Lewis and Clark (Rex Ziak)

There’s a place in southeastern Washington State that’s probably insignificant to nearly everyone who drives by at 60 mph on Highway 730. It’s just north of the Oregon state line at Wallula Gap near the co-mingling of two rivers, the Columbia and the Snake. There’s no marker but the amateur historian in me has stopped [...]

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Banana (Dan Koeppel)

Bananas start my day. I eat one almost every morning and seldom leave a grocery store without a fresh bunch. But the familiar yellow Cavendish banana is a threatened fruit, succumbing to Panama Disease in several parts of the world and facing extinction like the Gros Michel banana so popular 50 years ago.
I [...]

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Images of a Champion (Lance Armstrong)

QUICK TAKE: As I write this, I’m watching the final stage of the Tour de France, a grueling three-week cycling competition that’s had a rough couple of years. Not only has it struggled to rid itself of blood-doping riders, but it has had to find its way following the retirement of seven-time champ [...]

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