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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Pipeline of short track speedskaters from Washington to Olympics grows longer
A roller skating rink in Federal Way, Washington, has a remarkable track record of minting future ice skating Olympians. The rink is probably best known for being the early training ground for Apolo Ohno, among others. The streak continues now for an eighth consecutive Winter Olympics with a new short track speedskater on Team USA named Corinne Stoddard. But meanwhile, the storied roller rink is for sale.
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Washington state lawmakers propose year-round standard time to get around Congress
Washington state senators are trying a new gambit to stop the twice-yearly ritual of changing our clocks from standard time to daylight time and back again. A previous effort to move the whole West Coast onto permanent daylight saving time failed to win requisite congressional support. So now, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is pushing for Pacific standard time to be observed year-round.
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A paid holiday in March? It'd be Women's Suffrage Day if Washington state lawmakers vote yea
Washington state workers and perhaps many others could get an extra day off in honor of women getting the right to vote. That idea for a Women's Suffrage Day holiday got a friendly reception on the opening day of Washington's 2022 legislative session.
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Here's something depressing for the holidays: states set new record for total annual deaths in 2021
The year 2021 isn’t even over, yet Oregon and Washington have already smashed their previous records for total annual deaths. Those records were just set last year. The coronavirus pandemic is only one piece of the explanation.
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DIY funerals: Your family can be your own funeral director, if you want
An informal network of consumer activists, bereaved parents and green burial advocates are building websites to advise and empower families who may wish to handle funeral arrangements themselves. "Home funerals" are legal, yet just one of a widening set of options for how to lay a loved one to rest.
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Scarcity of blood collectors contributing to 'critical' shortages in blood supply
The American Red Cross says blood supplies going into the holidays are "dangerously low." One reason for this is that fewer donors are coming forward during the pandemic. Another is short staffing among the blood collectors, also known as phlebotomists.
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Natural gas furnaces, water heaters in crosshairs of some Northwest policymakers
Fossil fuel use in buildings looks to be the next frontier for climate activists at the state and local level. There's a convergence of activity in the Pacific Northwest right now aimed at phasing out natural gas furnaces and water heaters. Cities from Eugene to Bellingham have teed up bans on natural gas in new commercial buildings. But natural gas has its defenders, too, who have beaten back proposed phaseouts before.
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Highway traffic has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, but transit still way down
You're not imagining things if driving in Pacific Northwest traffic feels as busy these days as it was before the pandemic. Traffic data from the Oregon and Washington transportation departments show highway volumes are nearly back to 2019 levels.
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Santa’s reindeer to get competition: Amazon flight-testing package delivery drones in Pendleton
E-commerce giant Amazon confirmed to public radio that it has begun flight testing of package delivery drones at a test range in Pendleton, Oregon, as well as continuing near Seattle and elsewhere. Routine delivery of online orders to consumers by aerial drones remains a long ways off, though.
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'Welcome Back Loonies': U.S. reopens border to Canadian leisure travelers
There was cheering, celebration and emotional reunions along the northern border as the U.S. reopened its land and sea crossings to Canadian leisure travelers for the first time in 19 months. The international ferry between Port Angeles and Victoria began sailing again Monday too, with all of its southbound trips sold out. Some border restrictions remain that could temper the rebound in tourism.