Chervenell awarded bid for Kennewick elementary 

Chervenell Construction Co. of Kennewick was awarded the general construction contract for Kennewick School District’s elementary #16, located in the Clearwater Creek development in Richland.

Chervenell, currently building the new Westgate Elementary on Fourth Avenue in Kennewick, provided a low bid of $20 million.

Elementary #16 will open to students in August 2018. Consisting of 38 classrooms, gym, cafeteria, music room, computer lab, library, two reading rooms, flexible learning space and playground, it will be the district’s largest elementary school.

Voters approved the project as part of a February 2015 bond. It is funded by a combination of state assistance funds and a portion of a $55.1 million state grant aimed at reducing classroom sizes in kindergarten through third grade.

UW business school offers business certificate program 

The University of Washington Foster School of Business is offering a business certificate program to improve the business knowledge, skills and leadership abilities of employees of Tri-City area companies.

The program is designed for people who want to become more effective in their job, develop leadership and strategic thinking skills and improve problem-solving abilities.

Classes are held at Columbia Basin College from noon to 3 p.m. on six successive Fridays: April 14, 21 and 28 and May 5, 12 and 19. Lunch is provided. Cost is $350 per student.

Visit foster.washington/edu/consult for more information.

Chamber, Ag Hall of Fame launch youth program grant 

The Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame and Pasco Chamber of Commerce have launched “Cultivating Our Future,” an annual competitive grant program aimed at supporting opportunities for youth to research, demonstrate and learn more about agriculture.

Funding up to $5,000 is available for educators and entities to provide programming on engaging youth in agriculture. Funding decisions will be made by a Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame committee comprised of farmers, ranchers, agriculture industry representatives and inductees of the Ag Hall of Fame.

Grant requests are due to the Pasco Chamber of Commerce by 5 p.m. May 1. For more information, call 509-547-9755 or email admin@pascochamber.org.

KID seeks new board member, McGuire retires

Kennewick Irrigation District Director Patrick McGuire has decided to retire from the board after over eight years.

The Benton County commissioners will be asked to appoint an interim director for Position 2 to fill the vacancy.

The person appointed to this position will serve though the end of 2017 and may run in the annual irrigation district election to be held on Dec. 27. The person elected in the 2017 election will take office in January and serve for the remaining year of the unexpired term.

KID directors must be 18 years old, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Washington. They must be electors of the district and hold title or evidence of title to land in the district.

Candidate applications are available at kid.org or may be picked up from the district office, 2015 S. Ely St. in Kennewick. Deadline to apply is 5 p.m. May 31.

For more information or to request an application be mailed, call 509-586-9111.

Bechtel National achieves first milestone of 2017

Bechtel National Inc. employees recently completed installation of a caustic scrubber, a 19-ton piece of vitrification melter off-gas exhaust equipment in the Low-Activity Waste facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant—the vit plant—its first contract milestone of 2017.

The scrubber was the final piece of a system that will treat exhaust from the Low-Activity Waste facility to ensure it meets air quality requirements. Work crews may now complete the subsequent work of installing remaining plant items and equipment there. When complete and fully operational, the facility will produce about 30 tons of vitrified glass a day.

Three interim contract milestones remain to complete the Low-Activity Waste facility construction completion contract milestone and Bechtel National is on schedule to meet those in the first quarter of 2018.

Bechtel, a global engineering, construction and project management company, holds the prime contract to design, construct, start up and commission the vit plant.

Second Harvest to supply free food to nonprofits

Second Harvest has partnered with Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels, Tri-County Partners Habitat for Humanity and the Second Chance Center, a program of the Community Action Committee, to supply free nutritious food to homebound seniors and low-income families.

Second Harvest is on track to provide more than 5 million pounds of free food to more than 20 hunger-relief partners in Benton and Franklin counties.

Contact Jean Tucker, Second Harvest development manager, at 509-545-0787 or jean.tucker@2-harvest.org for more information.

Carousel of Dreams undergoes maintenance

The Gesa Carousel of Dreams is undergoing annual maintenance to preserve paint and wood on the horses in April.

The bulk of the work will be paint touch-ups and a clear coat on the 107-year old wood. Visit gesacarouselofdreams.com for carousel hours.

KID explores title transfer 

The Kennewick Irrigation District has less than five years remaining on its contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

At its March 7 meeting, the KID Board of Directors determined it may be in the best interest to pursue title transfer from the Bureau of Reclamation to give KID more direct control, provide value-added service to its operations and customers and benefit the community, river and stakeholders.

Title transfer is a voluntary effort most often initiated by Bureau of Reclamation water and power contractors, such as KID. The Bureau of Reclamation has established a process to convey title, and has transferred components of 30 projects since 1996.

The title transfer would divest the Bureau of Reclamation of responsibility for the operation, maintenance, management, regulation and liability for the projects, land and facilities of KID.

Next steps are for KID staff to continue to engage community stakeholders in the process.

Call Charles Freeman, KID district manager, at 509-586-9111 for more information.

Pasco to improve roads, alternative routes suggested

The city of Pasco is working on two long-term road projects that will affect drivers in the coming months.

Convention Drive from Three Rivers Drive to Burns Road will remain closed until the end of June while it is rebuilt and relocated.

Work on 20th Avenue from west Lewis Street to Sun Willows Boulevard, including replacement of traffic signals, curbs, butters, ramps and traffic islands will be from about 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

When complete, the projects will improve safety and traffic flow, but during construction there will be traffic delays so use of alternative routes is encouraged.

For more information visit pasco-wa.gov.

Jacobs Radio changes station format, trains kids 

Jacobs Radio shifted the music played on its U-Rock station, 95.3 FM, to 80s rock in early March. The station now has local DJs from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and continues to feature Alice Cooper from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday.

The company, which also has The Beat 107.3 and Smooth Jazz 102.3 stations, is training kids from Tri-Tech Skills Center to DJ on weekends. They will receive school credits as part of the program.

Registration open for business wellness challenge

The Tri-City Regional Chamber’s Good Health is Good Business eight-week wellness challenge runs from May 1 to June 26.

The challenge is open to teams and individuals, and encourages teamwork, friendly competition and health.

A live site allows for tracking of activity, nutrition and wellness accomplishments. Cost is $10 per participant.

For more information or to register, visit tricityregionalchamber.com or call 509-491-3238.

Kennewick shifts pavement funds to pothole repair 

The city of Kennewick budgeted $1.6 million this year for pavement preservation.

With the extreme winter weather and resulting pavement damage, more than half of this budget will now be dedicated to repairing severely damaged areas and will reduce the number of overlay projects in 2017.

The city executed a contract to rate the pavement conditions for city streets and establish a database of 61 miles of arterials, 33 miles of collectors and 242 miles of residential streets. The database will provide an analysis for prioritizing repairs and maintenance, calculating costs and predicting future needs.  Repairs and overlays will be bid out this spring and the city anticipates work to begin on priority repairs by June and overlay projects by August.

The city has another $1.6 million budgeted in 2018 that will go exclusively to overlay projects.

Community hosts sought for WSU medical students

Individual and family hosts in the Tri-Cities are sought to welcome, support and orient Washington State University medical students to the community during six weeks over a two-year period beginning in September.

While studying for their first two years at WSU Spokane, students will spend six individual weeks in the city where they will be during their third and fourth years: Sept. 3-9; Nov. 26-Dec. 2; March 25-31, 2018; Aug. 19-25, 2018; Nov. 11-17, 2018; and March 24-30, 2019.

Hosts will be invited to participate in the college’s community nights, to be held on Wednesday each of the weeks at the respective WSU campuses.

For more information, email community hosting coordinator, Kyle Holbrook at kyle.holbrook@wsu.edu.

MSA, CH2M, WRPS receive green awards

Mission Support Alliance, CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. and Washington River Protection Solutions were recently recognized as leaders in the procurement and use of sustainable information technology products by the Green Electronics Council and managers of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool.

MSA purchased the products for use by contractors at Hanford, which will result in a savings of more than one million kilowatt hours of electricity, a reduction of 363.5 metric tons of primary materials and the avoidance of 1.6 metric tons of water pollutant emissions.

EPEAT is a ranking system that helps companies compare and choose computers and office equipment based on their environmental attributes. The submission from the three Hanford contractors received a three-star award.

Program set for students exploring medical field 

The Academic Advantage program, a new initiative pioneered by local oral surgeons, Drs. Todd Cooper, Tyson Teeples, Ryan Toponce and Brandon Reddinger, aims to provide students with detailed information about the health care field.

The program’s second event of the 2016-17 academic year is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 at Columbia Basin Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, 512 N. Young St., Kennewick.

Local doctors and an admissions director from Washington State University Tri-Cities will cover topics including college admissions, the value of a career in the medical industry and how students can best prepare for a future in health care.

The event is free and open to the public. Reservations must be made in advance at cboms.com/academicadvantage.

Pasco superintendent holding community forums 

Pasco School District Superintendent Michelle Whitney is hosting three sessions of “Soup with the Superintendent: Listening Tour 2.0” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 21, May 19 and June 19 at the Booth Administration building, 1215 West Lewis St. in Pasco.

The informal discussions aim to provide parents and members of the Pasco community with opportunities to share their thoughts and concerns about the Pasco School District. Light lunch will be provided and translation services will be available.

Call 509-416-7878 or visit psd1.org for more information.

Yakima Valley vineyard tour slated for July 15

The Yakima Valley American Viticultural Areas annual vineyard tour is set for July 15. The day-long tour will show attendees how specific vineyards, farming practices and grower/winemaker relationships impact the final product. It will also compare how site, climate and farming techniques of two vineyard sites impact the wines made from grapes grown there.

Lunch and transportation are provided. Tickets are $85 and available at wineyakimavalley.org.

Grocery Manufacturers group ordered to pay $1.1M

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch recently ordered the Grocery Manufacturers Association to pay nearly $1.1 million in costs and fees stemming from Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s campaign finance lawsuit.

GMA was previously penalized $18 million for its violations of Washington law, the largest campaign finance judgment in history.

The case arose from Ferguson’s investigation of the finances of opposition to voter Initiative 522, which would have required labeling of genetically modified organisms in food sold to consumers. GMA violated state campaign finance laws when it failed to register and report its political committee, which opposed I-522. GMA was the largest contributor to the “No on 522” political committee, however more than 30 members of GMA financed the opposition campaign but were not initially identified as individual donors.

In 2013, GMA raised more than $14 million for a new “Defense of Brands” account. These funds came as a solicitation and were above and beyond regular association dues. PepsiCo, for example contributed nearly $3 million to the account; Nestle and Coca-Cola contributed nearly $2 million each. GMA then contributed $11 million of that $14 million raised to “No on 522.” In an effort to shield individual companies from required public disclosure and possible criticism, the money was listed as coming from GMA rather than actual donors such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and PepsiCo.

Chaplaincy Health Care receives $5,000 grant

Chaplaincy Health Care received a $5,000 grant from the Three Rivers Community Foundation in April for providing behavioral health services to homebound clients.

The money will benefit the Richland-based agency’s medical family therapy program, which works with physicians to address the psychological needs of people affected by a life-changing illness or event.

Illnesses such as ALS or Parkinson’s make travel precarious, if not impossible. Anxiety disorders also limit clients’ capacity to leave the safety their homes provide, and clients are often dependent on caregivers and restricted in travel. In these cases, receiving behavioral health services is not possible without home visits.

The grant money will be used to cover unreimbursed travel expenses, such as mileage and time incurred while providing care to the homebound.

For more information about the program, contact 509-783-7417.

Golf tournament seeks sponsorships and teams

The Pasco Chamber of Commerce’s annual Sagebrush Scramble golf tournament is June 8 at Sun Willows Golf Course, with a 1 p.m. shotgun start.

A variety of sponsorship packages, ranging from $150 to $1,500 are available. Teams cost $400 per foursome, which includes free range balls, cart tee prize and a steak dinner.

For more information or to register a team, call 509-547-9755 or email info@pascochamber.org.

Military Chaplaincy Fund dinner auction is April 29

The fifth annual U.S. Chaplaincy Fund dinner auction Fiesta! is from 5:30 to 10 p.m. April 29 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Richland.

Auction items include a week stay for 10 people at a home on Hayden Lake, original Thomas Kinkaid oil painting, wine and Silverwood theme park tickets.

Proceeds help fund chaplains for the military.  Tickets are available for $25 at richlandkc.club.

Cancer center’s annual Run for Ribbons is May 6 

The Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation’s seventh annual Run for Ribbons run/walk and RibbonFest health fair is May 6 at Richland’s Howard Amon Park.

The health fair and registration begin at 8:30 a.m.; the run/walk starts at 10 a.m. The fair runs until 11 a.m. and is open to the community at no charge.

Cost for the run is $25 for adults and $15 for children; prices increase $5 on day-of registration.

Register at runforribbons.org or by calling 509-737-3413.

Osmond to give talk about overcoming adversity

Columbia Basin Hearing Center is hosting a talk on overcoming challenges and adversity by Justin Osmond on April 29 at the Red Lion in Kennewick.

Osmond, a celebrity guest speaker, is the son of Merrill Osmond, the lead singer of Osmond Family singing group. He grew up with 90 percent hearing loss.

His talk is from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at 1101 N. Columbia Center Blvd.

Space is limited and an RSVP is required for the event. Call 509-736-4005.