Tom Banse
Regional CorrespondentNow semi-retired, Tom Banse covered national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reported from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events unfolded. Tom's stories can be found online and were heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
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.
-
The stewards of Oregon's tallest lighthouse are sprucing up the popular landmark on Oregon's central coast for its 150th anniversary in 2023.
-
The federal government has commissioned Oregon State University to look into the possible impacts of offshore wind farms on marine wildlife. In the first year of this four-year project, the researchers spotted sizable numbers of seabirds and whales – including the largest animal on Earth – in the Oregon and Northern California areas that could one day host floating wind farms.
-
Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It's gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Their harvests could be sold for human food, animal feed or fertilizer.
-
The majority of captains of big commercial ships entering and leaving Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to slow down temporarily to reduce underwater noise impacts to the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales. The duration of the experimental slowdown – modeled on a similar project in British Columbia – will be extended into the new year, organizers announced during a status report and celebration on the Seattle waterfront Friday.
-
While many of the disruptions of the pandemic have eased this year, the surge in traffic fatalities is showing few signs of abating. Policymakers are trying a number of tactics to respond.
-
New modeling by the University of Washington of the impacts of a major Cascadia earthquake offers a less dire picture of the aftermath of the so-called "Big One" — specifically when it comes to highway bridges.
-
Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often in the Pacific Northwest that ships collide with whales. But when it does, it's upsetting, tragic and the whale probably dies. Three separate teams have developed smartphone-based systems that can alert commercial mariners to watch out or slow down when there are whales nearby. A recent ride-along on a big container ship demonstrated that real-time whale alerts are still a work in progress.
-
Big ships entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to temporarily slow down to reduce underwater noise this fall. Washington state is importing this strategy from British Columbia on a trial basis in hopes of helping the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales.
-
Should the top elections official in Washington state officially be a nonpartisan? That's one difference between the top two finalists running for Washington Secretary of State. Nonpartisan challenger Julie Anderson wants to make the job independent from political party affiliations. Her opponent, Democratic incumbent Steve Hobbs says it's an unnecessary change. County auditors and sheriffs associations are also chewing over party labels and what those labels convey about the leanings of their offices.
-
A quartet of independent candidates on the ballot this November in Oregon and Washington state will test voter appetites for a centrist "third way." They are experienced contenders running for state senate, Oregon governor or Washington Secretary of State. Unaffiliated candidates are popping up around the nation too, with a common theme of being fed up with a divisive two-party system.