Tri-City Herald’s best work of 2022 included investigations, breaking news and more

A Richland School Board vote to defy COVID mask mandates.

A judge under criminal investigation.

The stalled startup of the world’s first radioactive waste melter.

Those were just a few of the most significant stories produced by Tri-City Herald journalists in 2022 — a year which the reinvestment in our newsroom staff resulted to one important report after another.

Here are just a few of the highlights from a busy, newsy 2022:

• Reporters Eric Rosane and Cameron Probert’s extensive coverage of the Richland School Board’s vote to ignore Washington state’s school mask mandate sharply divided school officials and the community. The decision forced the unprecedented closure of classes for two days, triggered a lawsuit and led to a recall effort that’s landed at the state Supreme Court.
• Herald reporters detailed the struggles of Superior Court Judge Sam Swanberg who spent more than half the year on paid leave while dealing with accusations of harassment and domestic abuse by an ex-girlfriend and his former wife, leading to co-contact orders and eventually his acquittal on the assault charge.
• Reporter Cory McCoy’s multiple stories closely detailed the continuing financial impact of rancher Cody Easterday’s “ghost cattle” saga. Easterday reported to a federal penitentiary in California in mid-December, more than two years after the nearly quarter-billion-dollar theft was discovered by Tyson Foods. But the financial and legal aftermath of his fraud continues.

• 20 years after construction began, the Hanford site’s multi-billion-dollar vitrification plant finally began heating up its melter to turn radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal. But soon, reporter Annette Cary revealed what happened next — that an electrical system problem shut down the heat-up process, halting the massive project indefinitely. Troubleshooting and repairs continue.
• When gunfire erupted inside a Richland grocery store in February, the Herald poured all of its journalistic resources into covering the tragedy. Instacart shopper Justin Krumbah was killed, a store employee was seriously wounded and a gunman was on the run. Our reports detailed the chaos, terror and grief, the methodical search by law enforcement and Aaron C. Kelly’s arrest 11 hours later. Our year-long coverage uncovered Kelly’s struggles with mental health and, most recently, a judge’s order forcing him to be treated for a schizophrenia disorder. It’s unclear when or if he will go on trial.

• Richland’s own homegrown astronaut, Kayla Barron, spent the first five months of 2022 nearly 230 miles above Earth in the International Space Station. She participated in multiple spacewalks, conducted numerous zero-gravity experiments and even showed people how astronauts wash their hair in space. It’s possible Barron could be the first woman to take a step on the Moon, and the Herald has made sure our readers are able to follow her work toward that end.

Thank you to all our readers for making this work and thousands of other stories last year possible. We look forward to continuing in 2023 to give you a closer look into the work of your elected officials, community leaders and many extraordinary Tri-Citians.