HAAP awards $79K to Hispanic achievers

Hispanic Academic Achievers Program awarded $79,000 in scholarships to 18 local high school seniors.

The program recognized 5,553 students in grades 4-12 who earned 3.0 or higher grade-point averages.

Tri-Cities Cancer Center plants community garden

The Tri-Cities Cancer Center is seeking donations and volunteers to tend to its community garden, part of its cancer-crushing mission to treat and feed local patients.

The new garden, planted May 12, is filled with herbs, vegetables and wildflowers for patients.

Volunteer by emailing aracellyg@tccancer.org.

Donate at bit.ly/TCCCGardenDonations.

Columbia Generating Station begins 25th refueling

More than 1,400 skilled, temporary workers were hired locally and from across the country to support refueling and maintenance projects during Columbia Generating Station’s refueling outage.

The added workers join Energy Northwest’s regular workforce of about 1,000 employees.

In all, regular and temporary employees will complete more than 10,000 work tasks.

Energy Northwest operators disconnected the station from the Northwest power grid to begin its 25th refueling outage on May 8.

The biennial refueling is an opportunity to add fresh nuclear fuel to Columbia’s reactor core, as well as perform maintenance projects that can be accomplished only when the reactor is offline.

The Northwest’s only nuclear power plant, which produced nearly 18 million megawatt-hours of electricity during the last two years, is scheduled to be offline for no more than 40 days.

Energy Northwest and the Bonneville Power Administration time the plant’s biennial refueling to coincide with spring snowmelt and runoff that maximizes power output from the region’s hydroelectric dams and minimizes the impact of taking Columbia offline.

During the refueling, crews will replace 260 of the 764 nuclear fuel assemblies in Columbia’s reactor core. Every two years, fuel that has been in the reactor core for six years is removed and placed in Columbia’s used fuel pool, which removes residual heat.

Columbia, located 10 miles north of Richland, will restart and reconnect to the Northwest power grid in mid-June.

Art in the Park is on, Water Follies, River of Fire are canceled

Tri-Citians will have one consolation after officials canceled the two staples of the summer calendar: Water Follies and July 4th River of Fire Fireworks.

Art in the Park will mark its 70th year with an in-person outdoor event July 23-24 at Richland’s Howard Amon Park. The event, canceled in 2020 because of Covid-19, will follow safety protocols.

 Concessions will be offered by local Scouts, Pet Over Population Prevention, Columbia Basin Veterans Center, The Arc of Tri-Cities and the Richland Rod and Gun Club.

STCU is the premier sponsor.

While Art in the Park proceeds, Tri-Cities Water Follies, which features the Columbia Cup hydroplane races and HAPO Air Show, as well as the July 4th River of Fire fireworks display, were canceled over concerns about managing safety concerns in large gatherings.

JA Business Hall of Fame virtual event is set for May 26

Junior Achievement of Washington honors its 2021 Business Hall of Fame Laureates with a virtual event May 26.

Tickets are $50 and include programs as well as discussion sessions based on JA’s emphasis on financial literacy, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship.

Go to jawashington.org/bhoftickets.

Benton PUD offers Covid-19 relief

Benton PUD is offering a one-time credit of up to $200 for residential customers whose bills are past due because of Covid-19 hardships.

To qualify, owners must demonstrate a loss of income due to the pandemic or increased expenses and have a total annual income at or below 225% of the federal poverty level.

The program is open to residential and non-residential customers who had past-due balances on April 30.

A credit is also available for low-income customers who had no past due balance. The program ends July 31 or when funding is depleted.

Credits are calculated at up to 50% of the past-due balance.

Go to BentonPUD.org.

Senate confirms new Washington health secretary

Dr. Umair A. Shah was confirmed as Washington state Secretary of Health by the state senate following a March 10 hearing.

Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Shah to lead the department and the state’s Covid-19 response in December. He has led the statewide vaccination strategy with a focus on equitable access at the mass vaccination sites, including one at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick.

Shah earned a bachelor’s in philosophy from Vanderbilt University and his medical degree from the University of Toledo Health Science Center. He completed his internal medicine residency, primary care/general medicine fellowship and master’s in public health at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

He also completed an international health policy internship at World Health Organization headquarters in Switzerland, according to his online biography.

DOE boosts solar deployment in underserved areas

The U.S. Department of Energy is refocusing its efforts to support solar deployment in low- and moderate-income communities while fostering a solar workforce.

The effort includes $15.5 million in new funding to bolster the efforts of existing programs such as SolSmart and the Solar Energy Innovation Network to tackle challenges associated with the cost to design, site, permit, install and finance solar systems.

“Solar energy is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest paths to President Biden’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2035 – and now, it’s time to double down on our efforts to make those benefits available to communities in every pocket of the country,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Want to learn more about Hanford cleanup?

Hanford cleanup managers will report on the progress made at the nuclear cleanup site during an online Hanford Live 2021 program from 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 16.

Hanford Live features representatives from the key Hanford players – the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology as well as the Hanford Advisory Board.

The program is free and open to all. Email questions to HanfordLive@rl.gov.

Travel writers conference shifts to October

Visit Tri-Cities has landed the 2021 TBEX North America conference, a gathering influential travel writers that promised to elevate the region’s profile as a tourism destination.

The event will occur, but it has been rescheduled to Oct. 12-14 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick. It was originally set for August but was delayed due to uncertainty related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

TBEX announced the Tri-Cities would host its 2021 convention in mid-2020. The event is the largest conference and networking event for travel writers and is expected to draw up to 400 travel bloggers with a combined reach of more than 300 million to the Mid-Columbia.

The event offers three days of educational and networking programs as well as tours of local visitor destinations.

Go to tbexcon.com.

Hanford execs headline JA lunch series

Two Bechtel officials working on  Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, known as the vit plant, are featured in Junior Achievement of Washington’s free Lunch with Leaders sessions, taking place through May.

Speakers will share their stores and discuss what skills and qualities are needed to succeed in their field. They will answer questions from students as well.

Cynethia Sims, Bechtel’s controller manager, speaks May 19. Felice Presti, Bechtel’s deputy project manager, speaks May 26.

Go to jawashington.org/lunch-with-leaders.

Communities in Schools holds virtual breakfast

Communities in Schools will hold its annual Spring into Action breakfast as a virtual event at 8 a.m. May 20.

Rey Saldaña, president and chief executive officer of Communities in Schools National, will address the gathering. 

Go to bit.ly/CISBreakfast2021.

Enrollment period ending for prepaid college plan

May 31 is the deadline to enroll in Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) prepaid college savings plan for 2020-21.

The GET plan is a qualified 529 savings plan that guarantees savings will keep pace with in-state tuition and state-mandated fee. While the values are pegged to in-state costs, students can tap the funds to attend nearly any public or private university, community college or technical school in the U.S.

Apprenticeships and some student loan payments are eligible as well.

The GET program is one of two savings options offered through Washington College Savings Plans.

The DreamAhead College Investment Plan launched in 2018.

Go to wastate529.wa.gov to learn more. Accounts can be opened online. Call 800-955-2318 or email GETInfo@wsac.wa.gov for details.

Explore Puget Sound without getting wet

Anyone curious about life in and under Puget Sound can log onto the internet to view the changing conditions of Washington’s largest body of water.

The state Department of Ecology’s Marine Sediment Monitoring Team released its first collection of GIS-based story maps that provide updated descriptions of their work assessing conditions and change over time in Puget Sound. The work tracks both sediment and the marine life that inhabits the sound.

Go to bit.ly/PugetSoundStoryMaps.

Snake River listed as most endangered in nation

The Snake River has been listed as the country’s most endangered in a report from the conservation group American Rivers.

The river, which flows through the Tri-Cities and three states, landed at No. 1 spot on American Rivers’ 2021 list of most endangered rivers in the U.S. report.

The report points to salmon runs, native rights and culture, and prosperity being at risk. The report says removing four dams on the lower river in Eastern Washington is essential, along with increasing flow over downstream dams, noting that a comprehensive salmon recovery plan is needed.

In February 2021, Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, proposed a $33.5 billion plan that includes river restoration measures regionwide, including the removal of the four dams.

Other rivers included on the most-endangered list were the Lower Missouri River in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska; Boundary Waters in Minnesota; South River in Georgia; Pecos River in New Mexico; Tar Creek in Oklahoma; McCloud River in California; Ipswich River in Massachusetts; Raccoon River in Iowa; and Turkey Creek in Mississippi.

Upper Columbia River ready for salmon

The spawning beds of a 47-mile stretch of the Upper Columbia River above Grand Coulee Dam is suitable for fall and summer Chinook salmon if they can reach it, according to a new study from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Upper Columbia United Tribes, including the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

The study explored the stretch of river between Kettle Falls and the Canadian border and concluded the water and riverbed conditions could provide nesting space for between 5,800 and 33,000 spawning adult salmon.

The study adds that hundreds of miles of streams are available to support both adults and juveniles.

Chinook spend their adult years at sea before returning to spawn in rivers. The challenge is that Grand Coulee blocks upstream passage. Neither Grand Coulee Dam nor the downstream Chief Joseph Dam offer juvenile fish bypass facilities.

Fish passage discussions are underway, with researchers considering transporting fish upstream via truck, or through the “Whooshh system,” which transports fish past barriers through pressurized tubes.

Go to bit.ly/UpperColumbiaFishHabitat.

Columbia Center owner  says in-person returns are greener

Returning goods in person is greener than sending items back in the mail, according to Simon, the Indianapolis-based owner of Kennewick’s Columbia Center mall.

Simon asserts that research shows returning purchases to the store reduces carbon emissions by up to 40% compared to returning them by U.S. mail or other courier. Simon cited a company report for its research, “Leveraging In-Store Returns to Enhance Profitability and Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”

Go to simon-malls.cld.bz/Simon-Leveraging-In-Store-Returns.

Online returns doubled in 2020 to $102 billion, with 40% of apparel items sent back, according to Simon.

“Online returns are a growing problem that adversely and materially impacts the environment. Returning online purchases to the store offers consumers and retailers the opportunity to lessen that impact,” said Aharon Kestenbaum, Simon’s head of sustainability.

Go to investors.simon.com/sustainability.