Northwest

SALEM — Oregon public workers who expected to contribute more to their savings in July to make up for cuts to retirement benefits will have to wait until September.

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington House of Representatives on Tuesday released a trove of documents supporting a recent report that branded an arch-conservative state lawmaker a “domestic terror…

Tribal-treaty rights make salmon akin to a fourth branch of government in Washington, and fish recovery should guide farming near water, and rural and economic development, according to a bill…

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington state lawmaker whose actions surrounding an armed standoff with federal agents were dubbed “domestic terrorism” in a recent report has for years been spreading hi…

Tri-Cities residents in Washington share their thoughts on the four dams in the Lower Snake River for a study from Gov. Jay Inslee's office.

SALEM — A new Trump administration plan to scale back a bedrock environmental law could affect all kinds of projects in the Northwest, including timber sales, hydroelectric dams, and large ene…

A new study finds that the costs to farmers and the region’s economy if the four dams on the lower Snake River were removed would average roughly $76 million a year.

Eastern Washington farmers doubt that public subsidies would offset higher transportation and irrigation costs caused by breaching four Lower Snake River dams, according to a preliminary study…

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington state lawmaker took part in “domestic terrorism” against the United States during a 2016 standoff at a wildlife refuge in Oregon and traveled throughout the West …

The Pacific Northwest will see slightly above normal temperatures and normal precipitation throughout the winter, a well-known weatherman predicts.

Stakeholders need to begin talking about the possible impacts to Northwest communities if four dams on the Snake River are removed, says the leader of a group that advocates their removal.

Climate change imperils orcas in Puget Sound and to save them Washington should restructure its economy and eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, according to a task force report finalized Nov. …

A Seattle attorney believes his Whooshh salmon cannon can move salmon upriver over dams far faster, cheaper and with less mortality than fish ladders or trucking. It could restore migration pa…

PORTLAND — Student test scores fell in Oregon and Washington on the assessment known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” a trend that mirrors national declines over the last two years.

CORVALLIS, Ore. –The first responders to wildfires in the remote areas of the Great Basin of Oregon and Idaho are increasingly volunteer groups of private landowners that have been authorized …

HANFORD, Wash. — You’ve heard the grim numbers about the Hanford nuclear site — the millions of gallons of radioactive waste and the growing price tag for cleanup.

PORTLAND — Three years ago, Lindsey Topping-Schuetz became a first-time mother when her son Owen was born. He was six weeks early and went immediately to the neonatal intensive care unit, wher…

BAKER CITY — When Daniel Koopman arrived in Baker City in August 2015 to become the Baker County director of Blue Mountain Community College, smoke darkened the sky and hung over the town.

RICHLAND, Wash. — Not enough is known to decide on the best and most economical way to treat much of the low-activity radioactive waste in Hanford’s underground tanks, said a committee of the …

CORVALLIS — Ancient human artifacts found in a remote corner of northwestern Idaho could deliver a major blow to a long-held theory that North America’s first humans arrived by crossing a land…

WASHOUGAL, Wash. — Residents of Washougal, Washington, say a controversial rock-mining operation is disrupting their neighborhood’s peace and quiet and violating the Columbia River Gorge Natio…

PORTLAND — Conservationists are accusing the Trump administration of putting the interests of industry — including logging and grazing in the Pacific Northwest — ahead of the survival of the c…

(123RF)

PORTLAND — You might have noticed some smoky skies lately, particularly in the Inland Northwest from the Williams Flats Fire near the Grand Coulee Dam.

SPOKANE — More work needs to be done to determine the cost and impact on the region's power grid in the next 30 to 50 years if four dams on the Snake River are removed, experts say.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — In the span of just a few years, the Washington State Patrol has built up a fleet of more than 100 drones. At last check, the Oregon State Police had three. The Washington pat…

RICHLAND, Wash. — A new federal report says that a massive building at the Hanford Nuclear Site is worse off than managers thought.

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on Wednesday authorized killing some members of a wolf pack that are preying on cattle in the northeastern corner of the state.

An irrigation district serving farmland and residents in Kennewick and Richland, Wash., says the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is threatening its water supply. The bureau says it is working with …

Fine fuels increasingly fire-ready

BILLINGS, Montana — Climate change in the Western U.S. means more intense and frequent wildfires churning out waves of smoke that scientists say will sweep across the continent to affect tens …

Wildfires also burn in California, Oregon

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will review the status of seven threatened or endangered species in Washington state, including four types of pocket gophers found in only two westside counties.

SPOKANE, Wash. — It’s been nearly 80 years since salmon and steelhead made it past Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams in Washington’s Upper Columbia Basin. It’s long been a goal for tribes to …

A drought covering all or parts of nine Western Washington counties worsened in the past week from "moderate" to "severe," the U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday.

RICHLAND, Washington — At the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeastern Washington, and across the West, winter’s deep snow and a cool spring have produced lots of brush and grass.

As the weather heats up and forests begin to dry out, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, has wildfires on his mind.

SALEM — Lacy Ramirez Gruss did vocal exercises, stretched, pulled her hair back, and slipped on some comfortable shoes.

State wildlife biologists documented at least 137 wolves in 2018, a 10% increase over the previous year, according to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife's annual wolf report released…