📰 Inside CDN 03/23/26

From the editor’s desk: Almost five years ago, when CDN was but a good idea, I realized I needed some sage advice on one aspect of my new editor's job: creating general policies for various things, including standards for published letters to the editor.

The first person I called was Jon Bauer, a former college classmate and longtime Northwest daily journalism peer, and at the time, the Opinion Editor at The Everett Herald.

Fast forward a half-decade: Jon called me — to inquire about our open Deputy Editor job, following a couple internal promotions in CDN’s newsroom.

Both contacts already made, and will continue to make, CDN a better local news organization. We were thrilled to welcome Jon into our ranks this past week.

Jon, with whom I shared space at the Western Front at WWU four decades ago, is already serving as a learned hand as a desk editor, assisting our team in getting news in the fastest, clearest way to CDN readers. He’ll also be helping me with the growing task of filling and editing our award-winning Opinion pages.

He’s a great addition to the CDN family and its unique, in my experience, laid-back-but-fiercely dedicated newsroom culture.

Word has it Jon is also bringing some of his own news fans from Everett, where he served for nearly 25 years as an editor in his hometown. A handful are already CDN subscribers. A warm welcome to all.

Bauer’s addition creates here an interesting dynamic: By chance, and probably some bias on my part, five of CDN’s six editing/production team have studied (or some reasonable facsimile) at Western Washington University. (Note to self: Check on an honorary degree for Audience Engagement Editor Alana Marcum!) It’s particularly rare because the five of us are from two ridiculously different eras.

Bauer and I hail from the 80s, when current or recent news vets ran the program and mastodons still grazed in front of Old Main. Our managing editors, Audra Anderson and Jaya Flanary, were two of the program’s top journalists from 2020–21. I was lucky to lure both into our fold to help launch CDN, along with another WWU star and CDN founder, photojournalist Hailey Hoffman, since departed. Our news producer, Eric Trent, class of 2019, was a student of mine at Western.

Owing to the times and trends in academia, our training was likely radically different. In the former era, the program was, I believe, at a peak because of the deep level of professional experience on a faculty that included grizzled news vets such as the late Pete Steffens, son of U.S. muckraking giant Lincoln Steffens. The program was broadly known then for its solid focus on journalism practice, rather than theory; I have long argued our nation is far more in need of the former than the latter — an opinion bolstered by my own experience teaching as a WWU adjunct for more than 15 years before CDN came along.

But importantly, all four of us share core journalistic fundamentals — my favorites being clarity, courage, transparency and ethics — that guide our work every day.

Aside from providing frequent opposite-era levity (a bonus in the pressure-packed environment of a newsroom), I think the generation gap makes for great synergy. The younger members are nimble and full of brilliant ideas; the creakier of us, I hope, are adept at directing that energy, occasionally tapping the brakes — and avoiding countless pratfalls and calamities in public optics we’ve painfully witnessed or experienced over our long careers.

I think the age mix across our newsroom staff makes the job a lot more fun. More broadly, age aside, we all consider ourselves fortunate to be here, in a field where many, many of our peers in multiple generations have been pushed out the door. I think about that every day.

If my little highly unscientific poll is an indication, Inside CDN readers have decidedly mixed feelings about global travel in the Trump era. From the more than 100 responses to the question about attitudes on foreign travel today:

Some thoughtful comments attached to those votes:

I'll continue to travel but will choose countries that feel “safe.”

U.S. citizens who oppose the current Trump regime need to let the world know who we are and what we stand for and against. Travel abroad is one way of achieving that goal.

It is important to show the world that Americans can be kind, compassionate and thoughtful travelers. Not all of us support the bellicose, narcissistic BS coming from the other Washington. Also, it is critical we support our Canadian Neighbors

For many years, I have traveled the world on a regular basis without much thought of being killed by bombs or bullets. I am still traveling, but am eliminating some countries from my list. Come to think of it, sadly enough, I am also eliminating some places in the United States.

I am transgender. The prospect of returning to the U.S. and having my passport seized because the gender marker offends some CBP agent is cause to suspend my travels. It's sad. I am a veteran, and I fought for THIS?

I look forward to running those thoughts by travel guru Rick Steves at our April 11 discussion at the Mount Baker Theatre. Buy tickets here.

In CDN this week, reporter Charlotte Alden wrote about the relatively rare occasion of two local Democrats, Alicia Rule and Joe Timmons, bucking party lines to vote no on a new 9.9% tax on the small percentage of Washingtonians with incomes of more than $1 million.

The New York Times: Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years. Also: 6 Takeaways From the Times Investigation Into Cesar Chavez. A disturbing and cold reminder of the enduring presence of the abuse of power and influence across all political spectrums.

The Tyee: Pay Close Attention to Trump’s War on the Free Press. Synopsis: “Donald Trump is providing Canadians a master class in how to destroy the bulwark of democracy that is a free press.” A cautionary perspective for Americans from the free press in Vancouver.

John Hiatt: “Crossing Muddy Waters,” Vanguard Recording Society, vinyl, 2000. Underrated, mostly acoustic, back porch blues album by one of America’s top songwriters; seasonally appropriate!