Northwest News

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire says she’s hoping the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s personal attention to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation can avert a lawsuit over cleanup delays there. She made the comments today after a speech about Hanford in the Tri-Cities in southeast Washington.

A tree faller assigned to a wildfire burning north of Wenatchee has died. The U.S. Forest Service says the man became ill Monday afternoon from an unspecified cause. He was transported to a hospital where he later died.

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percent in August to 8.9 percent. Since reaching a peak of about 11.5 percent during the recent recession, Oregon's unemployment rate had been falling - albeit very slowly. But since May, it's been climbing again from a low of 8.4 percent to now 8.9 percent.

An 18-year-old volunteer firefighter is charged with setting a Monday fire that’s threatening homes about 20 miles northeast of Boise, Idaho.

Problems in Puget Sound have led Shell Oil to cancel its plans for drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean this year. KUOW's John Ryan reports from the Bellingham waterfront.

The Arctic Challenger is Shell's oil-spill containment barge. It's here behind me at the Bellingham Shipping Terminal. It's supposed to be in place in the Arctic to help mop up any oil spills. It's been under construction here at the Bellingham Shipping Terminal for months.