Anna King
Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. She covers the Mid-Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.
The South Sound was her girlhood backyard and she knows its rocky beaches, mountain trails and cities well. She left the west side to attend Washington State University and went abroad to study language and culture in Italy.
While not on the job, Anna enjoys trail running, clam digging, hiking and wine tasting with friends. She's most at peace on top a Northwest mountain with her husband Andy Plymale and their muddy Aussie-dog Poa.
In 2016 Washington State University named Anna Woman of the Year, and the Society of Professional Journalists Western Washington Pro Chapter named her Journalist of the Year. Her many journalism awards include two Gracies, a Sigma Delta Chi medal and the David Douglas Award from the Washington State Historical Society.
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What's now the Hanford radioactive cleanup site in Washington state was long the salmon-rich territory of native peoples. Now, Yakama Nation youth are touring the site to connect with its legacy.
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In March, women and girls from the Umatilla tribes gather wild celery. The tradition connects them to their ancestors and heralds the arrival of spring. But collecting the plant is getting harder.
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An update of the classic '80s video game Oregon Trail places a greater focus on the lives of the Native Americans you meet on the trail westward. (This story originally aired on ATC on May 12, 2021.)
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Native people in North America are wearing Ukrainian scarves in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. They say it's a show of support from their sovereign nations to another sovereign nation.
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Climate change is forcing wildlife from mountains in the Northwest onto farmland. Wild elk are pillaging haystacks and farmers are using all sorts of creative deterrents to save lucrative crops.
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A former soldier in Tacoma, Wash., is helping resettle Afghan refugees after the fall of Kabul. One now lives nearby, and together they're working to get others out of Afghanistan.
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It's as dry as it's been in a century in parts of Washington and Oregon. Some farmers are watching their crops fail, while others are selling cattle because they don't have the grass to feed it.
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A new version of the classic '80s video game Oregon Trail tries to represent the lives of Native Americans more accurately — no more braids or bows and arrows. But you can still die of dysentery.
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Medical services in small Northwest towns are stretched to the limit with shortages of qualified workers and PPE, CARES Act funds running out and hospitals at or near capacity.
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Fire officials say out-of-control burns in the state are of historic proportion: in number, size and spread. More land was burned in a single day than what usually burns in most fire seasons.