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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'I knew I needed to go out' says blood donor marking anniversary of deadly Amtrak derailment
Three years ago on December 18, a speeding Amtrak Cascades train bound for Portland derailed near DuPont, Washington, and tumbled onto Interstate 5. The...
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Public health agencies watching for rise in suicides during pandemic, but not seeing it
It stands to reason that all the stress, anxiety and isolation of the pandemic could lead more people to take their own lives. But newly obtained data...
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Covid-19 contact tracing in Pacific NW buckling under surging cases
Since early in the pandemic, rapid contact tracing has been considered one of the keys to controlling the spread of the coronavirus. But in recent weeks...
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Cascadia bullet train: Go for it or 'kill this thing'?
A new government report on high speed rail in the Pacific Northwest recommends that Oregon, Washington and British Columbia formalize their interest in...
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More than half Washingtonians surveyed delayed getting health care amid pandemic
An online survey conducted out of Whitman College found more than half of Washingtonians say they have delayed medical visits this year. The findings underscore widespread concerns about disruptions to health care during the pandemic.
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Migration to booming 'Zoom towns' in Pacific Northwest sends home prices into overdrive
You can add a new term to your lexicon: "Zoom towns." These are scenic places experiencing a surge of house hunters. Booming demand comes from workers...
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Have you been exposed to the coronavirus? There's an app for that in Washington
Washington state on Monday launched a coronavirus exposure alert tool for smartphone users statewide. Washington joined more than a dozen other states...
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Want to know when you've been exposed to COVID-19? There's an app for that
University students and staff in the Pacific Northwest are giving a trial run to a smartphone app that tells you if you were recently near someone who...
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Further proof that 2020 stinks: More people are dying during the pandemic and not just from Covid
As the coronavirus pandemic drags on, it's now increasingly apparent that 2020 will be remembered for an unusually high death toll -- not just from...
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U.S.-Canada border closure likely to be 'with us for a while'
The most recent extension of the U.S.-Canada border closure expires this Friday, November 21, but no one expects the restrictions to be lifted then....