Tom Banse
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reports from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events are unfolding. Tom's stories can be found online and heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Before taking his current beat, 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.
When not sifting through press releases, listening to lobbyists, or driving lonely highways, Tom enjoys exploring the Olympic Peninsula backcountry and cooking dinner with his wife and friends. Tom's secret ambition is to take six months off work and travel to a faraway place beyond the reach of email.
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The overcrowded hospitals we've been telling you about for weeks are having ripple effects out into the community -- some you could predict and some which are a little more startling. Take for example a fire that gutted a house in Ocean Shores or expensive airlifts from Leavenworth, Washington.
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Research photos taken with a drone show multiple female killer whales are close to giving birth in one of the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered pods. The late-stage pregnancies stirred excitement among whale watchers -- and also renewed worries about the availability of adequate food supply for the mothers and babies.
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Just in time for the kickoff of the NFL regular season, the first legal sports betting operation in Washington state has opened for business. On Thursday, a line of bettors queued behind a sports celebrity to place their first bets at a tribal casino in the eastern suburbs of Seattle.
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Tens of thousands of public school students in Washington state returned to classes this month in school buildings judged to be at risk of collapse in a strong earthquake. A new report to the state legislature prepared by state geologists and a structural engineering firm gave the lowest possible seismic safety rating to more than 90 percent of the school buildings assessed in a selective statewide survey.
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How hot is the Pacific Northwest real estate market? So hot that even in an isolated exclave such as Point Roberts, Washington, home prices are sizzling and some properties are changing hands sight unseen.
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Sea otters are undeniably cute, but cuteness only goes so far when major economic interests are at stake. That's an inference you can make from the emergence of organized pushback to the possible reintroduction of sea otters along the Oregon Coast.
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Athletes from the Pacific Northwest will practically need an ore cart to push their haul of precious metal to the airport after the final weekend of action at the Tokyo Olympics. Professional basketball and baseball players from Portland, Tacoma and Seattle accounted for most of the gold and silver medals as the delayed 2020 Summer Games came to a close.
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Not every Olympic story is happening in Tokyo this week. Take for instance these two runners in Tacoma. He's a 26-year-old former Oregon Ducks standout, now a professional quarter-miler. She's a 67-year-old baby boomer who began sprinting barely a decade ago. Together they overcame various personal disappointments and sorrows to make a winning combination.
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If you like cheering for hometown athletes — or former Ducks, Zags, Cougars or Huskies — you're in luck when the Summer Olympics start in less than a week. The team rosters for the USA and a bunch of foreign countries are chockablock with athletes with Pacific Northwest ties. By our count, 49 Team USA Olympians have strong connections to Oregon or Washington. At least 53 more athletes are at the Olympics representing foreign countries after starring for universities or turning pro in the Northwest.
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Earthquake researchers are eager to dig into a trove of new data about the offshore Cascadia fault zone. The valuable new imaging of the geology off the Oregon, Washington and British Columbia coasts comes from a specialized research ship. The National Science Foundation seismic survey ship Marcus Langseth zigged and zagged over the full length of the undersea Cascadia Subduction Zone -- from the Oregon-California border north to Vancouver Island.