February 2023 Volume 22 | Issue 2
Plans to grow ag innovation center begin to take root By Wendy Culverwell news@tcjournal.biz
Local News
Richland braces for Bateman Island causeway removal Page A3
Health Care
New owner bets big on health care, pickleball at Pacific Clinic Page A23
Real Estate & Construction
Unused hangars at Vista Field set to become public gathering spot Page B1
NOTEWORTHY “You go where the future is. We really try to get out there for the younger community.” -Ginny Hildreth, owner of Discount Vac, Sew & Fabric
Page A34
Randy Hayden spent two years shepherding the team that wooed Darigold Inc. to spend $500 million to build a state-of-the-art milk processing plant in Pasco, the largest investment in Darigold’s 104-year history. Work has just started at the site of the future plant, but Hayden, executive director of the Port of Pasco, is already plotting the next big thing for Mid-Columbia agriculture: establishing an Agricultural Innovation Center. The center would support research and problem solving for one of the most important components of the Mid-Columbia economy: producing food. The agricultural innovation center is an initiative of the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce’s MyTRI 2030 Agricultural Committee, one of several formed to envision the future for the local economy’s many sectors. Agriculture was worth more than $1.6 billion to Benton and Franklin counties in 2017, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture. The USDA conducted the 2022 census this winter and will report results in 2024. The impact will certainly be greater. Hayden was named the ag committee chair in January and took over planning for what could be a state-of-the-art research and development facility for all things agriculture. He outlined the project, still in its infancy, for 300 local business executives on Feb. 1, when the Tri-City Development Council, or TRIDEC, held its annual Economic Outlook in Kennewick. An ag-focused innovation center could help move Mid-Columbia forward as the world’s need for food and how it is produced adapts to technological and climate change. Agriculture is a stabilizing economic influence on the Tri-City community. This is the place to ensure it keeps doing that, Hayden said. “The Tri-Cities is a leader in ag innovation already,” he said. The effort includes pursuing state funds for a feasibility study and federal grants to support design and construction. No location has been uAG INNOVATION CENTER, Page A4
Photo by Wendy Culverwell Dennis Schoeneberg, owner of Desert Gem & Appraisal at 306 W. Kennewick Ave., stands behind the counter of his rebuilt store. Desert Gem and most of the businesses displaced by the 2022 fire that ravaged the Cascade building in downtown Kennewick have reopened.
A year later, Kennewick businesses have put fire behind them to move on By Wendy Culverwell news@tcjournal.biz
Firefighters working to contain a devastating fire in the Cascade building in downtown Kennewick entered a neighboring business at 6:30 a.m. Feb. 4, 2022, a Friday. Dennis Schoeneberg, who has owned Desert Gem & Appraisal since 2019, got a notification when the alarm on the door rang through to his phone. He raced downtown, and, along with neighboring business owners, waited across the street, watching crews led by the Kennewick Fire Department work to contain the dramatic flames at the corner of Kennewick and Cascade avenues. The fire reduced the two-story building
at 306 W. Kennewick Ave. to a shell of its former self. Fighting it sent rivers of water into the neighboring building that contained Desert Gem and Foodies Kennewick, a restaurant. Schoeneberg and fellow business owners gathered in the Sports Page Bar and Grill, across Kennewick Avenue, and watched in a state of shock. The fire forced residents and businesses out, including Desert Gem and Foodies. One year later, the Cascade building is under repair and most of the affected businesses have reopened. Desert Gem is back in business at its original location. Foodies reopened a mile or so uKENNEWICK FIRE, Page A4
Richland native has hand in development of new cancer drug By Kristina Lord
kristina@tcjournal.biz
Jackie Tyler knew in high school that she wanted to help cure diseases. But she also knew she didn’t want to be a doctor. To reach her goal meant taking lots of science classes at Richland’s Hanford High and then studying biomedical engineering in college. In summer, she’d return home to the Tri-Cities for internships at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This serious science student landed a job with a biotechnology corporation more than nine years ago. She’s spent the last seven of them working on a team to develop a new cancer-fighting drug, which the FDA recent-
ly approved. Tyler, 32, a technical development principal scientist at Genentech, said the process of getting the medicine over the finish line and Jackie Tyler to more patients has been surreal. “It’s really great knowing now it’s available for any patient who needs it outside of clinical trials, which is incredible,” she said.
The medicine The Food and Drug Administration apuJACKIE TYLER, Page A29
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