If your holiday shopping list includes a new TV, either as a family gift or as preparation for the upcoming national switch to digital television, consider your options for pitching your old tube.

KENNEWICK -- At age 48, Jim Beaver is about ready for another challenge.

KENNEWICK -- Two more vehicle side mirrors were reported broken in Kennewick on Saturday night, following a rash of vandalism Thursday.

Lori Cook had heard stories about domestic violence, but she never really understood the lives of women and children living in abusive homes until she became a volunteer.

HANFORD -- The first contaminated glove boxes have been removed from Hanford's 300 Area just north of Richland as cleanup progresses there to more hazardous buildings.

WALLULA -- Take Highway 12 east past Burbank and you'll see a spectacular break in the Horse Heaven Hills' ridgeline.

What's the true measure of the local crime rate?

A motorhome caught fire at the Tesoro station at 27th Ave-nue and Highway 395 on Sunday afternoon, but the fire did not affect nearby gas pumps.

KENNEWICK -- After 90 years of bringing Yakima River water to Kennewick to irrigate farmers' crops and homeowners' lawns, the Kennewick Irrigation District has hit troubled waters.

PASCO -- Starting Dec. 1, Columbia Basin College will offer a new class teaching desert dwellers how to be licensed maritime captains.

KENNEWICK -- The Kennewick Irrigation District's proposal to adopt a new water rate schedule that could raise some landowner costs by up to 34 percent and cut others by up to 18 percent is up for a public hearing Tuesday.

PASCO -- Pasco Councilman Tom Larsen recently complained that while city staff members were touting a drop in the city's tax rate, citizens actually were paying more out of pocket because of increases in home assessed values and inflation.

The Washington State Patrol has gone green in the Tri-Cities.

WASHINGTON -- They were two of the 1,000 juvenile salmon implanted with almond-sized transmitters as they headed out of the Rocky Mountains, down the Snake River bound for the sea.

SUNNYSIDE -- The Sunnyside School District will ask voters to approve an $11.4 million bond to add on to Sunnyside High School and two elementary schools.

The sirens at the Umatilla Chemical Depot will sound Tuesday as part of an emergency preparedness drill.

Backers of the proposed Black Rock reservoir are using TV and radio to press their message that the huge reservoir is the best solution.

The Tri-Cities Animal Shelter is one of four Washington shelters competing for a makeover in a contest sponsored by the pet website Zootoo.com.

What's the big deal about missing a proper sit-down Thanksgiving meal with the family or missing a few hours of sleep, especially if you can save a few hundred bucks and have fun too?

Judy Kitchen washed her hands -- making sure to use the handwashing sink instead of the several others in Bella Italia's kitchen -- and got to work.

A local agency that helps low-income people is expecting so many applications for its home energy assistance program that it's changing the way it does business.

Gabriel Aguilar didn't buy the yellow button he proudly wears to school everyday.

The world will need a rational mix of energy to meet doubled world demand by 2040 in a fair and sustainable way, say two former Tri-City geologists.

A man believed to be about 40 was found unconscious and barely breathing Friday by railroad tracks under Columbia Center Boulevard in Kennewick.

The National Weather Service has issued an air stagnation advisory from today until Monday evening for much of Southeastern Washington and north-central Oregon.

Wendy's customers who bring an unwrapped toy or gift to restaurants in the Tri-Cities, Yakima, Walla Walla, Pendleton and La Grande through Dec. 18 will receive a free small Frosty for each donated gift.

GRANDVIEW -- A $5,000 donation by Bank of America brings Grandview's joint city-community college library project more than halfway to its fundraising goal.

Pasco City Council members on Monday will consider increasing salaries for service on the council.

HERMISTON -- The Hermiston Public Library will have its annual Holidays Around the World party at the library from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday.

A traditional Thanksgiving day for Scott Clawdus is bird hunting in the early morning, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, then settling in for back-to-back football games while his family cooks the turkey.

HERMISTON -- Students at Sunset Elementary in Hermiston used to come to school early on Mondays with one thing on their minds -- food.

The Port of Kennewick soon may develop a wine business incubator in the Tri-Cities.

Robert Peters believes God led him to a gray and white alphabet house in Richland where he's found redemption.

Pasco library patrons will need to show some flexibility in how they get service for the first two months of the new year.

If you don't like the songs on the radio, here's your chance to be a DJ for an hour. Eagle 106.5 FM Classic Rock is giving the community a chance to be a guest DJ for an hour on their radio station for $50.

Voters have a wide choice Dec. 9 to fill three seats on the Kennewick Irrigation District Board of Directors.

YAKIMA -- Steve Switzer, a Yakima native, came home after 20 years in the Coast Guard.

MySpace isn't just for people anymore. It's for animals, too. When Deana Dallas, 37, was at a yard sale three years ago, she never thought she'd return home with a Quaker parrot. Then she saw Julian's living conditions and knew she could provide it a better life.

The Yakima Valley is blessed with a strikingly rich palette of cultural heritage, a legacy of rock art left as many as 1,000 years ago.

The Childers family is thankful for more space and a new beginning this Thanksgiving.

There are two reasons Spencer Watson won't be eating turkey this Thanksgiving. Their names are Buster and Peggy.

People who practice the Sikh religion, which dates to 15th century India, say a special Ardas prayer thanking God for their blessings and asking for help in the future.

The direction of dog control in Benton County during 2009 is unclear after two county commissioners split on the issue and the incoming third commissioner says he needs to learn more before entering the fray.

A Days Inn employee faces a Feb. 9 trial on charges he lured a co-worker into a motel room and made sexual advances on the woman until she got away.

A Kennewick renter who withdrew his homeowner's insurance claim after learning investigators suspected him of setting a recent blaze was charged Wednesday with arson.

The firewood cutting season will close Sunday in the Umatilla National Forest.

Anyone who needs a free, hot Thanksgiving meal is welcome at 2 p.m. today at the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission, 112 N. Second Ave., Pasco.

Members of the Social Work Club of Heritage University will partner with Sunnyside's Promise and Columbia River Bank for a coat drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Columbia River Bank, 2690 E. Lincoln Ave., Sunnyside.

A Richland teen was sentenced to three months in jail for stealing or destroying in her shoplifting attempts nearly $1,400 in DVDs from two Target stores.

A 27-year-old Pasco man who has been out of prison for less than two months on a first-degree robbery conviction is wanted by police for the same crime.

SUNNYSIDE -- Being a seat belt scofflaw ended up sending a 24-year-old Sunnyside man to jail Tuesday after the officer who stopped him for not wearing a seat belt found a gun and drug pipes in his pickup.

Parents of fifth-grade students in the Richland School District can preview the HIV/AIDS prevention and growth and development videos Monday at Chief Joseph Middle School. Students may also attend.

Freezing fog and rain caused treacherous driving conditions Wednesday for motorists in the Tri-Cities.

With Christmas approaching, shoppers will start hitting stores looking for those perfect gifts.

Bail is set at $200,000 for a 28-year-old Kennewick man charged with repeatedly molesting two grade-school girls while watching pornographic movies.

A 27-year-old West Richland man angered by a honking horn is accused of breaking the front teeth of the car's two occupants.

After the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade today, stay tuned to see a Tri-Cities-bred Chihuahua score big in the National Dog Show.

PULLMAN -- Washington State University has been told to slice an additional $4.4 million from its budget for the current fiscal year.

A Kennewick man faces a Feb. 9 trial on allegations he forged a $1,500 check and used stolen personal information from an elderly man to get credit cards online and buy merchandise.

A 27-year-old Richland man was found hiding in some trees after he left an apartment he likely was going to burglarize following a confrontation with the resident, police said.

The state of Washington plans to file a lawsuit today to force the Department of Energy to move faster to empty radioactive waste from underground tanks at the Hanford nuclear reservation and treat it.

A former bookkeeper for Bergstrom Aircraft pleaded innocent Tuesday to allegations she embezzled at least $48,000 from the Pasco company.

A dozen parents and students opposed to the new discipline program at Chief Joseph Middle School in Richland told the school board Tuesday that immediate changes need to be made.

Below-freezing temperatures and patchy fog created a slippery situation Tuesday for early morning drivers in the Tri-Cities.

A Pasco man's history of driving drunk caught up with him Tuesday.

Students walking to Jefferson Elementary in Richland often raced to be first to the corner of George Washington Way and Van Giesen Street.

An 18-year-old Pasco man could spend a year in prison for an Oct. 2 attack with a broken shovel that left a mother and son injured.

Bail is set at $100,000 for a Kennewick man accused of attacking two Pasco Wal-Mart employees who confronted him about an alleged shoplifting.

The state of Washington and Benton and Franklin counties saw record voter turnout in the general election, according to certified election results released Tuesday.

Kennewick's war on graffiti has a new attitude and a new weapon.

A Pasco teen is set for trial Jan. 21 on charges he threatened a 12-year-old boy with a bandanna-covered nail file to steal his cell phone.

SUNNYSIDE -- Anyone who receives a call from people saying they are with the Sunnyside ambulance service should beware, Sunnyside police say.

RICHLAND -- Tanya Zaugg was in the shower praying on Easter Sunday 2006, two days after being told her 4-year-old son had a rare brainstem cancer that would likely kill him within a year.

TRI-CITIES -- Clean technology will create hundreds of new jobs and help turn around the national economy, and the Tri-Cities is in unique position to develop those alternative energy sources, Sen. Maria Cantwell said Monday.

Consumers may be scaling back their spending as the stock markets fall and the economy teeters, but Mid-Columbians seem willing to pay the price to put free-range turkeys on their Thanksgiving tables.

PROSSER -- A mixture of fur and feathers almost derailed efforts to pass Benton County's 2009 budget on Monday.

Negotiations to draft new deadlines for cleaning up the Hanford nuclear reservation appear to be moving slowly, if at all, and top state officials are due in the Tri-Cities today to announce their next step.

A 28-year-old Pasco man who was shot in the head while target practicing on Sunday was likely hit by a ricochet from his own gun, according to the Benton County Sheriff's Office.

KENNEWICK -- A Kennewick man arrested for arson a month after his house caught fire is also being investigated in connection with another suspicious house fire six years ago, authorities said.

The RECA Foundation and Kiwanis Club of Tri-City Industry are collecting ink cartridges and laptops for a program for low-income people.

A West Richland patrol car has an estimated $5,000 worth of damage after a suspected drunken driver crashed into it this weekend.

The Tri-Cities Metro Drug Task Force and Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers are searching for a 22-year-old Pasco man wanted for allegedly delivering methamphetamine.

WASHTUCNA -- The Washtucna School District will get a new, less-polluting school bus through a grant from the state Department of Ecology.

PASCO -- Pasco roads could get more roundabouts in the next few years.

A 46-year-old Richland woman was arrested after she was found slumped over the steering wheel in a parked car with the engine running and the stereo blasting, West Richland Police Chief Layne Erdman said.

PROSSER -- Deciphering ballots can be tricky, the Benton County Canvassing Board's members discovered Monday as they pored over more than 1,000 questionable general election ballots.

KENNEWICK -- Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin Counties needs food donations for Thanksgiving baskets.

A 21-year-old Walla Walla woman was hit over the head with a beer bottle at a Kennewick bar after she reportedly wouldn't stop bumping a table next to her.

Kathy Patton was recently among several shoppers seeking not-your-average gifts at Lemon Grass in Kennewick. The Waitsburg woman has shopped at Linda Pasco's boutique store since it opened about eight years ago.

Back away from the buffet table and no one gets hurt.

HERMISTON -- Contractor Patricia Maier hates to see doors, windows, cabinets and other building materials thrown away during remodeling and demolition projects.

If you get arrested in Franklin County, you can bet it will be by the book.

Owners of properties in the Kennewick Irrigation District will decide Dec. 9 on filling three seats on the five-member board of directors.

The Richland Library Board is looking for a new member for a volunteer position ending Dec. 31, 2013.

Bob Johnson of Kennewick took home the keys to a 2009 Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan at the end of the charity event "Unlike Any Other" on Saturday.

The promise that is the Vineyards Resort will have to wait.

A man was airlifted to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland on Sunday afternoon after apparently being shot accidentally in the head near Hover Park in eastern Benton County, authorities said.

The new Chiawana High School in Pasco has a sprawling cafeteria with lots of natural light, a 650-seat auditorium and even a spot for a greenhouse.

WASHINGTON -- Six months ago, then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a crowd in Pendleton he wasn't familiar with the Hanford nuclear reservation and didn't have a clue what was going on there.

Winemakers and grape growers surveyed for a recent study indicated they see an increasing need for assistant vineyard managers, viticulturists, lab technicians, field workers and others with industry training.

Demand for the state's food stamp program is rising through a combination of new eligibility rules and a tough economy that is squeezing lower income families, officials said.

PASCO -- A lack of access to extracurricular activities, lacking or absent parent education, negative influences and racism are some of the reasons for high truancy rates among Latino youth, speakers said Saturday at a forum for juvenile justice reform.

WASHINGTON -- Here's the question: What does a community organizer from Chicago who spent only three years in the Senate before being elected president know about spotted owls, endangered salmon, mountain bark beetles, Western water rights, old-growth forests and the maintenance backlog in the national parks?

Benton-Franklin Juvenile Court is seeking volunteers for the CASA/Guardian Ad Litem Program to act as independent advocates for children in dependency cases.

Eligible veterans will receive greater reimbursement for the miles they drive for medical care at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, the VA announced last week.

An entire generation of skiers has grown up since White Pass Ski Area first announced expansion plans, but it wasn't until this month that the proposal cleared its last legal hurdle.

Richland's River's Edge High School won the "We the People" civics competition for Washington's 4th Congressional District on Saturday and qualified for the state event next month.

Long the neglected stepchildren of American higher education, community colleges have come front-and-center in the eyes of students, policymakers and philanthropists.

The monthly test of tone alert radios and warning sirens in southern Benton County is planned for noon Tuesday by Benton County Emergency Management.

The student council at Sacajawea Elementary School in Richland is coordinating a Toys for Tots toy drive through Dec. 12. Community members can drop off new and unwrapped toys at the school, 518 Catskill St.

The local Board of Health on Friday adopted a nearly $9 million Benton-Franklin Health District budget that was balanced by an expected increase in fees, not filling four jobs and draining the district's $546,000 of cash reserves.

The Tri-City Development Council will be working to ensure funding to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation doesn't get lost among the changes promised in the nation's capital, said Tim Peckinpaugh, a longtime lobbyist for TRIDEC.

Congress should consider giving authority to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to regulate all or some Department of Energy nuclear facilities if DOE does not improve oversight of safety, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

The city of Pasco committed unfair labor practices four years ago when it ended its comp time program for police officers without negotiating the change with the police union, a state employment commission ruled.

PULLMAN -- When Fran Forgette met Elson S. Floyd for dinner, he had no idea the Washington State University president would drop a bombshell Friday morning.

Pasco Recreation Services is taking reservations for a program that lets a child get a telephone call from Santa Claus.

A community meeting on increased Hispanic truancy rates and juvenile justice reform will be held today in Pasco.

Students in the band at Chief Joseph Middle School in Richland are planning a Guitar Hero video game tournament today to raise money for a trip to Disneyland in the spring.

MOSES LAKE -- The Moses Lake Police Department has begun renewing dog licenses for 2009. Pet owners who live within the city and have a dog over the age of 6 months is required to purchase a license.

PROSSER -- Leaders of Prosser Memorial Hospital plan to keep moving ahead with projects while they look for a replacement chief executive officer.

The U.S. Department of Education is investing $23.2 million in a local program that helps middle school students start thinking about college.

Two Kennewick sisters whose horses and cattle were seized after being found wandering this summer on neighbors' property in Finley have been ordered to pay $38,409 in restitution to Benton County.

A career criminal serving 28 1/2 years in prison for beating up a Finley man over a beef with the victim's girlfriend will get a few years shaved off his sentence.

WALLA WALLA -The Walla Walla School District is planning a holiday food drive Dec. 1-19.

WALLA WALLA -- The Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla will get a $71.4 million upgrade over the next two years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday.

Sen. Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla expects to wield some clout when the Legislature resumes in January, even though he's in the Republican minority.

A 22-year-old man suspected of helping kidnap a missing Pasco woman five months ago pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing a rental car to skip town.

Four Washington River Protection Solutions employees at Hanford were placed on administrative leave based on preliminary findings of an investigation.

OTHELLO -- Six juveniles were stopped by Othello police early Thursday after they were spotted running away from a van that had just been stolen, police said.

WALLA WALLA -- The Know Your Government Conference will be holding an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Washington State University Extension office meeting room at 328 W. Poplar St., Walla Walla.

The founding class of the Washington State Academy of Sciences includes Subhash Singhal, an expert in fuel cells at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

An Oregon man spotted Thursday driving erratically along Interstate 182 likely suffered from a medical condition that impaired his driving, authorities said.

Washington State University Tri-Cities will not hold classes the week of Nov. 24.

Pasco police traffic officers are reminding drivers to make sure they're using their headlights when it's foggy, raining or snowing outside.

OLYMPIA -- The state Office of Financial Management has asked colleges and other state agencies to develop plans for cuts of up to 20 percent in expected spending.

A month from now, the director of Benton County Emergency Services will be out of a job.

Fans eager to catch the first Tri-City screenings of Twilight started arriving at theaters Thursday afternoon.

Kennewick man faces trial on theft charge

A Pasco man was sentenced to three months in jail for trying to stab a co-worker in the face with a knife.

A 45-year-old West Richland man is being held on $100,000 bail for allegedly harassing and threatening to kill a woman who had ended their relationship.

On a tight budget this holiday season?

A black student at Pasco High found graffiti that included a racial epitaph on her car Thursday morning.

The annex and portables at Pasco High School were evacuated Thursday afternoon because of a fire in a men's bathroom.

The graduation ceremony at Hanford High School on Wednesday almost seemed like any other.

KENNEWICK -- The current economic climate may not be the best time to ask the public for money, Benton-Franklin Humane Society operations manager Ed Dawson admitted Wednesday.

There are images that stay with Tricia MacFarlan from her travels as a volunteer for Operation Christmas Child.

Another large bone thought to be from a mammoth that wandered Washington thousands of years ago has been found on a 27-acre site southwest of Kennewick.

The Government Accountability Office is investigating a program to compensate ill nuclear workers, including those at Hanford, and should have some preliminary findings to share with congressional leaders this spring.

Kennewick soon will be looking to fill a vacancy on the city council.

PROSSER -- Building a new Prosser High School to ease overcrowding is expected to cost district taxpayers $47.6 million, officials announced this week.

A car reportedly stolen in Pasco on Wednesday was later found in Kennewick after a resident called police about a suspicious vehicle in his neighborhood, Kennewick police said.

PENDLETON -- Native histories will be discussed at the Tamstslikt Cultural Institute this week at a book-signing and a film screening.

Student organizations are throwing a tailgate party at Washington State University Tri-Cities at 4 p.m. Friday.

Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers is asking for the public's help in identifying a woman who is using lost credit cards to buy items around the Tri-Cities.