Tom Banse
Regional Correspondent
About
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports, and human interest stories across Washington state. Now semi-retired, Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering the Pacific Northwest. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work appears on multiple nonprofit news outlets including KUOW. His recent areas of focus range from transportation, U.S.-Canada borderlands, the Northwest region's planned hydrogen hub, and emergency preparedness.
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.
Location: Olympia
Languages: English, German
Stories
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Native-themed mascots on borrowed time in Washington
Washington public schools with Native American-themed team names or mascots have a decision to make now that Gov. Jay Inslee has signed into law a ban...
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Wolf numbers continue to grow in Washington state, but still no hunting as in Idaho
The number of wolves in Washington state rose strongly last year, according to an annual report from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife released Friday. The rate of increase was more than double what Oregon reported earlier in the week for its wolf population in 2020.
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Pacific NW was once a ski jumping hotbed, as told in new book and museum exhibit
Few among us have tried our luck at competitive ski jumping, and there is no shame in that considering these skiers can reach speeds around 60 mph before they take flight. But there's something riveting about the daring sport even for casual onlookers. The Pacific Northwest was once a "hotbed" for Nordic jumping as detailed in a new book and a parallel museum exhibit.
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Pandemic-curtailed Amtrak service to be partially restored next month in Pacific NW
In another sign of the rebound in travel, Amtrak and the state transportation departments of Oregon and Washington announced plans to restore a good...
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Dawn of legal sports betting in Washington state in deal with Tulalip tribe
Nearly a year after the Washington Legislature voted to legalize sports betting, terms have been agreed for the first sportsbook to open.
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Billy Frank Jr. in, Marcus Whitman out as part of U.S. Capitol statue swap
In a time of reckoning about historical monuments, Washington state lawmakers found a bipartisan path to change out a prominent statue. A bill signed by Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday begins the process of putting a statue of the late tribal treaty rights activist Billy Frank Jr. in the U.S. Capitol.
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100-day countdown to Tokyo Olympics begins and NW athletes are excited to go
The 100 day countdown to the opening ceremony of the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics begins Wednesday. Yes, the summer games are proceeding amid an...
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Idaho Legislature lends sympathetic ear to Oregon group that wants to redraw state lines
Idaho legislators gave a sympathetic ear Monday to an Oregon group that wants to redraw state lines so that conservative eastern and southern Oregon...
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Robotic balloons to explore Venus? An Oregon company is working on it
The space agency NASA has chosen a small Tillamook-based aerospace company to design and test robotic balloons for future scientific exploration of...
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Yes, there are mermaids in the Pacific Northwest. They get their own museum now, too
The Pacific Northwest might seem like an unlikely place for mermaids and mermaid culture to catch on given the cold water here. Yet, putting on an eye-catching tail and pretending to be a mythical sea being is a thing across the Northwest. There's even a brand new mermaid museum near Aberdeen, Washington.