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Song about Hanford furloughs picks up viewers on YouTube

Jason Strickling and his wife Lana of Pasco, Wash. are planning some extra time with the kids this summer. That’s because she works for a Hanford Nuclear Reservation contractor in southeast Washington and her employer is requiring her to take about five weeks of unpaid leave before September.

The federal budget cuts known as the sequester are forcing a total of 2,500 workers at Hanford to take unpaid time off. Together the Stricklings came up with a song about the furloughs to the tune of the Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat and put it on YouTube.

The song has only been up for a few days and already collected hundreds of hits. Thursday more than 200 Hanford employees also were laid off because of the national budget cuts.

 

Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. She covers the Mid-Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.