PASCO -- The majority of people who responded to a city of Pasco survey say they'd be willing to pay extra for curbside recycling.

On a day when Froilan Godines should have been celebrating his 42nd birthday, loved ones were busy making his funeral arrangements as they struggled to understand just what happened outside a Pasco bar early Sunday.

The Richland School District is closer to a new superintendent after the first round of candidate interviews Monday night.

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire again is telling Congress to "get it done."

KENNEWICK -- Commercial and military aircraft one day could be powered by biofuels, including an oil from a plant grown in Eastern Washington, as the airline industry and the Defense Department seek renewable and cleaner fuel sources.

Benton County commissioners had to scale back a multi-million dollar funding request to build the Red Mountain interchange after discovering they were too greedy in a resolution passed last week.

YAKIMA -- The reasons are as different as the teenagers themselves.

A very small fire in a laboratory at Areva NP in Richland was quickly extinguished by a lab worker Monday afternoon.

Today's meeting of the Richland School Board has been changed to 7 p.m.

Pasco has plans to avoid a repeat of the errors that state auditors found in the city's 2008 audit after the city provided numbers that didn't add up.

The Franklin County Historical Museum will offer a presentation on Black History Month given by Katie Barton starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 20 at the Pasco museum.

The International Space Station can be seen in the early morning sky above the Tri-Cities through Feb. 17 on days when the weather clears.

PASCO -- Pasco police are looking for two men in connection to the stabbing death of a Kennewick man early Sunday outside the El Patron Night Club in Pasco.

KENNEWICK — The focus of the 10th Harvesting Clean Energy Conference is on promoting clean power sources, but members of the Tri-Cities Tea Party said Sunday that the United States should pursue development of all forms of energy to create jobs.

The trip out of Florida was peaceful, quiet. Like any other routine flight.

KENNEWICK — The expansion of clean energy represents the next major source of economic development and job growth in Washington, and the Tri-Cities is at the epicenter, a Washington congressman said Sunday.

BURBANK — A Kennewick woman died in a car crash Sunday morning in Burbank.

PASCO — Several authors known for their books for young adults will be in the Tri-Cities this week to encourage students to read and inspire them to write their own stories.

PASCO — James McLeod just wants to be left alone.

A Richland man fears the sale of some city-owned land fronting his business could force his auto repair shop to close.

SUNNYSIDE -- Lower Valley Hospice will hold volunteer training Feb. 18 through April 1.

American Legion Auxiliary is putting on an essay contest for students in third grade through high school. The topic is "What is my patriotic role as a U.S. citizen?"

YAKIMA -- Close to 1,000 potential lifesavers attended the Great CPR Blitz in Yakima on Saturday. If they follow their instructions to pass on the training, 5,000 more people in Yakima County could learn basic CPR.

MOSES LAKE -- Katie Garfield will be crowned Miss Rodeo Washington at a dinner at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Big Bend Community College Advanced Technologies Education Center.

PASCO -- When Alfredo Garcia wasn't toiling in the fields, he spent hours building his American dream.

KENNEWICK -- Consumers still love their Washington wines but have adjusted their palates to match their pocketbooks.

KENNEWICK -- Energy experts, researchers, business leaders, farmers and politicians are converging in Kennewick for a conference focused on developing clean energy sources to help rural economies.

KENNEWICK -- Edison Street near Kamiakin High School will be a construction zone all summer as Kennewick races to widen the roadway to make left turns onto Metaline Avenue going east and west safer.

KENNEWICK -- There was a time when Abby Johnson, 29, loved her job as the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas.

WASHINGTON -- To hear Sen. Maria Cantwell talk, another economic bubble is building as the big Wall Street banks -- backed by taxpayer bailouts -- continue to play the high-risk derivatives markets rather than extend credit to struggling small businesses on Main Street.

YAKIMA -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has hired a local mediator to try to find "areas of common ground" for resolving the Yakima Valley's ground water contamination problem.

SUNNYSIDE -- A retired farmer is forging ahead with two lawsuits against the city of Sunnyside in spite of recent growth regulations passed by the city council.

The Washington Parks and Recreation Commission will present preliminary recommendations for Sacajawea State Park at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Sacajawea Interpretive Center in the park, 2503 Sacajawea Park Road, Pasco.

A proposal to create a landfill to bury waste concrete near a rural housing development west of Grandview is drawing opposition from one neighbor.

Leadership Tri-Cities Class XV seeks artists to apply for its revitalization project involving the creation of a mural at the YMCA's Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Pasco.

KENNEWICK -- Joel Diaz lived a full 10 years, enjoying time spent with family, reading, playing with Legos and watching Saturday morning cartoons.

RICHLAND -- Ben Franklin Transit may have to cut jobs and services to survive tough financial times ahead, even as it spends millions to build new headquarters.

OLYMPIA -- The state Senate on Friday passed a bill allowing law enforcement officers to pull someone over for talking on a cell phone while driving even if no other offense is committed.

Several events are planned in the next few weeks for Black History Month -- everything from a soul food celebration to a panel discussion featuring former U.S. Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary.

Concerns over chemical vapors from an underground tank have stopped work to retrieve radioactive waste from Tank C-104, the only leak-prone tank currently being emptied at Hanford.

KENNEWICK -- Tri-Citians are one step closer to slipping down water slides on hot summer days.

Several Mid-Columbia school districts have maintenance and operations levies up for election next week.

PROSSER -- Prosser City Hall has extended a deadline for Prosser residents and businesses to participate in a survey.

YAKIMA -- Planning to go to college and not sure which school?

A sex offender considered highly likely to reoffend is now living in Pasco.

School principals and program administrators will be able to earn their state certification through an online program starting this fall.

HERMISTON -- A ground breaking ceremony for the new West Park Elementary School in Hermiston is planned for 2 p.m. Monday.

WALLA WALLA -- Walla Walla County is seeking applicants to fill up to eight open positions on the combined Human Services Advisory Board, which assists the Department of Human Services in determining needs and setting priorities for services.

The Herald is looking for reader photos that show life in the Mid-Columbia for a new Sunday feature.

Family pancake breakfasts will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday and March 7 at the Kennewick Senior Center. The breakfast includes scrambled eggs, all-you-can-eat pancakes and maple syrup, choice of ham or sausage, orange juice and coffee and berry syrup and sprinkles for kids. Entertainment is provided by Margie and Her Sidekicks Band.

As a teacher in Kenya, Rachael Tengbom couldn't stop the genital mutilation of her female students.

Apple foundation offers college scholarships

HERMISTON -- The annual Umatilla High School Booster Club Steak Dinner & Auction is at 5:30 p.m. today at the Hermiston Community and Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395.

GRANDVIEW -- The Grandview School District and Grandview Police Department will hold a community forum Tuesday to discuss gangs.

A series of community meetings to provide information and gather feedback on proposed changes to the Kennewick School District's elementary school boundaries starts Thursday.

KENNEWICK -- A 10-year-old Kennewick boy died of injuries he apparently suffered after crashing his bicycle Wednesday, officials said.

RICHLAND -- Richland's newest landmark towers over the Horn Rapids area, where it will ensure residents and their lawns don't go wanting for water.

KENNEWICK -- The Hanford Advisory Board is questioning whether the Department of Energy is doing enough to protect Hanford workers from an incurable lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium.

The number of cancer-related deaths in Franklin County has been steadily increasing the past couple of years, prompting Coroner Dan Blasdel to investigate if there's any pattern to the deaths that can be pinpointed.

RICHLAND -- Dr. Lewis Zirkle spent 10 days in badly shaken Haiti last month doing emergency bone repair surgeries following the earthquake that is believed to have killed 200,000 people.

RICHLAND -- It isn't much good having a home without a family to fill it.

KENNEWICK -- Several people who showed up Thursday to hear a consultant's report on possible revitalization strategies for Columbia Drive's riverfront real estate gave the proposal a tentative passing grade.

Tri-Cities Cancer Center will present a free talk on "Facing the Challenge of Pancreatic Cancer" from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Wellness Center at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center, 7350 W. Deschutes Ave., Kennewick.

AARP will hold Senior Driving Classes this month.

BASIN CITY -- It's been a long time coming.

PROSSER -- Kirsten Alter is the new Miss Prosser.

OLYMPIA -- Representatives from several Tri-City companies gathered in Olympia on Thursday for the second Energy Independence Day at the Capitol.

Warmer than normal temperatures for this month are expected for the Tri-Cities, according to the National Weather Service.

Every customer who climbs the steps to enter Art Carpenter's Hardware on Columbia Drive comes face to face with a tattered and torn poster showing the smiling face of Sofia Juarez.

KENNEWICK -- Two Tri-City men say they're a step closer this week to building a water park in Kennewick.

KENNEWICK — A Prosser man faces four years in prison after entering a modified guilty plea Wednesday to being intoxicated when he drove the wrong way on Interstate 82 in November and killed another driver and injured her 11-year-old passenger.

After more than three years of talking about how to form and finance a regional public facilities district, a decision next month will advance or kill the concept.

OLYMPIA -- Republicans in Olympia say they're again being left out of the budget-writing process, particularly as Democrats prepare to overturn a voter-approved requirement that tax increases require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

OLYMPIA -- The mood in the Legislature on Wednesday was mournful as lawmakers honored the lives of six police officers slain in 2009.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is applauding President Obama’s recent push for nuclear power — a stance that could cause political headaches for her. Gregoire, a Democrat, met with Obama and 10 other governors Wednesday to talk about energy. Obama called for increased ethanol production and new technology to limit pollution from the use of coal. Gregoire has spent much of her career working to ensure cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation, which was contaminated from nuclear weapons work rather than nuclear power production.

Clint Didier said Wednesday that the values of perseverance, dedication and hard work that he learned from his parents while growing up on an Eastern Washington farm helped him get all the way to the Super Bowl.

The student government group at Washington State University Tri-Cities isn't planning to participate in a protest rally today that's being staged at public universities across the state to voice concerns about state budget cuts and possible tuition increases.

A public workshop tonight at the Clover Island Inn will reveal ideas on how Kennewick's oldest real estate and business district fronting the Columbia River can be made new through piecemeal revitalization.

RICHLAND — Richland residents soon will have the option of curbside recycling, but they will see a higher bill for basic trash collection and will have to pay to use the city landfill.

OLYMPIA -- Retired school teacher Laurel Piippo spent two days at the state Capitol this week explaining to lawmakers why she became a "cranky taxpayer" over salaries paid to top university officials, and why they should do something about it.

KENNEWICK -- Artist Scott McMillin has spent the last 25-plus years in California hangin' with the Hollywood famous, but he still sees himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Tri-City boy.

PASCO — A Pasco man says the city failed to properly notify affected property owners about a Monday hearing on a permit for a church preschool.

RICHLAND — Too much silt and warm water make the Amon Basin an unlikely salmon and steelhead rearing site, say biologists who analyzed the basin's flows through Meadow Springs Country Club to the Yakima River delta.

Questions remain about certain decisions in the Obama administration's proposed budget for Hanford next year, although it is better than its proposal a year ago, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday.

Pasco OKs hiring firm to handle arraignments

The Special Olympics program in the Tri-Cities needs volunteers 16 years and older to help coach skiing and snowboarding to people with intellectual disabilities.

WALLA WALLA -- The city of Walla Walla Fire Department will receive a $145,520 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for personal protective equipment.

PROSSER -- A concert to raise money for autism research is 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Princess Theatre in downtown Prosser.

Tri-Cities Prep Catholic High School is holding an open house at 6 p.m. Thursday. The private school, which welcomes students grades 9-12 of all religious, racial, ethnic and income backgrounds, has the open house in conjunction with Catholic Schools Week. Basketball practice, mock trial rehearsal and play practice will be part.

A consultant will roll out concepts and discuss ideas for revitalizing Kennewick's riverfront properties at a public meeting Thursday.

The public is invited to join members of the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society for a bird walk on Bateman Island starting at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Be prepared for delays on northbound Highway 395 today and Thursday.

Benton County commissioners disagreed Monday on how to go about getting a $24 million interchange built on Interstate 82 to serve the Red Mountain American Viticulture Area.

PASCO -- A Pasco church's application for a required permit to run a preschool is being appealed by a neighbor who also expressed concerns about a corn maze operating on the church's property last fall.

Robert E. Narum of Richland waited 22 years to get out of paying for irrigation water, even though he never received one drop in all that time.

RICHLAND -- A woman called Richland police Sunday night after a stranger tried to lure her into his car in Richland.

RICHLAND — The fiscal 2011 budget for the Hanford nuclear reservation would increase at least $22 million from the current year's budget to about $2.1 billion under the Obama administration's proposal released Monday.

About $2 billion in federal stimulus money has been spent so far in the state, creating or retaining tens of thousands of jobs, state officials said Monday.

The Nez Perce Tribe will receive an excess Hanford ambulance today through a Department of Energy donation.

Tri-City Union Gospel Mission will receive a donation from Richland's ARES Corp. today.

WASHINGTON -- Funding for a program that helps promote such agricultural products as apples, hops, pears, wine, lentils and dry beans and peas would be cut by $8 million in the next fiscal year under a mostly status quo budget proposal submitted Monday to Congress by the White House.

Ex-Marine Jay Clough of Kennewick got the official OK from state Democrats to run for Congress against incumbent Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash.

The effects of extreme and unexpected poverty on a rural town are the focus of lecture presented by Jennifer Sherman, assistant professor of sociology at Washington State University Tri-Cities in Richland.

WEST RICHLAND -- Donna Noski has mapped out her first 90 days in office as West Richland's new mayor. A large calendar on a wall behind her desk is booked with meetings, community events and self-imposed deadlines.

People living close to Hanford, particularly those just across the Columbia River, may have felt a whole lot of shaking going on over the past year.

KENNEWICK — Tim Dalton, executive director of the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership, has declared his intent to run for Benton County commissioner later this year.

How to balance fish habitat concerns with operations of the Kennewick Irrigation District in the Amon Basin off Leslie Road and Claybell Park in Richland is the focus of a Tuesday public meeting in Kennewick.

PASCO -- William Chesterfield watched through his safety goggles as a block of steel moved back and forth in a vertical milling machine, getting a fraction smaller with each pass.

PASCO -- Franklin County leaders cut $1.5 million and 15 staff positions in drawing this year's budget, but for the travel fund it's apparently business as usual.

The Internal Revenue Service wants eligible taxpayers to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The 12th annual Umatilla Kiwanis Club's chili contest will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Umatilla High School commons. Voting for the best chili and a pie auction and drawing will be held.

The deadline for EnergySolutions Foundation Scholarship for 10th-grade students is Wednesday. The merit-based scholarship program recognizes excellence in academics and is offered to one student per eligible high school to pursue a bachelor's degree in math, science or engineering.

Free tax assistance will be given from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Thursdays through April 15 at the Kennewick Senior Center.

Registration for Tri-Tech Skills Center's 2010-11 preschool program starts Tuesday.

Singer Don Ohman will present the program for the Columbia River Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution February meeting at noon Thursday at Tri-Tech Skills Center, 5929 W. Metaline Ave., Kennewick. The public is invited. For more information call 547-2036.

KENNEWICK — Many know his voice; some know his name.

WASHINGTON -- In 1994, Washington state was ground zero for a Republican revolution that gave the GOP control of Congress for a dozen years.

PROSSER -- The Valley Theater Company is looking for a stage of its own and has its sights on Prosser's Princess Theatre.

OLYMPIA -- While lawmakers prepare to pass a bill designed to position Washington to compete for federal education grants, the state official in charge of K-12 schools thinks the state may fall behind in the "Race to the Top."

KENNWICK -- More than $40,000 was raised by 225 hardy people who dove into the Columbia River in Saturday's annual Polar Plunge.

KENNEWICK -- Rachel Leshikar was taking a break from a bike ride in a Richland park several years ago when she noticed a professional juggler.

Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno arguably is the world's fastest man on skates, and he's a bona fide fan of Washington spuds.

Juvenile and adult drug courts in Benton and Franklin counties entered 2010 on precarious financial ground, but the foundation has firmed.

RICHLAND -- Words come slowly when Richland's Nancy Nelson speaks about the recent Haitian earthquake. And when they do, they paint a picture of horror, agony, death and destruction she witnessed firsthand in Port-au-Prince.

A rural Franklin County volunteer fire district has been fined $16,500 for multiple "serious" violations last year as members tried to rescue two Kahlotus brothers who were overcome by fumes while working in a cistern.

Health officials are watching for a third wave of H1N1 influenza to strike and are urging people to get vaccinated to help stop the virus from spreading again.

RICHLAND — Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., is questioning what he calls "vague assertions and conclusions" in a National Park Service draft study that eliminated B Reactor for consideration as part of a Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

PASCO -- Tommy Moore, a longtime Pasco entrepreneur and community supporter, will have his name forever memorialized in the city he loved.

Excessive speed and alcohol are suspected of being factors in an early-morning crash that killed a West Richland man, the Washington State Patrol said.

RICHLAND -- Washington State University Tri-Cities continues to be the fastest-growing of all WSU's campuses, according to enrollment figures released Friday.

A Blue Ribbon Commission was named Friday to recommend what the nation should do not only with its spent commercial nuclear fuel but also weapons waste, such as the glassified high-level waste from Hanford's vitrification plant.

A drawing to raise money for the New Life Children's Center orphanage in Haiti is planned today during the Tri-Cities Family Expo at TRAC in Pasco.

The Richland School District is a step closer to a new superintendent.

A breakfast fundraiser is planned from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday at Kennewick Masonic Lodge 153 to raise money for a children's literacy program.

Franklin County will pay for 13 months of Superior Court staff salaries in 2009 instead of 12.

WALLA WALLA -- A state spokeswoman says nearly 800 Washington State Penitentiary inmates will remain on lockdown through the weekend as prison officials continue their investigation of a fight involving nearly 50 inmates.

SUNNYSIDE -- A gang prevention meeting is planned for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Cornerstone Assembly of God Church at 400 North Ave., Sunnyside.

PASCO -- Counting the area's homeless is harder than it sounds, as volunteers conducting an annual count found out Thursday.

OLYMPIA -- After about a four-year absence from the political landscape, a Tri-City man is once again hoping to convince voters that teaching the Constitution and Declaration of Independence should be required in public schools.

KENNEWICK -- A 48-year-old man with a history of robbing banks was desperate when he went on a Tri-City crime spree last August, his attorney said Thursday.

PROSSER — President Obama knew his first State of the Union would get mixed reviews from politicians, but he couldn't have expected it would land a man in jail.

Washington's wine industry continues to grow at record levels.

For the first time in at least a quarter-century, there were no homicides investigated by Benton County law enforcement agencies last year.

A semi-truck hauling grain overturned and spilled its load after the driver failed to stop at a stop light and hit a car on Highway 12 in Burbank, the Washington State Patrol said.

Students at Eastgate Elementary in Kennewick have raised over $1,000 through a coin drive to help their school counselor's daughter, who has a rare blood disorder and recently underwent a stem cell transplant.

MOSES LAKE -- A Grant County sheriff's deputy says he shot and killed a dog to protect his police dog from attack.

YAKIMA -- Glass is now garbage in Yakima.

Several local fundraisers have produced thousands of dollars for Haiti earthquake relief efforts:

WALLA WALLA -- Walla Walla High School cheerleaders are putting on a kids' cheer camp and clinic from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the high school gym. Registration starts at 9 a.m.

A pancake breakfast to raise money for the senior party at Hanford High is from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Applebee's, 43 Columbia Point Drive, Richland.

The state's top education leader said Thursday that one of his top priorities is to ensure that levy equalization money -- which many school districts in the Mid-Columbia count on to keep their programs running -- is preserved this legislative session.

YAKIMA -- Yakima County saw a marked increase in traffic fatalities in 2009 over the previous year, and the Lower Valley continues to account for much of the carnage.

There's been confusion since Toyota Motor Corp. announced it has stopped selling and building eight models because their accelerator pedals may get stuck.

Free help with financial aid applications will be offered at 24 sites in Oregon from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The workshop will help college-bound students and their parents complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine eligibility for financial aid. Financial aid experts will be available to help students and families complete the worksheet and submit the application online.

A seventh-grader at Christ the King School in Richland won the school's recent Geography Bee and will advance to the next round of competition.

WENATCHEE -- Helen Zilke never set foot in the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society shelter. But she may have everything to do with the building of a new shelter for the homeless animals she loved.

The Sexual Assault Response Center/Crime Victim Service Center is looking for volunteers. The nonprofit United Way agency relies on volunteers to help run its 24-hour hotline to help with issues of sexual assault and abuse and other crimes.

RICHLAND — Dr. John H. Staeheli of Richland had spent months getting ready for a medical mission -- his seventh -- to the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic, Haiti's island neighbor.

RICHLAND -- It's been a mix of good and bad days for a Kennewick woman who was paralyzed in a fall at the Benton County jail two weeks ago.

KENNEWICK -- As volunteers prepare to count the Tri-Cities' homeless population today, the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission is acting to reduce that count.

OLYMPIA -- Washington lawmakers who are considering their own options for bringing in more revenue are trying not to read too much into a vote Tuesday by Oregonians to accept higher taxes.

Four men jailed after a bloody brawl in Kennewick say they aren't involved in gangs and were just trying to defend themselves from uninvited party guests.

The Department of Energy is ready to help the Tri-Cities area make the eventual transition to fewer Hanford jobs, a top DOE official said Wednesday.

Parents and staff in the Richland School District didn't like the proposed options for changing the middle and high school schedule to carve out more teacher collaboration time, so officials are going back to the drawing board.

Motorists who use East 15th Avenue between Washington and Cedar streets are advised to use detours through Feb. 5 because of construction to install a new sewer line.

PROSSER -- Prosser School District is having one last levy information session at 7 p.m. today at Whitstran Elementary School, 102101 W. Foisy Road.

A yearlong public safety project on Franklin County roads saved lives by reducing fatality crashes by a third last year, officials said.

HERMISTON -- Trace amounts of mustard agent vapor for chemical weapons were detected inside a storage igloo Wednesday at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

A pasta feed and silent auction to raise money for Kennewick High School's athletic director is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Country Gentleman in Kennewick.

The Kennewick School Board will get a sixth member next academic year -- one chosen from the district's high schools.

An open house is planned from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the private K-8 Oasis School in Richland.

How public education can meet the needs of this century will be examined Friday at a Columbia Basin Badger Club lunch forum in Pasco.

KENNEWICK -- What do you do if your child is ill and you can't miss work? To provide an answer, Jean Kimerling opened Chicken Soup + Nursing in Kennewick.

Miss Texas Kristen Blair, a former Miss Tri-Cities, hopes this week to earn the tiara of Miss America.

OLYMPIA -- Senate Democrats on Tuesday laid out a legislative strategy they say will boost job creation and give Washington a competitive edge as the economy changes.

RICHLAND -- Speakers at a public hearing Tuesday night split their comments between calling for the Fast Flux Test Facility to be saved and worries that proposed cleanup plans for Hanford would not protect the environment and human health.

RICHLAND -- The Washington State STEM Education Foundation has been awarded a $400,000 grant for teacher training and program design at the new Delta High School in Richland.

KENNEWICK -- Eight months before going on a Tri-City robbery spree, a career criminal told the Herald that he'd end up back in prison because there's no help for ex-cons.

Kennewick city councilman John Hubbard wants the city to quit the Regional Facilities Oversight Committee if the public can't participate in discussions about building and paying for a water park or other feature.

A 19-year-old Finley man who was hit by a passing freight train in December bled to death after his left foot was amputated, said Benton County Coroner Rick Corson.

Richland School District voters who haven't yet received a 2010 levy information pamphlet can access it online at rsd.edu/info/operations-levy-election.html .

Richland officials likely will vote on implementing a form of curbside recycling and yard waste collection during the Richland City Council meeting next week.

About 60 shade trees are being removed on the south side of the Benton County Fairgrounds to replace leaking irritation pipe.

Second Harvest Tri-Cities and the Boys & Girls Club are beginning a Kids Cafe project to bring hearty snacks weekly to low-income children.

Twelve Papa John's restaurants in Idaho and Washington, including the two that are in the Tri-Cities, have closed.

Pasco School Board members on Tuesday decided to spend the $1,500 they received for being named the state school board of the year on a student scholarship.

HERMISTON -- A ton container of mustard chemical weapon at the Umatilla Chemical Depot was incinerated Sunday, the first burning at the depot since late October.

A Pasco police dog that was called in early Monday to search for a wanted man seen near Denny's restaurant in Richland sniffed him out in a pile of garbage.

OLYMPIA -- Property owners frustrated with having to write a large check twice a year could have a new option for paying taxes under a proposal being considered by the state Legislature.

A man who tried to rob a Pasco convenience store Saturday evening was scared off when the clerk picked up the phone to call 911.

PROSSER -- Call it a stray: Benton County's proposed animal control facility no longer is likely to be built on the fairgrounds and it needs a home.

OLYMPIA -- Democratic leaders at the state Capitol are worried Washington's budget might suffer if Congress can't get health care reform passed soon.

PROSSER -- A man picketing the Benton County Courthouse in Prosser for several hours Monday morning held a sign essentially saying "No Wolves in Benton County."

A senior at Pasco High School has been named "Youth of the Year" by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties.

Two events aimed at helping Tri-City area students get a jump start on higher education are planned in the next few days at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

HERMISTON -- A series of community meetings are planned to discuss the financial challenges the Hermiston School District faces in the next year.

Students from Virgie Robinson Elementary School in Pasco will read aloud stories they've written during today's Young Authors Day event.

The Department of Energy has added more public meetings to the round that starts tonight in Richland on Hanford's future.

Area moms are invited to learn tips for saving money from Karrie Truman of Pasco, who operates the Fistful of Coupons website, at a general meeting of the Moms Club of Kennewick/Richland.

RICHLAND — Richland's Beaver Bark Gift and Garden Center is going green -- and leafy.

Any drama buff will tell you acting is therapy.

WASHINGTON — Linda Nguyen, the chief executive of WorkForce Central, has a message for Congress: “Main Street still has some problems. It’s not over yet.”

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is bursting out of its headquarters.

PROSSER -- Benton County could save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually with its new bond rating, which jumped from A plus to AA.

The Richland School District is asking voters to approve a two-year maintenance and operations levy Feb. 9 to help with costs not fully covered by the state.

TOPPENISH -- Federal clean-water regulators will begin this seeking permission from a number of well owners in Yakima County to test their water for contamination with the aim of identifying the sources of the problem and ultimately fixing it.

The siren systems for emergencies at the Umatilla Chemical Depot will sound at noon Tuesday as part of the monthly test.

WALLA WALLA -- A small, clear box with several basalt fragments represents a key part of Courtney Porter's thesis project.

The Pasco Kiwanis will hold a crab feed fundraiser from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Camp Kiwanis in Columbia Park to help local kids.

RICHLAND -- Linda Fastabend is surrounded by memories of her 22-year-old daughter.

RICHLAND -- The lead developer of an ambitious project that could add 5,000 housing units to a swath of land south of Badger Mountain anticipates numerous developers and subcontractors getting in on the project's construction.

PASCO -- Crime remained low in Franklin County last year with just seven more major crimes reported than in 2008, Sheriff Richard Lathim said.

RICHLAND -- The old Hanford records vault in Richland is being used for sleuthing these days.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration soon may guarantee up to $18.5 billion in loans to build three or four new nuclear power plants, and Congress is considering whether to add up to $100 billion more to expand nuclear power.

OLYMPIA -- Republicans in the Legislature railed against a report published by a progressive group claiming they "failed" in supporting racial equality.

KENNEWICK -- Interactive touch pad technology has reached Kennewick City Hall.

Oregon health officials alerted consumers Saturday to a nationwide recall of about 1.24 million pounds of a variety of pepper-coated salami products over concerns about possible salmonella contamination.

The Tri-Cities Republican Women's Club will hold its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at Tony Roma's Restaurant, 8551 Gage Blvd., Kennewick.

Richland Parks & Recreation will hold an evening event for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday.

WENATCHEE -- Life has become calmer, safer and less stressful for Chris Goehner since he paired up with Pele.

RICHLAND -- D.J. Sperline's tent is 6 feet long.

The Department of Energy is recommending that a commercial storage site in Texas be used to store up to 11,000 tons of the nation's excess mercury rather than sending it to the Hanford nuclear reservation.

Tri-City roads were safer last year with fewer accidents and fewer deaths caused by crashes compared to 2008, the Washington State Patrol said.

OLYMPIA -- A set of bills designed to trim state expenses for the remainder of the 2009-11 biennium cleared a set of hurdles Friday in the House and Senate.

RICHLAND -- A chunk of concrete thrown from an overpass near Beaver Bark in Richland crashed through the windshield of a car on Interstate 182, injuring the two occupants, the Washington State Patrol said Friday.

PASCO -- The Tri-Cities chapter of a veterans group has donated $15,000 to help combat veterans or their children with expenses at Columbia Basin College.

The Road 170 diversion should be finished this year.

The Benton Clean Air Agency plans to settle a public records lawsuit filed by Larry Loges, who settled a similar lawsuit with the city of Prosser in July.

GRANDVIEW -- Work has begun in Grandview on a $2.4 million blueberry packing plant.

SUNNYSIDE -- The woman who made TV headlines across the country when she was caught on video nearly crushing a little girl in a store parking lot has pleaded guilty to negligent driving.

A Latino community outreach conference, "Education is the Future," is planned today at Washington State University Tri-Cities.

BENTON CITY -- Kiona-Benton City residents are planning a rally at 11 a.m. today in support of the school district's two-year maintenance and operations levy on the Feb. 9 ballot.

The west end of Columbia Park could become home to the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center, a 61,000-square-foot cultural and regional museum.

PASCO — The special permit for a proposed Pasco water park called Bahama Bay likely will be passed onto the Pasco City Council with a few conditions.

KENNEWICK — The defense attorney for a Prosser man charged in a November fatal crash asked a judge Thursday to toss out a newly filed charge involving a passenger.

The food business is hot in the Tri-Cities.