Tom Banse

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.

The Okanogan fire burning in central Washington is the largest wildfire in the state's history. Some area homeowners have cleared brush to keep the fire away. One built a nonflammable concrete home.

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.

The floral industry collects millions of pounds of moss from the wild. Botanists worry harvesting is occurring at unsustainable levels. In the Pacific Northwest, scientists are exploring "moss farming" as an alternative to stripping moss out of forests. But cultivation is proving curiously tricky.

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.

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.

That holiday tree in your living room seems fresh, but it was probably plucked from the farm earlier this month. Tom Banse has an insider's look at the industrial operation to bring trees to market.

In the small town of Seaside, Ore., residents took time out of the weekend to participate in a tsunami evacuation drill. Producer Tom Banse sends this audio postcard of the disaster-preparation training day.