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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'Tidying up the past': Pandemic house-cleaning leads to return of World War II souvenirs
Pandemic stay-at-home orders gave lots of households extra time for spring cleaning. Some people rediscovered World War II artifacts, including inscribed Japanese flags taken as souvenirs by American soldiers from Pacific battlefields.
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Canada-U.S. border restrictions extended, forcing big changes in some people's lives
The months-long closure of the U.S.-Canada border to non-essential crossings has been extended again. The border crossing restrictions will last at...
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Matriarch of Northwest apple industry passes away at age 194. Not a misprint
It's not often that you'll read an obituary for a tree. Or that a dead tree gets a memorial service of sorts. But then there aren't many like Vancouver, Washington's "Old Apple Tree."
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Layoffs and shop closures hit Seattle and Portland airports, terminal expansions continue
The recovery in airline travel seems to have hit a plateau in recent weeks, according to Transportation Security Administration checkpoint screening numbers. With the end of coronavirus pandemic seemingly beyond the horizon, the near future is turning grim for workers in the airline and airports sector.
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New 'Twilight' book promises to rekindle vampire tourism, but pandemic could also put stake in it
The Twilight phenomenon gets an injection of fresh blood this Tuesday with the release of a new installment in the bestselling vampire saga from author Stephenie Meyer. The series of novels and subsequent hit movies spurred legions of fans to visit the fictional story's real-life setting on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. But a predicted "renaissance" in vampire tourism could be bled by the resurgent virus pandemic.
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MacKenzie Scott lists $1.7B in donations since divorce from Amazon's Jeff Bezos
Multiple nonprofits and universities that received large gifts this month from Seattle billionaire MacKenzie Scott are describing the donations as ...
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Covid hasn't interrupted Alaska's resupply lifeline from Seattle, and woe if it does
The coronavirus pandemic has served to remind many of us how much we count on strangers staying healthy so we can restock our cupboards and go about daily life. That's especially true for Alaskans who depend on a marine cargo lifeline from the Pacific Northwest for the majority of their goods.
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Official Covid-19 fatalities may undercount pandemic's death toll by many hundreds in NW
The carefully followed death toll from COVID-19 may not fully capture the loss of life during the pandemic. Analysis of state and federal statistics for deaths from all causes shows hundreds of additional deaths above normal levels this spring in the Pacific Northwest. Some or many of those may actually be missed COVID deaths.
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Four tribal casinos in vanguard to introduce legal sports betting to Washington state
Four Washington state tribes have opened negotiations with the state government to introduce sports betting. Earlier this year, the legislature...
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Governor puts two week pause on further reopening in Washington state, strengthens mask order
Washington Governor Jay Inslee and the state Health Secretary are hitting the pause button on the county-by-county reopening process in response to the...