NPR News

BLAINE, Wash. - A planning document describing possible security enhancements along our northern border is raising eyebrows both in Canada and the U.S. Most notably, the study for the Department of Homeland Security raises the idea of fencing short portions of the northern border. Some Canadians are offended by the idea. The U.S. agency is now trying to contain the negative reaction. Correspondent Tom Banse has details from Blaine, Washington.

RICHLAND, Wash. – One of the oldest clothing retailers in the Northwest is getting some new attention from fashion houses that cater to young consumers. Pendleton Woolen Mills' new collection is hitting top fashion websites and is selling out at Northwest stores.

The new line is called the Portland Collection. Do a quick search for it and it won't take you long to find the new threads on Anthropologie, Saks, fashion blogs and boutique websites.

Worldwide tuberculosis cases are declining annually for the first time, according to a report just out from the World Health Organization. Deaths from the disease have also sunk to the lowest level in a decade.

Four decades ago, restaurateur and food activist Alice Waters was at the forefront of the now flourishing locally grown, organic food movement. Her Berkeley-based restaurant, Chez Panisse, has become one of the most famous dining spots in America, known for changing its menu daily to reflect what's in season and for sourcing ingredients from local farmers.

But as a child, Waters almost never went to restaurants — and was extremely picky about what she'd actually put in her mouth.

College students have helped propel Occupy Wall Street protests to cities across the Northwest. But the left-wing movement is a tougher sell on some campuses – like conservative Brigham Young University's campus in eastern Idaho.

University of Washington students joined camped-out protesters at Seattle's Westlake Park. A rally at the Idaho Capitol was organized in part by students at Boise State University. And a University of Oregon senior started the Occupy Eugene Facebook page.

SALEM, Ore. - An Oregon judge has set a tentative date of December 6 for the execution of two-time convicted murderer Gary Haugen. The killer has dropped all of his appeals and would become the first person to be executed in Oregon since 1997.

This is actually the second time a judge has set a date for Haugen's execution. He had been slated to die in August but the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that Haugen needed additional mental evaluation.

SALEM, Ore. - It's the time of year that retailers think about hiring extra help for the holidays. Labor experts in Oregon and Washington say job prospects for seasonal hires are ho-hum in the jolly ho-ho-ho season.

Washington state's Employment Department is predicting about 13,000 holiday jobs will materialize in the state through the end of the year. If true, that would fall short of last year's numbers.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington's prison system has failed to resolve numerous safety issues in the wake of the murder of a correctional officer. That's the finding of the state's workplace safety watchdog agency.

Last January, Officer Jayme Biendl was strangled to death, allegedly by an inmate, in the chapel at the prison in Monroe. In July, Washington's Department of Labor and Industries ordered the prison system to make a series of safety improvements.

TACOMA, Wash. - Northwest states have long been top producers of Peace Corps volunteers and are also home to some of the biggest global relief charities. What gets less attention is the post-traumatic stress and burnout some of those workers come home with. A new documentary premiering in Seattle Saturday explores "compassion fatigue" among the "helping professions."

A string of natural disasters in the news last year and the imminent 10th anniversary of 9/11 made some communication and English majors at Pacific Lutheran University curious.

It's probably appropriate that a film about adolescent identity crises has trouble figuring out what it wants to be. Much like puberty, Abe Sylvia's Dirty Girl is a mess of conflicting, confusing emotions. It starts out going for overtly campy satire — with limited success — before transforming into a heartfelt coming-of-age road movie with whimsical surrealist flourishes. This is a film that early on finds Dwight Yoakam washing his Cadillac in gratuitously sensual slow motion, and by its end finds room for after-school-special emotionalism.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement inspires protests in more U.S. cities, a website has popped up that seems to be trading on the group's somewhat nebulous status and lack of formal organization.

The first Idaho town to propose a ban on plastic grocery sacks is running into an unusual cross-current: the push to buy local. That's because the city of Hailey in central Idaho is just up the road from a plastic bag factory.

Local high school students gathered enough signatures this summer to put the ban on plastic bags before Hailey voters. The town of 7,000 near Sun Valley would be the first in Idaho to ban retailers from using the thin plastic grocery bags. It's similar to bans passed in Edmonds, Wash., and most recently, Portland and Bellingham.

SALEM, Ore. – Police say a body found in the woods west of Corvallis, Oregon is missing teenager Cody Myers. The 19-year-old from Lafayette, Oregon disappeared over the weekend while traveling to the coast for a jazz festival. Police say the cause of death was, quote, "homicidal violence."

California State Police captured two people wanted in connection to Myers' death north of Sacramento on Wednesday. The couple was also sought in connection to the murder of an Everett, Washington woman.

SALEM, Ore. - Two murder suspects have been captured after a manhunt that stretched from western Washington through Oregon into California. The pair was wanted in the murder of an Everett, Washington woman and for questioning in relation to a missing Everett man and a slain Oregon teen.

Wednesday evening, police in Oregon confirmed the death of the teenager, who'd gone missing over the weekend.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Supporters of an interpretive center devoted to the Hanford Reach broke ground during a ceremony Wednesday in the Tri-Cities, Washington. The museum is getting a solid start now after earlier opposition from nearby tribes.

Despite the dreary weather, the audience and a school band were in an upbeat mood just beside the stony-tinted, calm waters of the Columbia River.