Valentino Robles played basketball during his high school days in Pasco.Tino, as most people know him, never thought much back then about lifting weights.“I hated lifting weights back in high school,” he said. “I liked being skinny and agile.”But lifting weights – and helping others learn how to lift them...

Susan Mendenhall is a fighter.It doesn’t matter whether it’s a pandemic or trying to educate the public that her two Tri-City IHOP stores are local restaurants.She won’t lose her fight because after 20 years with IHOP, she still loves and believes in what she does.She loves the people, whether it’s...

Pat Howard was looking for something that would push himself the way playing golf used to.Howard, a Richland High School graduate, was a standout golfer who went on to compete for Oregon State University. He then worked as an assistant professional at Bellevue’s Overlake Golf and Country Club for the...

For as long as she can remember, Justine VerMulm has known Pasco Golfland as both her playground and her workplace.“My mom was pregnant with me when they were selling golf balls out there from a fireworks stand,” she said. “I worked out there as a kid. As a family, we’ve...

Steve McConnell’s life changed the day his parents took him skiing for the first time in his life.“I was a basketball player, but I was lucky that my folks introduced me to skiing when I was in seventh grade,” he said. “From the first time I skied down the hill,...

It’s been an unprecedented year for Tri-City public school districts in the wake of the pandemic.Though students left classrooms in March 2020 and then started the year with remote learning, the districts’ construction projects have been chugging along.Richland School DistrictThe most recent state data shows 2019-20 enrollment for the Richland...

The Tri-Cities’ higher education campuses don’t have many students on campus this fall.The coronavirus pandemic sent the majority to remote learning platforms at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College for the fall.But that doesn’t mean they aren’t planning for their students’ eventual return to campus.Both institutions are moving...

Ashley Meehan is a cookie connoisseur.She has special recipes for at least 12 types of cookies, all of them large and tasty.And for more than two years, she has been selling them to a famished public – from her car, her house, at pop-up stands.“Just to see the joy it...

Sooner or later, more Mid-Columbia businesses are going to try to bring their workforce back into their buildings.As a first step toward that goal, MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions is offering building confidence reports through its Comeback with Confidence program.Pat Roberts, general manager for MacDonald-Miller’s Eastern Washington office, said many businesses and...

Charles Conte Jr. decided late last year it was time to move to the Tri-Cities, where his wife Susan’s family lived.In January, the family moved from Virginia, where Charles worked in his  father’s bike shop chain, Conte’s Bike Shop. He intended to work for a local nonprofit.“Susan was born and...