How gas prices have changed in Kennewick in the last week

Gasoline prices are down several cents compared to this time last month, but the cost to fill up the tank has declined by nearly 40 cents per gallon since last year. The national average fuel price is about $3.12, with Lawton, Oklahoma, seeing the cheapest metro-area prices at $2.58 and Lihue, Hawaii, with the most expensive at $5.12.

After a monthlong pause on tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, the Trump administration proceeded at the beginning of March to impose 25% tariffs on the two neighboring nations, including a limited 10% tariff on Canadian energy. However, on March 6, the president announced a pause on tariffs until April 2.

GasBuddy projects states in the Northeast could see the most significant spike in fuel prices as a result of potential tariffs, possibly by 20 to 40 cents per gallon, as this region relies heavily on Canada's New Brunswick refinery.

Meanwhile, by April, gas prices may decrease as a result of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' plans to boost crude production. This increased output, however, is just one of several factors influencing prices in the month ahead.

"While OPEC has signaled its intent to stabilize the market, policy decisions from the White House could introduce further uncertainty, making it difficult to predict where prices will head next," GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said in a statement this month. "However, nearly every year sees a seasonal spring increase, which could eventually push prices higher ahead of summer."

Stacker compiled statistics on gas prices in Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, WA metro area using data from AAA. Gas prices are current as of March 20.

Kennewick by the numbers- Gas current price: $3.82--- Washington average: $4.09- Week change: +$0.03 (+0.8%)- Year change: -$0.30 (-7.4%)- Historical expensive gas price: $5.31 (6/15/22)

- Diesel current price: $4.29- Week change: +$0.04 (+0.9%)- Year change: -$0.27 (-6.0%)- Historical expensive diesel price: $6.29 (7/1/22)

Metros with the most expensive gas#1. Lihue (Kauai), HI: $5.12#2. Santa Rosa, CA: $4.92#3. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA: $4.90

Metros with the least expensive gas#1. Lawton, OK: $2.58#2. Oklahoma City, OK: $2.59#3. Chattanooga (TN only), TN: $2.59

This story features writing by Tim Bruns and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 371 metros.

You may also like: Highest-rated pizza restaurants in the Kennewick area by diners

READ MORE

What’s being built there? is an occasional Tri-City Herald feature that offers quick explanations of the building projects taking shape in the community. Suggest projects via email: news@tricityherald.com.

Expand All

Kennewick, WA

Welcome to “What’s being built there?”

This regular Tri-City Herald feature provides brief descriptions of the construction projects shaping the built environment of Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland and surrounding communities.

Send projects that need an explanation or update to news@tricityherald.com.

Hansen Park West

814 S. Columbia Center Blvd.

TMG Northwest is adding a new set of apartments to its Resort at Hansen Park mixed-use neighborhood at the northwest corner of Columbia Center Boulevard and West 10th Avenue.

Kennewick authorized a five-story apartment building, valued at nearly $24 million, on Jan. 29.

The new addition will consist of a ground-level parking garage topped by four floors containing a mix of 132 studio, one and two-bedroom apartments., organized around a central courtyard.

TMG of Vancouver is led by Dennis Pavlina and Carmen Villarma, owners of Vancouver-based TMG.

The Resort at Hansen Park features a mix of triplexes, traditional garden-style apartment buildings, an urban-style pedestal building and commercial buildings. In 2024, it added a 24,100-square-foot, three-story community center for tenants on the property.

Ross Dress for Less opens in March

2825 W. Kennewick Ave.

Ross Dress For Less will open its second Kennewick location on March 8.

The discount clothing chain took over 44,000 square feet in the building once home to Safeway overlooking Highway 395.

The $1.4 million project included returning the original grocery to shell condition and tenant improvement work to transform it into a Ross store.

Shelby’s Floral Phase 2

6018 W. Clearwater Ave.

Shelby’s Floral has secured a building permit to construct a second building next to its new home.

The new building will have 4,100 square feet and will be divided for up to two tenants.

Hummel Construction & Development is the contractor. The project has a construction valuation of about $800,000.

Shelby’s, owned by Jackie Brown, moved to its new 6,150-square-foot home last August, leaving its long-time home at Marineland Village.

Bruce Mechanical

5003 W. Brinkley.

Bruce Mechanical Inc. is constructing a 26,100-square-foot metal building to house offices as well as a loading dock in south Kennewick, near the Highway 395/I-82 interchange.

The city approved permits in January. Bruce is serving as its own contractor.

Moon Cafe (Update)

3719 Plaza Way

A new restaurant for Kennewick’s Southridge area is taking shape near The Original Pancake House and Trios Health Southridge Hospital.

Moon Cafe, aka Plaza Way Cafe, is being developed by Pearl and Tiger LLC of West Richland . The 3,100 square-foot restaurant is designed by Baker Architecture. The project is about 40% complete, planning records show.

Chick-fil-A (Update)

7009 W. Canal Drive

The Tri-Cities first-ever Chick-fil-A is 47% complete, planning records show.

The Atlanta-based chicken chain building at 4,920-square-foot restaurant with seating for 70 inside and 24 outside at the Colonnade Shopping Center, near Hobby Lobby and Wendy’s in the Columbia Center area.

There will be two drive-thru lanes. The project has a construction value of $1.1 million.

Chick-fil-A co-owns the project with three Portland-based limited liability companies: Winprop I LLC, Madrona Joe’s LLC and Watumull GI Joe’s LLC.

Muchas Gracias Mexican Food

894 Stevens Drive

Muchas Gracias Mexican Food is extending its Tri-Cities footprint to the former Tumbleweeds restaurant in central Richland.

In 2024, the Vancouver-based chain remodeled the former Taco John’s restaurant at 701 W. Vineyard Drive near Kennewick High School.

The company operates more than 70 restaurants in western Oregon and Washington, chiefly through franchisees and friends of the founders.

This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

Pasco, WA

The Washington state Department of Agriculture is expanding eight-fold the area of private and public land in the Tri-Cities it wants to spray pesticide to fight highly destructive Japanese beetles.

What was one square mile treated in Pasco last spring, will expand to eight square miles, including a slice of Columbia Park on the south side of the Columbia River in Kennewick this year.

It will be the first time treatment has been done in Kennewick by the state to kill Japanese beetle larvae or grubs in the soil before they emerge as adults.

In 2023, five Japanese beetles were found in Pasco, but the next year 408 were found in Pasco and one in a trap across the Columbia River in Kennewick near Hawthorne Elementary School.

Statewide Japanese beetles caught in Department of Agriculture traps increased from 19,544 in 2023 to 26,700 last year.

Most were in caught in the Lower Yakima Valley, with 24,700 found in Sunnyside, Grandview, Mabton and the far west side of Benton County. The Japanese beetles also have been found in Prosser, since the infestation started with three beetles in Grandview in 2020.

Japanese beetles feed on more than 300 plants, and can devastate grape crops, strip roses and other garden plants of their leaves, and damage turf at homes, parks and golf courses.

Adult Japanese beetles are up to a half inch long and have a metallic green head and thorax and iridescent copper wing covers. White C-shaped larvae with a tan head and visible legs may be seen during the spring.

State Department of Agriculture officials said in November that trapping alone is not enough to eradicate Japanese beetles from the state.

So far spring pesticide treatments have been voluntary and property owners must give consent each year to have their properties treated.

But only about half of property owners in areas of concern gave permission to have their land treated last year.

“So far the level of community participation has only been enough to slow, but not stop or eradicate Japanese beetles from our state,” said Sven Spichiger, pest program manager for the Department of Agriculture, in a statement. “If we aren’t allowed to treat most of the properties in the infested areas, it is only a matter of time before it is too late to eradicate.”

Then homeowners, gardeners and farmers will be left with the responsibility and expense of not only managing the pest, but the burden of following permanent quarantine regulations as well, he said.

Parts of the Lower Yakima Valley already are under a Japanese beetle quarantine. Residents are not allowed to remove soil or sod or plants not free from soil, such as fruit trees and potted plants, from the quarantine area year round.

The removal of plants and plant cuttings, roots, grass clippings, cut flowers, among other vegetation that could harbor Japanese beetles, is prohibited in the area May 15 to Oct. 15, the season when adult beetles live. Instead, they must be taken by landowners to special disposal areas.

In states that have permanent infestations of the beetles, farmers and plant nurseries are subject to expensive and restrictive quarantines to move their products, as well as increased pesticide costs to manage the beetle, according to the Washington state Department of Agriculture.

Residents must deal with the pest in their lawns and gardens as well, either increasing pesticide use or manually removing the beetles — some even using vacuums because of the sheer number of beetles, the agency said. Visitors and tourists must also deal with the beetles being a nuisance flying into them.

The Department of Agriculture is asking permission from Tri-Cities landowners this year to treat land from North Road 64 east to around North First Avenue in Pasco.

The southern edge of treatment for Pasco would be the Columbia River or East Ainsworth Avenue north to West Livingston Road, including part of Columbia Basin College north of Interstate 182.

In Kennewick, the area to be treated would be in Columbia Park west of the blue bridge along the river for almost a mile and would also include a small amount of private land south of Highway 240.

Treatment is done with the insecticide Acelepryn, which kills Japanese beetles and certain other pests in their grub or larval stage in the soil. It is not considered a health risk for people, pets, wildlife or insects, such as bees, that don’t go through a larval state in the soil.

About 17,600 property owners in Yakima, Benton and Franklin county treatment areas have been mailed letters with a consent form and a PIN number.

If you are in a treatment area and need a form to permit spraying, they are available at the Pasco City Hall, plus additional city halls in the Lower Yakima Valley. To sign up online, go to agr.wa.gov/beetles and scroll down to the “sign up now” box. I

If you need help to sign up or to retrieve your PIN number, call 800-443-6684 or email pest@agr.wa.gov.

This story was originally published March 17, 2025 at 9:46 AM.

AC

Tri-City Herald

509-416-6136

Senior staff writer Annette Cary covers Hanford, energy, the environment, science and health for the Tri-City Herald. She’s been a news reporter for more than 30 years in the Pacific Northwest.

Kennewick, WA

Kennewick School Board next week will interview six candidates hoping to succeed Superintendent Traci Pierce, who’s set to retire June 30.

The six largely come from smaller, more rural school districts. But they have decades of service to public education, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

Joseph Castilleja, Matthew Mallery and Christopher Nesmith will interview Tuesday evening during a public meeting of the school board.

Davion Lewis, William Fritz and Lance Hansen will interview Thursday evening.

The preliminary interviews are 5:30-8:45 p.m. at the district office. The public is encouraged to attend and observe the process.

Finalists will be selected to return for interviews with staff, students and community members Feb. 4-6. Then, following a closed-door executive session, the school board plans to make its selection by Feb. 7.

The new superintendent will begin work on July 1. The contract and salary will be negotiated with the board.

Kennewick School District is the Tri-Cities’ largest public school district, serving 19,000 full- and part-time students enrolled in 33 schools. About 52% are low-income and 42% identify as Hispanic.

It’s also the city’s largest employer, with 3,500 staff and teachers under a $320 million budget.

Pierce joined Kennewick School District in 2019 after serving 24 years in the Lake Washington School District, the state’s second-largest school district.

She replaced former Kennewick Superintendent Dave Bond, who led the district for more than a decade. Her base salary during the 2023-24 school year was $188,300.

During her tenure, Pierce oversaw the construction of the 2019 bond projects and new Kennewick High School, led the school district and its 19,000 students through the COVID pandemic, and expanded technical education opportunities for Tri-City students.

Kennewick continues to weather budget constraints caused by nationwide inflation and slim investments from the state. And teachers are still working to catch up students who fell behind during pandemic-era remote learning.

An initial background check by the Herald on the candidates shows two have left prior positions under strained circumstances.

Castilleja recently left his position as Mabton superintendent following an investigation into his conduct with another employee and after disagreements with the school board over reversing two hirings, according to Yakima Herald-Republic reporting.

But the external investigation — which stemmed from an employee’s complaint that Castilleja had massaged the shoulders of another staffer — concluded there was no evidence he violated district policies or laws. It found his behavior may have not been appropriate for the workplace, though.

He told the Herald-Republic he moved on from Mabton to “pursue other opportunities” after recently retiring from the Army National Guard.

In 2017, Fritz had his contract as assistant superintendent cut at the School District of Indian River County after what appeared to be a tumultuous tenure.

According to VeroNews, the district’s health insurance fund for teachers, employees and families went $7 million into the red and premiums skyrocketed under Fritz’s leadership. Staff was furious after learning they had been dropped from coverage or that their Social Security numbers had been leaked in a data breach.

Most recent position: Superintendent of Mabton School District, from July 2018 to October 2024. Base salary in 2023-24 listed as $196,300.

The district has 800 students, employs 120 staff and teachers, and has an annual budget of $15 million. Located in the lower Yakima River Valley, about midway between Yakima and Richland, the student population is nearly all Hispanic and nearly half of students come from migrant backgrounds.

Experience: He began as a high school teacher in Manson School District, Chelan County, and elementary teacher in the Sunnyside School District before taking a principal position in the Mt. Adams School District. Castilleja also worked as a performance improvement consultant through GeniusCoach.com since 2008.

He has military experience, having served as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force and as a member of the Washington National Guard between 1999 and 2024.

Education: Ph.D. in education, specializing in performance improvement from Capella University; Master’s in education in curriculum, instruction and assessment from Jones International University; Bachelor’s in music from Eastern Washington University; Associate’s from Air University.

Most recent position: Superintendent of Mary M. Knight School District in Elma, Wash., since July 2019. Base salary in 2023-24 listed as $157,800.

Mary M. Knight School District has about 900 students, employs 40 staff and teachers, and has an annual operating budget of $20 million. The district straddles the county line dividing Grays Harbor and Mason counties.

Experience: He’s worked as a teacher in the Rainier School District and held various principal roles in the Moses Lake School District. Before that, Mallery worked as executive director of human resources and executive director of state and federal programs in the Grandview School District.

Education: Master’s degree in education from the University of Portland; Bachelor’s degree in music from Washington State University.

Most recent position: Superintendent of Elma School District since July 2021. Base salary in 2023-24 listed as $165,000.

The Elma School District is east of Olympia, in Grays Harbor County, the district enrolls about 1,700 students, employs 300 staff and teachers, and operates under a $31 million annual budget. Although 64% of its student population is reported as low-income, its high school graduation rate hovers around 92%.

Experience: He taught computer science and business in Shelton School District before taking various roles in the West Valley School District, including executive director of innovation, assistant principal and CTE director.

Education: Ed.D. in educational leadership from Washington State University; Master’s in education from University of Washington; Bachelor’s in business education from Central Washington University; Associate’s from Clark College.

Most recent position: Assistant superintendent of student services at South Bend Community School Corporation in South Bend, Ind. His salary is listed at $176,300.

The district is 90 miles east of Chicago and serves 15,400 students and employs 3,000 teachers and staff. Its annual budget is nearly $200 million. Located in north-central Indiana, the district is the largest and oldest in St. Joseph County and the state’s fourth largest.

Experience: His previous experience includes working as executive director of support and improvement in New Orleans Public Schools, superintendent at the charter RISE Schools near Atlanta, and director of school partnerships at New Classroom in New Jersey. He’s also worked as a dean at the charter KIPP LA Schools, associated executive director at Community Change Inc. and program manager with New York City Public Schools.

Education: Ph.D. in curriculum instruction and the science of learning from University of Buffalo; Master’s from Clayton State University; Bachelor’s in history from Bethune-Cookman University.

Most recent position: Superintendent of Knappa School District outside Astoria, Ore., since 2020. His salary for the 2024-25 school year was listed at $131,500, according to public records.

The district has about 500 students are enrolled and 81 staff and teachers employed. It operates two schools — a K-8 elementary and 9-12 high school — on an $8 million operating budget, near the mouth of the Columbia River.

Experience: He has worked as a secondary math teacher, high school assistant principal and middle school principal. Fritz has also held several leadership roles in human resources, specifically at Shoreline Public Schools and in Indian River County, Florida. He’s also worked as an associate professor of teacher education at Bushnell University, a private Christian college in Eugene.

Education: Ph.D. in educational leadership from Northwest Nazarene University; Master’s in education from Seattle Pacific University; Bachelor’s in education from Western Washington University.

Most recent position: Superintendent of Lewiston Independent School District in Lewiston, Idaho, since 2021. His salary for the 2022-23 school year was listed at $155,000, per Idaho salary data.

The district has 4,500 students enrolled and 650 employees, with an annual operating budget of $70 million.

Experience: He taught in the Moscow School District and Emmett Independent School District before making the move to Lewiston. Before taking on the role of superintendent Hansen worked for many years as high school assistant principal, high school principal and assistant superintendent.

Education: Master’s in educational leadership from University of Idaho; Bachelor’s in Spanish and math from University of Idaho.