Tom Banse covers public policy, environment, business and breaking news from the public radio Northwest News Network bureau in Washington's state capital, Olympia. His stories can be heard on KUOW, KPLU and other National Public Radio stations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Before becoming the network's regional correspondent, Banse covered the Washington legislature and state politics for 12 years for the state's NPR affiliates. Earlier, he worked in the Seattle bureau of United Press International. He got his start in radio at WCAL-FM, a public station in southern Minnesota. Reared in Seattle, Banse graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota with a degree in American studies. In 1996, he spent two months reporting from Bonn and Berlin, Germany, on an Arthur F. Burns Fellowship. In 1999, the travel went the other direction—to Seoul, Singapore, and Jakarta—on a Jefferson Fellowship.