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Good morning, Northwest.

Public records obtained by OPB suggest the chemical tank that ruptured at a Longview paper mill in May was scheduled for replacement before the deadly incident.

OPB’s Erik Neumann reports this morning on what staff at the facility said about the tank in statements to police. His story starts today’s newsletter.

In other news, police yesterday identified victims of this weekend’s mass homicide near Forest Grove.

Here’s your First Look at Tuesday’s news.

— Bradley W. Parks

Top story

Records show ruptured tank at Longview paper mill was being worked on, scheduled for replacement before incident

The chemical tank that collapsed in late May, killing 11 people at a paper mill in Longview, Washington, was being worked on and scheduled for replacement at the time of the incident, according to statements from staff at the facility released by the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

Multiple employees of Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company questioned by sheriff’s deputies in the aftermath of the company’s tank rupture said they noticed scaffolding around the tank, indicating some work was being done on it.

According to the documents, a maintenance supervisor at Nippon Dynawave told a deputy the tank “was scheduled to be replaced sometime next year.”

The exact reasons why the 900,000-gallon chemical tank was being serviced and slated for replacement are unknown. (Erik Neumann)

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3 things to know

• The victims in this weekend’s mass killing near Forest Grove include the suspect’s partner, his partner’s mother and grandmother, and two others, police said yesterday. (Troy Brynelson and Holly Bartholomew)
• The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for President Trump’s executive order that would upend mail voting practices. That could be a blow in an all-mail voting state like Oregon, but the state’s top Democrats say there’s no reason to expect big changes in November. (Dirk VanderHart)
• Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative union members are on strike, alleging months of unfair labor practices. OTEC is a nonprofit electric utility company that serves about 60,000 residents across Baker, Grant, Harney and Union Counties. (Monica Carillo-Casas)

Northwest headlines

• Oregon State University objects to women’s basketball team’s petition to unionize (Kyra Buckley)
• Lane County commissioners may part ways with another lawyer, a move that could cost more than $275,000 (Rebecca Hansen-White, KLCC)
• Striking workers will need to seek jobs to qualify for Washington unemployment benefits (Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard)
• Washington youth prison leader was fired after harassment probe (Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Financial details of Oregon’s spending on affordable housing murky, ProPublica investigation reveals
• Ken Kesey’s iconic psychedelic bus leaves Oregon for first time in nearly 60 years
• How OHSU’s field surgical team prepares to respond to emergencies

One more look

Suquamish Tribe-focused curriculum, decades in the making, is ready for Washington schools

In a building with large windows overlooking Nesika Bay southeast of Poulsbo, a group of about 50 educators from around the Puget Sound region called out numbers like a bingo game.

But instead of numbers on a card, they scanned a large blue and green map of the Salish Sea, which included markers for the different Suquamish villages around Puget Sound. Each of those numbers once had a name.

“The Suquamish people had names for places that they fished, hunted and camped, and they also named sites where spiritual events happened long ago,” said Elese Washines.

She and others had invited educators to preview a Suquamish Tribe-focused social studies curriculum for middle and high school. Washines and others have spent more than a decade creating the curriculum. It’s part of a state-mandated effort to highlight tribal history and culture in public schools. (Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez, KUOW)

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/25/longview-paper-mill-public-records-first-look/