Nicholas K. Geranios

Associated Press

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, Ben Norton sips a red wine during a tasting at Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville, Wash. Washington, which now boasts more than 1,000 wineries in the state, has become a force in the wine industry. The state is the second-largest producer of premium wines in the United States, trailing only California.

WA now a Force in Wine World

In 2001 there were only 100 wineries in the state, and now there are more than a 1,000.

In this photo taken Oct. 15, a Cosmic Crisp apple, partially coated with a white kaolin clay to protect it from sunburn, is picked at an orchard in Wapato, WA.

'Cosmic Crisp' Apple to Debut at Grocery Stores

As the first apple ever bred in Washington state, it's expected to be a game-changer.

The Pend Oreille Mine closed on July 31, at a cost of about 200 jobs in an area of less than 1,000 residents.

Region Struggles as it Loses Biggest Employer

Many rural areas that depend on natural resource industries — logging, fishing, mining — are suffering.

In this March 6, 2013 file photo, workers are shown at the 'C' Tank Farm at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, near Richland, Wash. Conservation groups are alarmed by the Trump administration's proposal to rename some radioactive waste left from the production of nuclear weapons to make it cheaper and easier to achieve permanent disposal. The U.S. Department of Energy is considering a change in its legal definition of high-level radioactive waste, which is stored at places like the Hanford.

Trump Wants to Reclassify Nuke Waste

Labeling it as a lower threat level would make disposal cheaper and easier.

Officials have ordered some workers at a sprawling Washington state nuclear waste site to go inside and stay there because steam has emerged from a tunnel filled with waste that was being filled with cement. The U.S. Department of Energy says in a statement Friday that there is no indication that the steam seen at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation contains radiation or any other hazardous material and that the workers were ordered inside as a precaution.

No Radiation Released in Hanford Leak

The leak was the second problem with aging tunnels at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in a year.

Water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Washington.

Republicans Criticize Dam Spill

They say the water could be saved for irrigation and power generation.

This May 13, 2017, photo shows a portion of the Plutonium Finishing Plant on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Wash. Officials say dozens of workers demolishing the 1940s-era plutonium processing plant there have ingested or inhaled radioactive particles in the past year, prompting a halt to the demolition of the plant until a safe plan can be developed.

Plant Demolition on Hold

Workers are being exposed to radiation as they tear down buildings that helped create the nation's nuclear arsenal.

In this May 9, 2017, file photo, an emergency sign flashes outside the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Benton County Tuesday in Washington state. The federal government is demanding that the company building a giant nuclear waste treatment plant in Washington state provide records proving that the steel used in the nearly $17 billion project meets safety standards.

Is the Steel in This Nuke Plant Safe?

The U.S. wants proof.

n this May 9, 2017 file photo, signs are posted by the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Benton County, in Richland, Wash. The U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017 that workers at Hanford have started injecting grout into a partially collapsed tunnel that contains radioactive wastes left over from the production of nuclear weapons.

Workers Start to Fill Collapsed Hanford Tunnel

It will take an estimated 650 truckloads of grout to fill the tunnel, which produced most of the plutonium for the nation's nuclear arsenal.

Ranchers are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, seeking a return of labels that clearly identify meat produced in other countries and imported to the United States. The Department of Agriculture on Monday, June 19, 2017, declined to comment on a matter that is in litigation.

Lawsuit May Return Country-of-Origin Labeling

Ranchers want to force meat to again be labeled if it's produced in other countries and imported to the U.S.

This image provided by the U.S. Department of Energy shows a 20-foot by 20-foot hole in the roof of a storage tunnel at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Wash., Tuesday, May 9, 2017. An emergency was declared Tuesday after the partial collapse of the tunnel that contains rail cars full of radioactive waste.

Crews Cover Collapsed Radioactive Tunnel

The most dangerous radioactive waste at Hanford is 56 million gallons stored in 177 underground tanks, some of which have leaked.

A sign welcomes drivers to Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Benton County Tuesday, May 9, 2017, in Richland, Wash. A portion of an underground tunnel containing rail cars filled with radioactive waste collapsed at a sprawling storage facility in a remote area of Washington state, forcing an evacuation of some workers at the site that made plutonium for nuclear weapons for decades after World War II.

Tunnel Collapse Raises Alarms About Nuclear

The toxic remnants of the Cold War are being stored in haphazard and unsafe conditions, and time is running out to deal with the problem.