected. Governor Chris Gregoire said Tuesday the surprise influx of cash should help lawmakers - meeting in special session - agree on a final budget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Conservation Groups Challenge Oregon Wolf Kill Four conservation groups filed suit today (Tuesday) in federal court in Portland to stop the killing of two wolves in northeast Oregon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Nuclear Board Criticizes Hanford's Piping System A federal nuclear safety board says the Hanford Nuclear Reservation's piping systems are inadequate. And the agency says those shortcomings could lead to spills of radioactive waste. Correspondent Anna King explains. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Seattle Muslims React To Bin Laden's Death Osama bin Laden’s death has sparked various reactions among people in Seattle’s Islamic community. Liz Jones reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Outlook, WA Girl Allegedly Shot Dead By Gang Members Residents of Outlook, Washington are reacting to the latest act of gang violence of the small town near Yakima. Four masked men allegedly shot a 16-year-old girl at the door of her family's home. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Federal Nuclear Board Criticizes Hanford’s Piping System A federal nuclear safety board says the Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s piping systems are inadequate. And the agency says those shortcomings could lead to spills of radioactive waste. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Former Seattle P.I. Reporter, Missing in Syria Dorothy Parvaz a former reporter and columnist for the Seattle P-I, is missing in Syria. Parvaz is now a journalist with Al Jazeera’s English Online. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Washington School Among Top-Three Picks For Obama Speech A small Northwest high school that serves mainly the children of immigrants is on the very short list for landing President Obama as its commencement speaker. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Big Carmaker Opposes Road Tax On Electric Cars America's biggest carmaker wants the state legislatures in Oregon and Washington to pull the plug on new road taxes for electric cars. The targeted new fees would offset declining gas tax collections. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Relief And Apprehension At JBLM To Osama Bin Laden Death At Joint Base Lewis-McChord , reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden ranges from relief to apprehension. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Scientists Work To Recover Sturgeon In the Mid-Columbia River Researchers with the Yakama Nation, the Chelan and Grant County Public Utilities Districts, and a number of other agencies released thousands of juvenile sturgeon into the mid-Columbia River. Fish biologists hope not only to learn more about this ancient fish, but also to recover its declining population. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | SEIU And Boeing Are Top Lobbying Spenders In Washington In just the first three months of 2011, lobbying interests spent nearly $14 million in Olympia. That’s according to new numbers from Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission. The top spenders? The union that represents home health care workers and aerospace giant Boeing. Austin Jenkins has our exclusive story. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Natural Gas Most Likely To Replace Coal At Big Power Plant The owner of the biggest coal-burning power plant in the Northwest is pondering how to replace its fuel source now that coal is officially on the outs in Washington state. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU to Increase Enrollment, Will Not Displace In-State Students To help manage costs in light of ongoing state budget reductions, Washington State University will increase its fall enrollment this year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon, Washington Closer To Shark Fin Ban Oregon and Washington are closer to banning the sale of shark fins. The Oregon House voted Friday to prohibit the possession or sale of the fins. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Retirement Plan Set For Last Coal Plant In Washington Factions that were once at war over greenhouse gas pollution applauded side-by-side today in Centralia, Washington Friday. The occasion was the signing of a bill to phase out coal at the big power plant there. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Study: Gas Tax Harder On The Poor Than Tolls When it comes to paying for the new 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington, sales or gas taxes would be harder on the poor than paying tolls. That’s according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Washington. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Prospect Of More Coal Trains Raises Concerns in Northwest Washington Washington Governor Chris Gregoire puts one long running environmental controversy to bed Friday.But meanwhile, another coal controversy is heating up in another part of Washington. It has to do with a big new export terminal planned for north of Bellingham. Correspondent Tom Banse reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UW Admissions Change Could Hurt Campus Diversity Monday is a life-altering deadline for many college-bound students. They must officially say yes to the school of their choice. This year, The University of Washington made extra efforts to persuade minority students to pick the UW. That’s because some school officials worry a recent change in the admission policy could hurt diversity on the Seattle campus. Liz Jones reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Apples Essential To Central Washington Socially And Economically The Apple Blossom Festival has started and there are many events planned to celebrate the fruit. As part of our occasional series where we talk with editors of the region's newspapers about the big story in their area, Sueann Ramella speaks with the Editorial Editor of the Wenatchee World, Tracy Warner. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commentary: Religion, Politics & Turmoil In The Middle East Lawrence Pintak, founding dean of The Edward Mr. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University, has been reporting on the Middle East for the past three decades. He’s currently in the region and sent these latest observations about religion, politics and the current turmoil. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon House Votes To Buffer Funerals Oregon lawmakers are moving ahead with a measure that would create a buffer between mourners and protesters at funerals. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Northwest’s Fire Season Shapes Up The Southern part of the U.S. – Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California – will likely have significant wildfires this year. Already fire crews are battling more than a dozen fires just in Texas. But here in the Northwest, the fire outlook is much rosier. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Senators Crack Down On Welfare Abuse, But Not Out-Of-State The Washington Senate has voted to crack down on the use of welfare debit cards at adult businesses. But the proposal would not address an issue we brought to light last December: welfare cash withdrawals at questionable out-of-state locations. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Racial Tensions Blamed For Oregon State Pen. Lockdown Racial tensions appear to be the cause of a series of fights at Oregon's largest state prison this week. The Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem remains under lockdown Thursday and for several days to come. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | School In WA Immigrant Community Up For Presidential Recognition A high school in North Central Washington is one of six finalists in the competition to win a commencement address from President Obama. Correspondent Jessica Robinson reports nearly all the students in Bridgeport are first-generation Americans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | School In WA Immigrant Community Up For Presidential Recognition One of six finalists in the competition to win a commencement address from President Obama is the high school in the tiny north-central Washington town of Bridgeport. Voting in the national contest ends this Friday. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Kitzhaber Urges Lawmakers To Move Ahead With His Proposals Roughly midway through the legislative session, Oregon lawmakers have yet to pass many of Governor John Kitzhaber’s proposals. In a speech Wednesday, the Democrat urged lawmakers to press ahead. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Medical Marijuana Dispensary Bill Faces Veto Pen Medical marijuana proponents in Washington met with the governor this week. But they didn’t change her mind. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Questions Remain About Piping Hanford's Nuclear Waste One of the most difficult challenges at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is moving radioactive waste from point "A" to point "B." The federal government is spending billions of dollars on a waste treatment plant. Piping that radioactive waste across the desert is sort of like getting ketchup out of a bottle. But it's a whole lot more complicated and dangerous. Anna King reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Lawmakers Aim High With Health Care Transformation There's nothing like a budget crisis to bring about full-blown change. At least, that's the thinking behind the efforts underway to re-shape the way low-income Oregonians receive health care. Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hanford’s N Reactor On Track To Be Cocooned By Next Year Hanford's largest nuclear reactor is on track to be "cocooned" by 2012. That's the announcement Tuesday from the Department of Energy and Hanford contractors. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Legislature Begins Special Session The Washington legislature has reconvened in special session to finish writing the next two-year state budget. The 105-day regular session proved not enough time for majority Democrats to agree on how to close a $5 billion budget gap. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Group Launches Radio Ads Against Oregon Plastic Bag Ban A bill to ban plastic supermarket checkout bags remained stalled in the Oregon legislature. It’s moved from one committee to another. And now opponents have launched a radio ad campaign against the measure. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | WSU Awaits Word On Budget Washington State University officials say no final decisions have been made on program eliminations or cuts to be made to the university’s budget. WSU, like other state agencies, awaits word on its budget appropriation. Northwest Public Radio’s Glenn Mosley reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Forensic Pathologist: Boise Soldier’s Gun Did Not Kill Afghan Civilian A soldier from Boise could not have killed an Afghan civilian because the bullet wounds don’t match the gun he was carrying. That was the testimony Monday in a pre-trial hearing for Private First Class Andrew Holmes – one of five Washington-based soldiers charged war crimes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UW Regents Choose Michael Young for President Members of the University of Washington Board of Regents say it’s probably official in about a week that the next UW President is Michael Young. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Investigation Into Lucky Friday Cave-In Begins Federal investigators are trying to determine what caused a deadly mine collapse in north Idaho. The investigation into the accident that killed 53-year-old Larry Marek began Monday at the Lucky Friday Mine. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Style of I-5 Bridge Between Oregon and Washington Announced The decade-long effort to replace the I-5 bridge between Oregon and Washington took a major step forward Monday. The governors of both states announced the type of bridge they want to build. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | College Students Rally for Funding at Oregon Capital Oregon college students are trying to shift attention in Salem toward higher education funding. Several hundred students rallied at the state capitol Monday to ask lawmakers to boost spending for public colleges and universities. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | SW Washington Coal Plant Will Shut Down in 14 Years It's 14 years off in the future. But a compromise deal will shut down the Northwest's largest coal-fired power plant near Centralia, Washington. Legislation is headed to the governor's desk following a vote Thursday in the Washington senate. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Miner's Body Pulled from Lucky Friday Crews at the Lucky Friday Mine in north Idaho have recovered the body of the miner trapped underground more than a week ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Commentary: Frist Hand Observations of the Middle East They are calling it the Arab Spring. Every day, there are new headlines about the popular uprisings shaking Arab governments. Lawrence Pintak covered the region as CBS News Middle East correspondent. Today he is founding dean of The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. But he’s back in the Middle East for a firsthand look and he sent us these observations. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | College Students Bearing Up Under Increased Costs to Their Education College students all over the region are facing higher tuition and fees as they pay for their college education. College students in Idaho showed this week that they understand the realities of state budget decisions. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Gov. Calls Special Session For Budget Washington lawmakers will take the Easter weekend off and reconvene in a special budget writing session next Tuesday. That was the announcement from Governor Chris Gregoire. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Critics: New Wash. PAC Reform Law Falls Short Laundering contributions through multiple political action committees would be harder under legislation signed Friday by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Living In Gangland: Portland Cops And Community Fight Gangs Gang violence can erupt anywhere and as our series on gangs continues, correspondent Kristian Foden-Vencil looked at what the cops and community members are doing in Portland to keep a handle on gang activity. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lucky Friday Rescuers Blast A Tunnel Toward Stranded Miner Rescue crews at the Lucky Friday Mine in north Idaho are about halfway through completing a tunnel to a trapped miner. The passage would allow them to send aid to an area that’s been sealed off since a collapse last Friday. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Spokane Bomb Suspect Accused Of Hate Crime A man accused of planting a bomb along Spokane’s Martin Luther King Day parade route now faces federal hate crime charges. A grand jury indicted Kevin Harpham Thursday. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Spring Chinook Begin To Arrive in Idaho The first of Idaho's spring Chinook are starting to arrive. Idaho Department of Fish and Game is predicting a large salmon run, but it may not be as good as last year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Wash. Legislature Lurches Toward Faux Adjournment The Washington legislature plans to adjourn the 2011 regular session Friday in advance of the Easter weekend. Then lawmakers will return in a yet-to-be-announced special session to finish writing the next two-year budget. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mandatory Sentences For Teens Shorter Under Oregon Bills Mandatory minimum sentences for teenagers would be shorter under a pair of bills that got the go-ahead Thursday from an Oregon Senate panel. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Kitzhaber Signs K-12 Budget After Making Deal Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed a pair of K-through-12 budget bills Thursday. But he did so only after making a deal with legislative leaders on funding for his other education priorities. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | 2025 Deadline For Shutting Down SW Wash. Coal Plant It’s 14-years off in the future. But a compromise deal will shut down the Northwest’s largest coal-fired power plant near Centralia . Legislation is headed to the governor’s desk following a vote Thursday in the Washington senate. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Newport Chosen for Wave Energy Test Site Oregon State University officials say a site near Newport, Oregon has been selected for a new wave energy test program. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Lucky Friday Mine Relies On Decades-Old Communication Technology The north Idaho mine where a man remains trapped 6,000 feet underground relies on communication technology that’s decades-old. Inland Northwest correspondent Jessica Robinson reports Marek wasn’t carrying a communication device with him. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mandates To Update Mine Communication Exclude Lucky Friday Hecla Mining officials say the man who's been trapped for five days in a mine in north Idaho was not carrying any sort of personal communication device. That's despite the fact that two-way wireless communication technology is available for underground use. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Wash. Motorcycle Law Dredges Up 30-Year-Old Cop Killing An April 13th bill signing ceremony in Olympia presented a strange scene. Governor Chris Gregoire was surrounded by a motley crew of leather-clad bikers. One of the bikers in the room that day killed a Portland cop 30 years ago. But Austin Jenkins reports on how the story gets even more complicated. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Education Officals Debate Cost Of Higher Education Wednesday’s meeting of the Idaho State Board of Education in Moscow was scheduled to set tuition fees for the coming academic year for the state’s colleges and universities. What emerged was a discussion over the ability of students and their families to pay for college. Glenn Mosley reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Living In Gangaland: Tacoma Police Claim Success Against Gang Violence The Pierce County Prosecutor and police are claiming success against gang violence in Tacoma. As part of our series “Living in Gangland” we take a look at the new ways an old law is being used to fight gang violence. Anna Boiko-Weyrauch reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Man Who Killed Portland Cop Attends Wash. Bill Signing More now on a story we brought you last week about a controversial governor’s bill signing in Olympia. Now some police officers are incensed about one of the motorcycle riders who was in the room at that ceremony – a man who killed a police officer 30 years ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Banner Water Year in the Northwest It’s a banner year for water around the Northwest. In Idaho, high water from above average precipitation and deep mountain snow has brought some flooding. But it also means the state’s water supply is in good shape. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon House Votes To Permit Dogs In Cougar Hunts The Oregon House took a step Wednesday toward overturning a voter-approved ban on using dogs to hunt cougars. Lawmakers voted 45-to-14 for a bill that would allow hunters to use dogs but only in counties that specifically authorize it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho’s Fledgling Gas Industry Gets Boost The oil and gas exploration company, Bridge Resources, wants to start producing natural gas from its wells in Payette County later this year. As correspondent Sadie Babits reports the company cleared a major hurdle Tuesday with the state's oil and gas commission. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Oregon Budget Writers Hear Opposition To Cuts Oregon’s legislative budget writers got an earful last night Tuesday night from people opposed to possible cuts to social service programs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Emotional Pleas Mark First Oregon Budget Road Hearing Care providers, school board members and parents of special needs children. Those were some of the groups who pleaded with the Oregon legislature’s budget writing committee Tuesday evening to find ways to head off cuts. The panel kicked off a statewide series of road hearings in Portland. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Living in Gangland: Keeping Kids Off the Streets As our series continues we turn to the tough streets of southeast Seattle where a new community-supported club is finding some success in bringing kids in from the cold embrace of gangs. It’s called the Ranier Vista Boys’ and Girls’ Club. Vanessa Romo reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Unstable Rock Forces New Approach At Lucky Friday Mine Rescue crews at the Lucky Friday Mine in north Idaho are changing their strategy to reach a stranded miner. That's because unstable rock in the area was putting the rescuers at risk. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Living In Gangland: SW Idaho City Tackles Gang Violence The city of Caldwell is just off Interstate 84 in southwest Idaho. It's surrounded by farmland and, for years, by gang trouble. That is until the community decided to try and get the upper hand. Correspondent Scott Ki reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Marchers Arrive At Wash. Capitol As Special Session Looms The Washington legislature is headed for an overtime session. The Senate late Monday approved its plan to close a 5-billion dollar budget shortfall.Meanwhile Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports budget protests continue at the Capitol. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Former NASA Administrator Says Space Program Important to Nation's Future A former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told a University of Idaho audience Monday that the space program can be a key to the nation’s future. Glenn Mosley reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Consumer Advocates Complain Insurance Exchange Bill Is Flawed A bill that would set up a marketplace for affordable health insurance is moving forward in the Oregon Senate. But the latest version of the bill is facing opposition from a coalition of consumer groups that originally supported the idea. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Crew Inch Closer To Trapped Miner In Idaho Rescue crews say they're getting closer to a miner trapped more than 6,000 feet underground in north Idaho. The mine's owner says rescuers have advanced more than 32 feet since the collapse late Friday afternoon, but progress is slow. Jessica Robinson reports from Mullan, Idaho. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Plastic Bag Ban Struggles To Gain Votes An effort to ban plastic grocery bags in Oregon has hit a snag. Advocates haven't gathered enough votes to pass it. They face a legislative deadline this Thursday to keep the bill alive. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Restricting Access to Ag Records The local food movement has encouraged people to visit the farms where their food is grown or raised. Some farms and ranches even offer weekend getaways. But not all facilities are open, and there is legislation to restrict access to agricultural records. Guy Hand reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | North Idaho Town Awaits News Of Trapped Miner A miner at the Lucky Friday Mine in north Idaho remains stranded more than a mile below the surface of the earth today. There's been no communication with 53-year-old Larry Marek since late Friday afternoon. That’s when the tunnel he was working in collapsed. Yesterday the Hecla Mining Company brought in a large piece of machinery called a “mucker” to move rock remotely. In the town of Mullan, Idaho, it's a reminder of the dangers miners face every day. Correspondent Jessica Robinson ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Members Of Outlaw Motorcycle Club Attend Bill Signing A recent bill signing ceremony with Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has caught the attention of some police officers. Members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were there to celebrate a new ban on police profiling of motorcyclists. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Anti-Tax, Anti-Union Rally At Wash. Capitol Tea Party and other conservative voices took over the steps of the Washington statehouse Friday. Turnout for the so-called “Tax Day” rally was much smaller than last Friday’s large union-backed event in the same location. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Idaho Employment Not Up, But At Least Not Down Idaho's unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent in March. That's the fourth month in a row it's stayed at the record high. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Some Coastal Tribes Want Help To Move Out Of Tsunami Zone After last month's Japanese tsunami, some coastal Northwest Indian tribes are expressing new urgency about the same danger they face. Correspondent Tom Banse reports from the town of La Push, on the Washington Coast. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Workplace-Safety Fixes Speed Up Under New Law If a business in Washington has unsafe working conditions, state safety officials can force it to quic