- Health care access for folks living in the Tri-Cities region is expanding a ground-breaking for Kadlec's new West Richland Primary Care facility was held on the corner of Keene and Bombing Range road tell KEPR News the $20 million complex will provide health care services to up to 20,000 patients and address a growing issue of timely medical help "Primary care is a lynch-pin of keeping people healthy and hopefully out of our hospitals and our emergency rooms if they can get access to care in a timely manner," said Rob Watilo the Chief Operating Officer for the Providence medical groups in southeast Washington "In most of our primary care locations it can be many months in order for a new patient coming to our community to actually get an appointment with one of our providers This new building is going to allow us to add 10 new primary care physicians to our medical group and really improve access to primary care Watilo notes that a recent study showed the Tri-Cities region to be 50 primary care physicians short of what should be in place for the population capacity This is the first primary care facility addition to the Tri-Cities region since 2016 when one was built on the west side of Kennewick The project is expected to be completed sometime in Spring 2026 – A West Richland police sergeant made a significant impact on a local family’s life during a routine traffic stop for expired registration After speaking with the female driver, the sergeant learned that she and her three children were homeless, living out of their vehicle. The woman expressed her frustration, saying she couldn’t catch a break, West Richland Police said in a release In response, the West Richland Police decided to use funds from the West Richland Community Care Foundation to place the family in a local hotel The officers took a moment to reflect on their commitment to serve and protect the community The department expressed gratitude to all who support the foundation emphasizing the difference these donations make for those in need FOX41 Yakima©FOX11 TriCities© © 2020 FOX11 FOX41.com All rights reserved KFFX Public FCC File KCYU 1205 W Lincoln Ave Yakima WA 98902 • 509-574-4141 FCC Applications KFFX FCC Applications KCYU Client Payment Portal 18—A former West Richland fire district finance manager allegedly misappropriated at least $88,500 in pay and credit card purchases according to Washington state auditors Slita Superawesome pocketed thousands of dollars she didn't earn during her 12 years with Benton County Fire District 4 a recently released Washington State Auditor's Office report said It's not clear at this point whether she will be charged with stealing the money State auditors sent their report to the Benton County Prosecutor's Office District officials discovered Superawesome bought $774 in her own food clothing and household items using a fire district credit card in October 2023 She was placed on administrative leave and then fired in January 2024 the district alerted the state which discovered $88,000 missing and another $28,000 in questionable expenses Superawesome told state auditors that most of the money was missing by mistake and she should pay it back to the district The district has taken several steps to make sure that the problem isn't repeated according to a statement sent to the Tri-City Herald "The fire district has insurance to cover these types of losses," district officials said in a statement "We worked with the State Auditor's Office to put more secure systems in place to prevent this in the future These improvements include expanding financial oversight with new policies and tighter parameters for organizational practices such as purchasing and onboarding employees." The questionable transactions started shortly after Superawesome started working at the district in 2011 They grew over the years until they reached about $18,000 in both 2022 and 2023 The investigation found nearly $78,000 of the missing money was extra pay she received that she didn't earn between 2014 and 2023 was when she paid herself twice when she was helping with state mobilizations and incorrectly calculating overtime She also paid herself $7,545 in firefighter education money between 2019 and 2021 The pay is meant to help firefighters and other union members pursue a bachelor's degree She also added $2,500 in volunteer pay to her checks between 2015 and 2021 That money is supposed to go to volunteer firefighters as a stipend State auditors said they also discovered other questionable payments between 2011 and 2019 including allegedly abusing a clause in her contract to be paid tuition for education costs Washington investigators also reported finding another $4,200 used for airfare food purchases and continuing education courses District officials say they have taken steps they believe will address the problems including making sure no one person has "unchecked authority" over payroll starting regular audits and hiring new staff members The new safeguards include having two people approve any payroll or other payments and having regular internal audits The district also hired a new finance manager with 30 years experience and an administrative assistant with 15 years experience They've put into place a new employee manual and enhanced training programs for administrators and finance personnel "The district remains committed to maintaining the highest standards of accountability and integrity in its financial processes," the district said in response to the audit Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. WA- — West Richland has a new auto body shop: Frank & Sons Auto Body Leaders with the company told us it's about helping the community "The last thing we want is cars driving around on the road that have damage or they have systems not operating properly it's just better to have those cars repaired this allows us to get more cars to the shop so that our roads are safer," said Sean Markussen He also spoke to why they chose their new location for their next shop West Richland is a growing community without a single body shop within the city of West Richland so that was a huge push for us," said Markussen They're open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m You can also get an online estimate, just click here. – No residential structures were damaged after an early morning shop fire in West Richland According to Captain Thomas Harper with Benton County Fire District 4 (BCFD#4) fire crews responded to a shop fire on the 400 block of South 41st Avenue at 4:34 a.m the shop could be seen fully engulfed in flames Crews put a hose to the fire and had it under control by 5:18 a.m The shop resided in a backyard and was not connected to any home but other backyard sheds were damaged by the flames South 41st Avenue was closed for about two hours for fire response but has since been reopened Crews will continue to monitor the area throughout the day The cause of the fire is under investigation by the City of West Richland Fire Marshal It is unknown if the fire started inside or outside of the shop