Following a 33-year career with the Seattle Times,  Ron Judd has written his farewell article. As of September, he is organizing a daily online news operation in Bellingham. Unnamed as yet, it is referred to as Cascadia Daily News. David Syre is behind the new company. NWCitizen broke the news locally and we are looking forward to what promises to be local and professional news reporting on our cities, county, and port government agencies.  

Judd has written his last article for the Seattle Times and reveals a bit about himself. His final “Backstory” indicates we are getting a guy with an irreverent sense of humor. Even more important is that while Judd has written for the Seattle paper for over 30 years, he has lived right here in Bellingham for the last 20 years. He is no stranger to our town and knows the local turf.  

He expects to hire six to ten employees and begin publishing online January 1. In the press release that came out in August announcing the new venture, it stressed that government reporting will be a priority.  

Actual "government reporting" will be a new and interesting experience for our local elected and non-elected community leaders; they have long been used to little-to-no coverage or just puff pieces from the Herald. We at NWCitizen sincerely hope that promise is fulfilled by Mr. Judd and his staff. Time will tell, as we look forward to this new addition to our community come January. We wish them the very best.