Northwest News

A panel of experts is recommending that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan be screened for post-traumatic stress disorder at least once a year. The report from The Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., was ordered by congress and funded by the Department of Defense.

Lawmakers from the Northwest are asking the federal government to provide millions of dollars to clean up debris from the tsunami that hit Japan last year. But Matt Laslo reports from the nation’s capital that thus far the region is only eligible for thousands of dollars.

Two major earthquakes last year raised red flags for the Northwest. Some of the damage from those quakes in Japan and New Zealand resulted from a phenomenon called liquefaction. This is when the ground turns to jello or quicksand. Transmission towers topple, buildings sink and utility pipes break. Now, geologists in the Northwest have mapped the spots most likely to liquefy here in an earthquake. Correspondent Tom Banse begins our story in Japan.

Officials say the massive Long Draw fire in South East Oregon stopped actively burning over the weekend. The fire consumed more than 900 square miles of rangeland. Amelia Templeton reports, ranchers are searching for their cows.