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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Scientists sunk a rare blue whale skeleton. Now they need money to bring it back up
There’s a set of massive whale bones resting on the bottom of the bay in Newport, Oregon. Scientists from Oregon State University put them there with a...
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Education
A Teacher's Obsession
Less than 200 years ago, the easiest way to get around a lot of the Pacific Northwest was by canoe. The first American steamship to provide regular...
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Environment
A Blast of Hope and Humanity: Here's what perseverance looks like
An emaciated orca from the Pacific Northwest’s critically-endangered resident killer whale population could get a pole injection of medicine under the latest preferred option of an emergency response team.
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Seattle May Day: Mostly peaceful, 5 arrests from day of protests
Supporters of immigrants and workers rights rallied through Seattle on Monday as part of the annual May Day demonstration. Most of the rallies were...
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'Unprecedented Cataclysm': Wildfire Kills Three Firefighters In Methow Valley
Three Forest Service firefighters killed in a wildfire threatening Twisp were in a vehicle accident before flames overran them, state and federal...
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Belltown Bar Back From The Future With A Bitcoin ATM
The world's first bitcoin ATM launched last year in Vancouver, Canada. Now there's also a physical place in the Northwest to buy and sell the virtual...
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Flags Lowered Across Washington To Honor Landslide Victims
Flags are flying at half mast across Washington state this afternoon to honor victims of last month's deadly landslide.
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Dogs Most Effective Search Tool As Landslide Death Toll Mounts
Rescuers are employing high tech electronics to help locate buried victims in the Oso mudslide. But old fashioned tools have actually worked best according to local fire chief Travis Hots.
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County Officials Say Stricken Neighborhood Made Aware Of Landslide Risk
With the death toll expected to rise from Saturday’s catastrophic landslide near Oso, Snohomish County officials and emergency planners are starting to...
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Not A Bird Or A Plane – It’s A Comet Named ISON
If you wake up early and the skies are clear this week, a comet named ISON should be visible through binoculars over the southeastern horizon.