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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'It's all about being prepared': Navy hovercraft could be hulking lifesavers after The Big One
People visiting or living along the Pacific Northwest coast may be completely cut off after "The Big One" — the feared magnitude 9.0 Cascadia earthquake...
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Dead gray whale found near Kalaloch is 24th on Pacific NW coast this year
Olympic National Park said a decomposing gray whale washed ashore Friday morning north of Kalaloch Campground. That makes the 24th dead whale stranding...
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Deadly 2017 Amtrak wreck could have been prevented, feds conclude
Crew training deficiencies played a crucial role in the deadly 2017 Amtrak train derailment near DuPont, Washington, according to a final report from...
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New Washington state park in the works along Nisqually River
Washington is getting its first new full-service state park in many years. The planned park build-out is on land the state owns along the Nisqually...
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Oregon policymakers may shake up development rules in tsunami zones
Sooner or later the offshore Cascadia fault zone is going to unleash a monster earthquake and tsunami. When that day comes, you hope that coastal...
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Politics
Washington becomes first West Coast state ready to ditch time changes
With the stroke of the governor's pen Wednesday, Washington officially became the first West Coast state to ditch the twice-yearly time switch. But the...
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The oral history wasn't a myth. Tsunamis hit this tribal village five times, new study shows
A legend about a great flood has been passed down through the centuries among the Klallam people on the north side of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. As...
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They smell, bark and snatch pet dogs. Sea lions cause trouble at Northwest ports
A big rebound in the sea lion population along the West Coast in recent years has created a constant battle to wrangle the protected animals.
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Delivery robots are now cleared to drive on Washington sidewalks
Wheeled autonomous robots to bring online orders to your door have the green light to enter commercial service in Washington state. Gov. Jay Inslee...
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Tax break for electric vehicles makes a comeback in Washington state
In their last minute dash to adjournment Sunday, Washington state legislators revived a lapsed sales tax break for buyers of electric cars. The...