RICHLAND, Wash. – For the last year federal nuclear regulators have been in a battle with the U.S. Department of Energy. The debate? Whether the Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s waste treatment plant is safe enough.

The other big question is whether Hanford workers feel safe to raise concerns without fear of retaliation.

The man at the center of this battle is a well-respected nuclear engineer who used to help manage the design of the waste treatment plant ... that is until he stood up and said there were serious problems there.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington has begun to deport some prison inmates before their sentences are up. The new program is expected to save $2 million a year. But the deportations have immigrant rights advocates concerned.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington's prisons chief has resigned suddenly citing personal reasons. The announcement late Friday came the same week an inmate was fatally shot during a prison escape attempt.

Governor Chris Gregoire's staff says she did not ask Eldon Vail to tender his resignation.

THE DALLES, Ore. – A fixer-upper is paying unexpected dividends for a couple in The Dalles, Oregon.

The back parking lot of the old building they bought as an investment is yielding artifacts that give rare insight into the lives of pioneer Chinese immigrants in the Northwest.

Seattle’s Occidental Park is a leafy oasis in the middle of the city. It’s now also the site of a whimsical installation where all 27 trees and 16 lamp posts and 57 short poles are dressed up in yarn.

Independence Day is coming up and there are a lot of great activities to enjoy on top of barbecues and fireworks. From Victoria, Canada to Tacoma, check out these links for the events going on this weekend. (Links inside)

The weather for the 4th of July this year is looking pretty good, with scattered clouds in the forecast and highs in the low seventies.  

That’s actually pretty typical, says Carl Carniglia with the national weather service in Seattle.  He looked back at local statistics from the late 1800s to the present and found the historical data contradicts the cliché of rainy weather for Independence day.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says a hiker's photo confirms a sighting of a grizzly bear in Washington state's North Cascades for the first time in perhaps half a century.

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is proposing a 25 percent hike in drinking water rates spread over the next three years. SPU says the typical monthly household bill is currently $31.70. The proposal would increase that monthly bill by $2.41 in 2012, $2.68 in 2013 and $2.91 in 2014.

There’s a Twitter war going on right now that has prompted Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to write to Jim Larkin, the CEO of Village Voice which also owns the Seattle Weekly, regarding child sex trafficking. McGinn has also asked the Seattle Police Department to look into these allegations.

The Twitter battle is basically an assault on the Seattle Weekly based on claims that the periodical, as part of the Village Voice Media chain, publishes ads that put minors at risk of prostitution. Here’s the Weekly’s rebuttal to those claims.

The story now is that actor Ashton Kutcher has taken up the Twitter assault on the Weekly and other publications carrying these ads.

Read more.

Here comes that day that cats and dogs really hate, but most American humans love!

Yes, it’s time for burning, smoking and exploding devices used for celebrating the Fourth of July. It is also time for the many reminders and warnings about what fireworks you can use, how dangerous they are and where you can or can’t use them (should you really feel like you have to).

A new plan released yesterday for saving the northern spotted owl is taking aim – maybe literally – at a rival bird.

Federal agency leaders said Thursday the spotted owl is losing out to a bigger, more aggressive invader from the eastern United States, the barred owl.

However, one biologist whose research led to the listing of the spotted owl believes shooting and other measures to control the barred owl are too little too late.  Because, he lamented, the spotted owl's population has shrunk over the last 15 years in spite of conservation efforts. (Interactive map inside)

Sounds great, but don't hold your breath: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Forecast here.

Making headlines around the Northwest:

• Attending UW will cost you 20 percent more
• Washington parks are no longer free to visit
• Off the wire: Crane topples; former police chief sues
• Car-repair scam ends in theft of wallet, arrest
• Famed Olympia Brewery site future shaping up

UPDATE: Tickets are now sold out for this event

Join us Sunday, August 14 for our 19th Summer Jazz Brunch Cruise, a relaxing, two-and-a-half hour cruise on Elliott Bay aboard the Royal Argosy.  Enjoy a scrumptious all-you-can-eat brunch, spectacular views, and great music from "that mighty engine of rhythm," Gypsy jazz masters, Pearl Django.