"The Washington Supreme Court this week restored a $185 million verdict against the former Monsanto company, now owned by Bayer, over toxic chemicals in a state school building that allegedly poisoned three teachers."
"The fish had been missing from the headwaters of the Klamath River for more than a century. Just a year after the removal of a final dam, they’ve returned."
"As dawn broke over San Juan Island, a team of scientists stood on the deck of a barge and unspooled over a mile of fiber-optic cable into the frigid waters of the Salish Sea. Working by headlamp, they fed the line from the rocky shore down to the seafloor — home to the region’s orcas."
"The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists."
"For much of the 20th century, a sprawling complex in the desert of southeastern Washington state turned out most of the plutonium used in the nation’s nuclear arsenal, from the first atomic bomb to the arms race that fueled the Cold War. Now, after decades of planning and billions of dollars of investment, the site is turning liquid nuclear and chemical waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation into a much safer substance: glass."
"Hanford vitrification plant set to open but some fear Trump officials are pushing for a cheaper alternative"
"Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Democratic Sen. Patty Murray that he’s looking to delay operations at a multibillion-dollar vitrification plant at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site in Washington state, despite public statements signaling otherwise, the senator said."
"Two firefighters working on the Bear Gulch Fire [Wash.] were arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Wednesday."
"The fire burned for about nine hours, billowing smoke and scorching the wooden trestles of a nearly 75-year-old railroad bridge that spans the Marys River in Corvallis, home to Oregon State University."
As expanded development on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula encroaches on prime wildlife habitat, big cats find it harder to avoid people, and many wind up dead. In this Inside Story Q&A, Liza Gross of Inside Climate News describes how she and photographer/editor Michael Kodas worked with a local cougar protection team to track a family of big cats to their den and through the area.
