NWPB Weekly News Now
PFAs in Yakima County, Therapy Dogs on Campus and Wenatchee Valley 101: April 2, 2025
3/21/2025 | 1m 59sVideo has Closed Captions
Hosted by NWPB Multimedia News Director Tracci Dial.
The site of the old DTG landfill in Yakima County is being tested for PFAs, forever chemicals known to cause health problems. Plus, a new study out of WSU shows that even Cougs can bennefit from spending time around dogs... Therapy dogs that is. Also, one of Washington's fastest growing communities is helping newcomers adjust to their surroundings.
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NWPB Weekly News Now is a local public television program presented by NWPB
NWPB Weekly News Now
PFAs in Yakima County, Therapy Dogs on Campus and Wenatchee Valley 101: April 2, 2025
3/21/2025 | 1m 59sVideo has Closed Captions
The site of the old DTG landfill in Yakima County is being tested for PFAs, forever chemicals known to cause health problems. Plus, a new study out of WSU shows that even Cougs can bennefit from spending time around dogs... Therapy dogs that is. Also, one of Washington's fastest growing communities is helping newcomers adjust to their surroundings.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipPFAs is making the news again.
PFAs are forever chemicals known to cause health problems.
They're now being tested for near the old DTG landfill in Yakima County.
People have long reported pollution from the landfill.
Scott Cave is with the advocacy group Friends of Rocky Top.
He spoke at a community meeting about the PFAs testing.
“The amount of the contamination in the plume size is completely unknown.” A plume is a concentration of those chemicals.
The owners of the site installed some monitoring wells and reported that testing did show PFAs amounts above cleanup levels.
That's according to the state Department of Ecology.
More of those wells are in the works to look for the size of the plume, how much contamination there could be.
Drilling is expected to begin this spring.
The Cougs are benefiting from dogs.
Not huskies per se.
New research out of Washington State University shows that college students who spend time with therapy dogs on campus were less stressed and depressed than students who did not.
“It sort of lessens and prevents the onset of stress related mental health issues, and it really enhances their psychological well-being for that first semester.” That is Patricia Pendry with WSUs Department of Human Development.
Read more about the full study at NWPB.org.
Wenatchee Valley 101.
A new program is working to get newbies in one of the state's fastest growing areas up to speed.
The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting Wenatchee is Washington's third fastest growing metropolitan area.
So Our Valley, Our Future, a nonprofit there, is hosting a series of events to get people connected to their community.
The first event is coming up on April 25th.
Find out more in this story on our website.
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NWPB Weekly News Now is a local public television program presented by NWPB