Tom Banse
Regional CorrespondentNow semi-retired, Tom Banse covered national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reported from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events unfolded. Tom's stories can be found online and were heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Previously, Tom covered state government and the Washington Legislature for 12 years. He got his start in radio at WCAL–FM, a public station in southern Minnesota. Reared in Seattle, Tom graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota with a degree in American Studies.
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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 distinctive technique of reefnet fishing dates back thousands of years as a traditional Indigenous method to catch salmon. Its practitioners today say the gear should be the preferred way to harvest healthy salmon runs while avoiding fragile stocks.
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An aircraft maker from Western Washington on Tuesday provided a glimpse at one possible future for sustainable air travel — electric commuter planes. Eviation celebrated the maiden flight of an all-new, short hop airliner named Alice in Moses Lake.
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There's a rising tide of interest in opening seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest. If even half of the current applicants succeed, it would more than double the small number of commercial seaweed growing operations in Oregon and Washington state.
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A demolition contractor on Thursday imploded the towering smokestack and 19-story boiler building at Portland General Electric’s shuttered coal-fired power plant near Boardman, bringing a symbolic close to the era of coal-fired power generation in Oregon. Imported electricity generated from coal still flows through transmission wires across the Pacific Northwest, but that looks to be winding down soon, too.
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Half a dozen Pacific Northwest craft breweries are diversifying into making nonalcoholic beer. But instead of brewing bland and watery "near beer," they're injecting quality and variety into a space that used to be dominated by a few national brands. A swelling customer base is lapping it up.
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Washington and Oregon rank in the top ten states for the longest life expectancy, according to new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The high rankings come with the caveat that the pandemic has thrown lengthening human lifespans into reverse in the U.S.
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Collisions between vehicles and large animals, like deer, are not only scary. The medical, car repair and cleanup costs really add up. That is according to a new study out of Washington State University that supports the case for building more wildlife crossings on highways.
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The U.S. Forest Service is looking at something different — very different — to improve situational awareness at big wildfires: high altitude balloons.
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Companies large and small around the Pacific Northwest say they are excited by growth opportunities that may flow from the climate, healthcare and tax package signed by President Biden on Tuesday. Turbocharged federal spending could benefit the region’s green energy sector in particular.
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There is a new option to escape a tsunami if you’re on the southwest coast of Washington when the Big One strikes. The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe on Friday dedicated a 50-foot tall evacuation tower in Tokeland, Washington. Tribal leaders and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the new tsunami refuge platform should be an example and inspiration for other vulnerable coastal communities.