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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Politics
Washington State Lawmakers Vote To Make Daylight Saving Time Year-Round
If you're annoyed by having to change the clocks this weekend, take heart. This could be one of the last times you have to go through the time change in Washington.
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Politics
Nearly 4,500 older brick buildings in Washington could be dangerous in a quake, new report says
The State of Washington has completed its first statewide inventory of buildings prone to crumble or collapse in an earthquake. The bottom line: There...
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Politics
Incentives for electric car buyers? Yes in Oregon, maybe in Washington
Democrats in the Washington Legislature want to revive a tax break for buyers of electric cars, which critics view as wasteful and unnecessary....
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Environment
Cattle grazing gives way to big solar farm leases in Central Washington
A Portland-based energy developer has signed property leases for a big solar farm in Klickitat County near the Columbia River. When completed, the solar...
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Clean Electricity Rule To Phase Out Fossil Fuel Plants Moves Closer To Passage In Washington
Electric utilities in Washington would have to phase out all coal power, and eventually, natural gas-fired generation under a measure passed by the state Senate last week. The 100 percent clean electricity mandate is a priority of Gov. Jay Inslee and environmental groups, but Republican critics decried it as a big rate increase in the making.
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Politics
Clean electricity rule to phase out fossil fuel plants passes WA state Senate
Electric utilities in Washington state would have to phase out all coal power, and eventually, natural gas-fired generation under a measure passed by...
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Politics
Bricks could rain down on your head during the next major quake. These proposals want to fix that
Thousands of old brick, stone and concrete buildings in the Pacific Northwest could crumble in the next strong earthquake. To face that challenge,...
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Environment
There were few major quakes in the Pacific Northwest over the last decade. Is that… normal?
Most people in the Pacific Northwest know we live in earthquake country. A new analysis published this week, however, notes that major quakes in the...
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Technology
Digital license plates may be coming soon to a road near you
If a custom license plate or a college-themed plate isn't good enough for your car, a startup has the latest in automotive accessories: a digital...
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Public art installation beside Columbia River put on hold by Yakama Nation opposition
A large public art project proposed to be built beside the now-inundated great falls of the Columbia River has been put on indefinite hold by its...