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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

  • caption: A protester reels in a fake fish near poles marking a six-foot social distance on a boat on Lake Union near Gas Works Park in Seattle, Sunday, April 26, 2020, during a protest against Washington state's current ban on fishing due to stay-at-home orders implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

    Outdoor enthusiasts greet news of reopening in Washington state with cheers of victory

    Last weekend should have seen thousands of anglers flock to Washington state lakes for the always-popular lowland lakes trout opener. Like so much else, opening day of fishing season was canceled due to the coronavirus. But freshwater fishing is coming back soon, along with significant additional elements of the outdoor recreation scene.

  • caption: South King Fire and Rescue Lt. Greg Willett stands in an aid car optimized to transport COVID-positive patients.

    Improvisation necessary for Pacific Northwest first responders facing Covid-19 threat

    Coronavirus risk and ongoing shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) are leading fire departments around the region to rediscover the enduring truth of the idiom, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Since the virus epidemic emerged in the Pacific Northwest, the fire service has changed tactics, improvised and resorted to creativity to keep first responders healthy and available to serve the public.

  • caption: Fire Captain Shane Smith is recovering from a serious brush with COVID-19. He is mystified about where he contracted the virus.

    'Pretty humbling and enlightening,' says firefighter recovering from Covid-19

    More than 500 firefighters and EMTs in the Pacific Northwest have been temporarily quarantined after suspected exposure to the coronavirus over the past two months. The Washington State Council of Fire Fighters and the Oregon Fire Service Coronavirus Response Team have been monitoring the number of first responders taken out of service. Fortunately, only a small fraction have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

  • caption: Firefighter Jim Wilson models a protective gown he made out of construction-grade vapor barrier.

    Tyvek house wrap tried out as alternative for critically-scarce protective gowns

    Protective surgical gowns are one of the most scarce and eagerly sought items in the current coronavirus pandemic. Responders-turned-MacGyvers in at least three separate places, including two in Washington state, have independently hit upon a do-it-yourself alternative using common construction house wrap.

  • caption: Laid-off restaurant worker Katrina Thiessen is frustrated by the weeks-long delay in having her unemployment claim approved.

    Newly jobless wait, some anxiously, for overloaded unemployment systems to catch up

    The unemployment rolls in Washington state and Oregon continue to swell like never before. Washington's Employment Security Department said Thursday that close to half a million workers have applied for jobless benefits over the past three weeks. Oregon recorded just shy of 270,000 new claims in the same period, which is far more than the 147,800 net job losses in Oregon over the whole duration of the Great Recession.