Good morning, Yakima.

Gesa Credit Union’s Local Heroes Grant program supports frontline workers + veterans, educators, health care workers, firefighters and law enforcement groups as it marks its fifth year.

The program has donated over $2 million in five years + applications for the next window will open in June.

Amazon Web Services experienced an outage on October 27 at 2:15 p.m. that disrupted cloud computing for many companies—affecting payments and websites.

This is the second recent outage, and users are advised to check for service updates.

Average gas prices in Yakima fell by 0.7 cents per gallon last week, averaging $4.04 as of October 27, which is 21.3 cents lower than last month and 32.0 cents higher than a year ago (91 stations were surveyed).

The cheapest station was priced at $3.43 while the most expensive cost $4.99.

Heritage University is accepting applications for major scholarships that aim to make college more affordable for Toppenish students.

At an October 21 board meeting, Yakima School District officials reported progress on their six-year strategic plan while noting that kindergarten readiness and language arts performance remain below state averages — officials said they will expand dual-language offerings and literacy interventions to boost academic outcomes through 2026. The district is working with community partners to meet its targeted student goals.

Washington officials updated the 2025 wildfire season today by reporting about 1,800 fires and noting that firefighters kept 94 fires on DNR land under 10 acres—while warning that budget cuts could lead to more expensive, larger fires and increased risks to lives and property.

Yakima has completed a federally funded project that installs new crosswalk signals at 13 intersections to help keep pedestrians safe.

The new Leading Pedestrian Interval system holds traffic red for 3 to 7 seconds after a pedestrian presses the button so drivers wait for crossing.

Chad Dold, a long-time defense attorney with Yakima County Office of Assigned Counsel, will retire on November 7 after nearly 20 years of representing clients who could not afford legal help.

He is wrapping up his remaining cases to ease his colleagues' workload and is known for handling high-profile cases — including being the only attorney qualified for death-penalty cases on the east side of the Cascades.

American researchers developed a battery-free wearable patch that measures skin's bioimpedance to detect early signs of melanoma in a study with 10 volunteers.

The device showed clear differences between healthy and abnormal skin—supporting its potential for at-home screening that may reduce unnecessary biopsies.

Dreams and Fairy Dust Painting Event

2-4 p.m. — 5th Line Brewing — Ticketed event — Unleash your creativity with a guided painting session while enjoying the brewery's offerings.