Tom Banse
Regional CorrespondentCorrespondent Tom Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering Washington and Oregon state government, public policy, business and breaking news stories. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work is appearing on other outlets.
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A majority of captains of big commercial ships transiting Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to temporarily slow down to reduce underwater noise impacts on critically endangered killer whales. The experimental slowdown will be extended into the new year.
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While many of the disruptions of the pandemic have eased this year, the surge in traffic fatalities is showing few signs of abating. Policymakers are trying a number of tactics to respond.
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New modeling by the University of Washington of the impacts of a major Cascadia earthquake offers a less dire picture of the aftermath of the so-called "Big One" — specifically when it comes to highway bridges.
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Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often in the Pacific Northwest that ships collide with whales. But when it does, it's upsetting, tragic and the whale probably dies. Three separate teams have developed smartphone-based systems that can alert commercial mariners to watch out or slow down when there are whales nearby. A recent ride-along on a big container ship demonstrated that real-time whale alerts are still a work in progress.
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Three soccer stars from the Seattle Sounders and a fourth who was born and raised in Seattle are going to the biggest sporting event in the world.
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Democrat Steve Hobbs holds a slim lead after the first night of ballot counting in the Washington Secretary of State race. Hobbs is the appointed incumbent. He's running three points ahead of nonpartisan challenger Julie Anderson.
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Big ships entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to temporarily slow down to reduce underwater noise as part of a two month Quiet Sound trial. Washington state hope the speed reduction helps the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered southern resident orcas.
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Should the top elections official in Washington state officially be a nonpartisan? That's one difference between the top two finalists running for Washington Secretary of State.
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A quartet of independent candidates on the ballot this November in Oregon and Washington state will test voter appetites for a centrist "third way." Unaffiliated candidates are popping up around the nation too, with a common theme of being fed up with a divisive two-party system.
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Only 12 commercial fishing captains hold permits to go reefnet fishing in the Pacific Northwest, out of a fleet that once numbered in the hundreds. The remaining practitioners of the traditional Indigenous fishing method say the gear should be the preferred way to harvest healthy salmon runs while avoiding fragile stocks.