Cascadia today: Deadly BC school shooting + Seattle agrees to settlement in pedestrian death + Seattle symphony's Xian Zhang
Nine dead in BC school shooting
CBC reports that nine people are dead and 25 injured in a mass shooting at a school in Tumbler Ridge, a small town in northeast British Columbia. The suspect in the killing is also dead, the Guardian reports. Though Canada passed gun controls in response to a deadly shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, some of those restrictions and a gun-buyback program have been controversial, the New York Times reports.
Seattle reaches settlement with family of woman struck by police officer
I wrote yesterday for PubliCola about a $29 million settlement that city of Seattle reached with the family of Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old college student who was struck and killed in a crosswalk in 2023 by a Seattle police officer driving 74 mph. The settlement, according to a source familiar with the agreement, was $23 million plus $11,000 – a direct reference to callous comments caught on body cam by another officer investigating the collision, who joked about her death, telling Mike Solan, the president of the police union, "Just write a check. $11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.”
The settlement is a final chapter in an ongoing series of investigative articles that I and Erica Barnett wrote for PubliCola, revealing systemic problems within SPD that led to the deadly collision. I found that SPD knew the officer who killed Kandula, Kevin Dave, had a checkered history at the Tucson police department and was fired for various offenses, including a "preventable collision," but SPD hired him anyway. I also found that Dave did not have a valid Washington drivers license at the time of the crash on. In addition, data I acquired from SPD showed that officers often drove at dangerous, high speeds even when not on emergency calls. SPD eventually fired Dave and Daniel Auderer, the officer who made the callous comments, and in 2024 SPD updated its emergency driving policy, which now requires officers to “drive no faster than their skill and training allows and [what] is reasonably necessary to safely arrive at the scene.”
OR struggles to balance transportation budget
In a short session this year, the Oregon legislature is struggling to fix a $246 million "budget pothole" in the state transportation budget, and may raid pedestrian and bicycle safety projects to close the gap, OPB reports. Meanwhile, the Seattle suburb of Issaquah is making the case that plans to extend light rail to the city remain on track for a 2044 opening even though Sound Transit is confronting a $34 billion budget shortfall, the Urbanist reports.
Seattle-area organizer missing in ICE detention
The Burner reports that south King County community organizer Frank Gabriel Yzaze Yegres has been kidnapped by immigration agents and is at an unknown location in ICE custody. The mutual aid organization Super Familia KC has launched a letter writing campaign to draw attention to Frank's case – join the effort here:
Seattle symphony director Xian Zhang making waves
The Stranger profiles Seattle Symphony's new musical director, Xian Zhang, who is shaking things up in the classical music world, where most conductors white and male. Read the full piece, it's great, lovely profile of how Zhang is quickly taking things in a new direction, including the debut of a piece, Iris Unveiled, by Chinese-born French composer Qigang Chen – just in time for the lunar new year. Tickets are still available for the premiere, with concerts on February 12, 14, & 15.
Thanks for reading! To Seattle's Seahawks fans, enjoy the parade today! 💙🤍💚 --Andrew
