📰 Inside CDN 06/01/26

From the … other editor’s desk: The day before my 24th birthday, I got an email. “We’ve not met,” it read, “but I’m a longtime instructor at WWU and a Seattle Times veteran who is putting together the newsroom for the new, locally owned Cascadia Daily News in Bellingham.”

The stranger, Ron Judd, went on to say he’s heard about me through the Western grapevine and is interested in chatting about an open position at the “unique startup publication.”

Nearly five years later, I am sitting at my desk in the brightly lit corner of our State Street newsroom at a loss for words on where we go from here.

Last week, Ron, our executive editor, was fired by CDN’s owner, David Syre. Read more about his termination in our news story by reporter Sophia Gates here, in which I called Ron “the North Star of the newsroom.”

The morning after Ron was fired, our news staff gathered to discuss the obvious: “What’s next?” Two priorities were clear: one, we still need to put out a paper, due in 32 hours; two, should we write a news story, and if so, how?

For the latter, our first choice, to avoid any conflicts of interest or appearance of such, was to get a stringer to write about Ron’s termination. Due to the time constraint — and, as my fellow managing editor Audra Anderson pointed out, the best local journalists we know either already work here or are regular contributors — we succumbed to our fate. One of our reporters would have to write the story, and therefore interview me, Audra, publisher Cynthia Pope, and Ron.

As a journalist, it’s always a bit jarring to be on the other side of the recorder. This time wasn’t just jarring, but devastating. The situation was so fraught, and the decision so shocking, that answering Sophia’s questions was the second-most difficult thing I had to do last week. (The first was sending our print pages Thursday evening without Ron sitting next to my desk, annoying the crap out of me on deadline.)

The story was edited and published by another reporter, and not reviewed by our editing staff. An editor’s note was placed at the top explaining the “unique circumstances.” Our staff agreed the situation was news, and therefore worthy of a story, and that transparency to our readers was critical. Had Ron been in the newsroom that day, watching our quick decision-making, I know he would have been proud.

For four days, the story was the most-read article on our news site. The headline is one I never imagined I would read.

Cascadia Daily News launched its website on Jan. 24, 2022, and published its first print paper on March 2, 2022. Since then, the newspaper has evolved and its staff has grown. The “original idiots” — those of us who have been here since the start — include myself (November 2021), photographer Andy Bronson (December 2021), Audra (March 2022) and, of course, Ron, who embraced this crazy project in summer 2021, leaving behind his “cushy” (I think he’s said that) gig at The Seattle Times he’d had for more than three decades.

What makes a person do something like that? The hell if I know.

But here’s what I can tell you …

I met Ron in my early 20s. I am now in my late 20s. I like to remind him of that fact by sneaking specific years into conversations and shaking my head “no” when he asks if I know of some musician whose vinyl he’s bestowing upon me.

What this means: I spent some of the most formative years of my life working directly under a man whom I quickly came to respect as a journalist, a mentor, and eventually, a best friend — regardless of his age, which I will not disclose (but let’s just say he’s on a certain generational cutoff just like myself). During his time at CDN, I learned nearly everything I know about being a good journalist from him.

For this newsletter, I asked the staff what he’s taught them. Here’s a sample of those responses: 

And for fun, some non-journalism things I’ve learned from Ron:

For all this, and more, the newsroom staff on Friday awarded Ron the “Plucky Duck Award,” aka a wooden duck in red boots Ron bought years ago that I named “Boots.” I dropped it at his house before our staff meeting with two copies of the May 29 print paper.

Along the rail on A1, a bold headline: “CDN executive editor fired.” (Just in case he forgot.)

At staff meetings, after we look through the print paper — “Another great paper,” Ron would always say — the duck is awarded to the shining star of the week. Someone who showed the most pluck, a reporter who finished an enterprise series or investigative piece after months of reporting, a photographer who creatively told a story with striking visuals, or, in this case, an editor who made a major impact on a community, an industry and a group of young journos who aren’t ready to call it quits. Our newsroom’s North Star.

“Impact” is a strong word at Cascadia Daily News; we’ve had a lot of it. We’re grateful for Ron’s contribution to this work, and because of his guidance and mentorship here, his legacy will live on in this newsroom. 

More on that, and other newsroom promises, coming later this week in our Opinion pages from Audra. A new executive editor will be recruited “in the near future,” according to a letter from owner Syre. They will have very large (and very wide) shoes to fill.

In the meantime, this subscriber-only newsletter, “Inside CDN,” will be suspended (vote below on its future). Such is life in the Great Northwest.

To Ron, who I hope has made it this far without grabbing a tissue or perhaps a shacket to wipe his misty eyes: Come hell or high water, the paper’s coming out. 

To our readers, from those who have been with us since the start to those who have just joined us for the ride: Thanks for supporting your independent local free press. It still matters.

As noted above, this Monday newsletter will be suspended until further notice.

“What’s the Deal with CDN?”: In case you missed it, episode one of CDN’s podcast “On Background” features Ron telling the paper’s origin story.

Judd-y columns from the CDN archive: The first Ron Judd column (Jan. 23, 2022) introduced Ron as a “writer turned editor” who believed Cascadia Daily to be an “irresistible endeavor”; it’s well worth a read if you don’t remember it or you’re new here, and it lays out everything Ron ever stood for at the helm of this publication. His CDN one-year birthday column (Jan. 25, 2023) reinforced our promises and looked ahead, and quoted then-assignment editor Audra calling our news org a “beacon of light.” Soon after, Ron expressed his pride in our print paper (March 1, 2023) and explained the need for sustainability. Other column topics include the importance of a free press (Aug. 18, 2023), CDN’s pledge to accountability journalism (Sept. 8, 2023), impact we’ve made (Dec. 29, 2023), recommitting to our mission (July 4, 2024), being unapologetically pro-democracy (Nov. 7, 2024), growth in staff and maturity in coverage (Jan. 2, 2025), and finally, “doubling down” on the organization’s focus despite changes in the newsroom and company at the start of this year (Jan. 8, 2026). These columns, if nothing else, prove Ron’s commitment to and passion for local news.

A proper goodbye: Ron’s goodbye column in The Seattle Times (Sept. 5, 2021) when he left the 100-something-year-old institution for a 0-year-old one. Features young punk photos of him, including with a mullet, so worth a click. From it:

“A goodbye piece is the most self-indulgent thing in the history of journalism (a high bar, indeed — especially if one adds to the profession the antics of those shiny-lipped, structural-hair TV people), and to be honest, I never saw myself doing this until later this decade, when I planned to slip away quietly, like foam settling into the top of a good stout, straight into the welcoming arms of my Coleman lantern workshop and quiet retirement. But stuff happens.”

Rosanne Cash, “The List”: On vinyl at Uncle Ron’s place while he Juddsplains to me how the album was inspired by the list Johnny Cash gave his daughter of the 100 greatest songs. (Ron allegedly interviewed Johnny and June Carter in their motorhome once at the Kitsap County Fair in his early days at the Bremerton Sun, but I haven’t heard the “recording” he claims to have in the five years I’ve known him. Suspicious.)