Inslee: Statewide effort to boost food bank supplies

SEATTLE (AP) — A look at coronavirus-related developments in Washington:

FOOD BANKS STRUGGLING

Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday announced an effort to resupply Washington's food banks, which are running low due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Inslee says because of increasing demand supplies at the state’s food banks have dropped to dangerously low levels, with an estimated 1.6 million people — double the usual number — in expected to seek food aid.

The relief effort, called WA Food Fund, is being managed by Philanthropy Northwest, a network of philanthropic organizations. The effort will combine business and philanthropic dollars with individual fundraising to have the most effect.

NUCLEAR RESERVATION

The majority of the 11,000 employees at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the largest single employer in eastern Washington, are working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Department of Energy said about 10% to 15% of Hanford’s workforce is working on the sprawling site that contains the nation’s largest quantity of radioactive waste left over from the production of nuclear weapons. Another 60% are working from home or otherwise telecommuting at the site near Richland in southeastern Washington state, the agency said. The rest are off work, but continue to be paid, the agency said. The site went to this “”essential mission-critical operations posture”″ in late March and it continues this week, the agency said.

Hanford was established during the Manhattan Project in World War II. The site made the plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.