Tom Banse
Tom Banse covers business, environment, public policy, human interest and national news 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 heard during "Morning Edition," "Weekday," 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. During the early 1990s, he worked in the Seattle bureau of United Press International. 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. In 1996, he spent two months reporting from Bonn and Berlin, Germany on an Arthur F. Burns Fellowship. In 1999, he traversed the globe to cover the Pacific Rim (Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan) on a Jefferson Fellowship.
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 where there are no radios.
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The airline manufacturer delivered its last 747 jumbo jet on Tuesday after a production run of more than five decades. Current and former workers said farewell to the "Queen of the Skies" with pride.
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Federal regulators and U.S. airport representatives are talking Monday about possible tarmac security changes after a baggage handler stole a passenger plane at the Sea-Tac airport Friday night and crashed it on an island.
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Laser beams that sweep erratically across crops have shown promise in protecting harvests from loss caused by birds. But researchers are still studying whether the beams may harm the animals' retinas. -
Now that recreational use of marijuana is legal in four states, law enforcement officials are looking for quicker ways to test drivers for excessive pot use. Entrepreneurs are taking on the challenge. -
Delta Air Lines is building up its Seattle operation into a gateway to Asia. That's good for Western travelers but not so good for the bottom line of Delta's partner, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines.
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Four years ago, cross-country skiers Erik and Sadie Bjornsen tried to make the Olympic team but came up short. This year, one has earned a spot; the other is waiting to find out. -
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are off the job, while the government remains partially closed for a second day. Most government workers say they are frustrated by the closure as Congress remains in a standoff over the budget.
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President Barack Obama named former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as his Commerce secretary. Locke, an Asian-American, is Obama's third pick for the job. Locke served two terms as Washington's governor. He now works at a Seattle-based law firm.
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A rare mushroom that grows in the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest may offer protection from smallpox -- an infectious disease that security experts feel may be a biological weapon of choice for terrorists who wish to attack America.
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Oregon's Wheeler County, one of the poorest in the American West, hopes to stimulate a struggling rural economy by attracting attention to ancient fossils and the state's prehistoric times.
