Isaac Stone Simonelli

"The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know," Washington State Legislative declaration.

Because the people must trust government employees to follow public record laws, it is always troubling to discover any discrepancies.

That said, I appreciate that the County takes this huge responsibility so seriously as it faces an increase in the number and complexity of records requests.

Archiver glitch leads to unfulfilled public records requests at Whatcom County | Cascadia Daily News CDN request triggers internal review after receiving ‘zero’ responsive records

It is so important to never forget that the government works for us. We pay for the computers government employees use and the time they spend writing emails and creating all sorts of records -- records that belong to us.

#PublicRecords @cascadiadaily.com

www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/jan/28/...

John Wesselink, Bellingham's local tree expert, dies at 80 | Cascadia Daily News Retired mail deliverer mapped city's exceptional trees

A beautifully written news obituary by @j-tell.bsky.social. I never met Wesselink, but this piece has inspired me to plant a tree in his honor.

(It's hard to imagine how many beautiful stories of people's lives in communities across the U.S. are lost because of news deserts.)

shorturl.at/JecAL

Caption: Flood waters spread out across Deming as the Nooksack recedes on Dec. 10.

“I feel like we weren’t prepared for 2021 at all, and we worked really hard to be prepared, and we still weren’t prepared for this one,” Deming resident Alexandra Williams said of the community of about 600 people.

A swift water rescue was deployed to save one woman from her RV after floodwaters trapped, and dozens of homes and buildings were inundated overnight. Unbeknownst to the residents, the new county alert system they registered for was never operational, according to a @cascadiadaily.com investigation.

It did not.

While other communities in the county did receive alerts, Deming and much of unincorporated Whatcom County were left to make their own call on when to evacuate.

Deming residents expected flood evacuation alert from county — it never came | Cascadia Daily News Warning system they signed up for was never operational, according to CDN investigation

🧵 Deming residents signed up for a new county alert system in 2023 after the life-threatening flood in 2021 devastated the unincorporated community in Whatcom County.

So when flooding was predicted on Dec. 9, they assumed an evacuation alert would go out...

www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/jan/26/...

What's the Deal With: The collection of old farm equipment near Deming? | Cascadia Daily News Dennis Vander Yacht has collected pieces of his family history

For Dennis Vander Yacht, the old farm and logging equipment spread across his property near Deming tells the story of his family history.

Here are three steps you can take to start organizing your hospital to defend patients and staff against ICE. This is based on the experience of workers and rights groups in Minneapolis.

Share it with the healthcare workers in your life and read more at the piece linked down thread.

Agents detain and send 2-year-old girl and her father to Texas despite court order to release toddler Attorneys for the family say they were asylum-seekers who were pulled over without a warrant and did not have a final order for removal.

ICE grabbed a 2 year old child and her father as they were coming home from a grocery store.

There was a court order that the child was to be released… ICE put her on a plane to Texas instead.

Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis is only 2 and has already had her rights violated

F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in Shooting Resigns

Breaking NYT:

The FBI agent who sought to investigate the federal immigration officer who fatally shot Renee Good has resigned from the bureau, according to two people familiar with the matter, after leadership pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the officer.

For tribes in NW WA, flooding is a fact of life — but it’s getting worse | Cascadia Daily News Tribes in Whatcom, Skagit counties talk river management after December flooding

Tribes in Whatcom and Skagit counties are talking river management after December's destructive flooding.

Police records: Alleged D.C. shooter was assaulted, robbed in Bellingham last year | Cascadia Daily News Person who provided gun to Lakanwal believed it was for personal protection, says FBI

The man accused of shooting two National Guard members in November 2025 in Washington, D.C., was pepper-sprayed and robbed in downtown Bellingham months before purchasing the firearm used in the fatal attack, according to Bellingham Police Department records.

www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/jan/22/...

Weighing responsibilities: When reporter navigates floodwaters at home, work | Cascadia Daily News Facing failure to prioritize family during initial warnings

As reporters, we’re prepared to cover disasters. As local journalists, we know those tragedies will be within our community. But what I failed to consider was how to navigate a natural disaster that threatens both communities in our coverage area and my family.

www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/jan/11/...

They were approved for FEMA money to flood-proof their homes. They flooded anyway | Cascadia Daily News Sixteen Whatcom County homes are waiting for home-elevation funds to be released

A stellar piece by @annietodd.bsky.social detailing how FEMA grant holdups allowed for houses flooded in 2021 to be inundated with water again this December.

The glacial pace of government has real-world impacts on individuals and communities.

www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/jan/17/...

National Guard shooting suspect ‘fell through the cracks’ in Bellingham | Cascadia Daily News Patchwork of mental health resources available for Afghan refugees who fought for U.S.

We very rarely have to compete with national outlets on coverage but @simonelli.bsky.social proves here that CDN is absolutely up to the task.

Last year when I wrote about prison staff jumping ship for ICE, I reported that BOP had lost a net of at least 1400 employees by late fall.

I just got new data showing they lost a net of ~1700 by mid-December -- though w/EOY retirements the final 2025 figures will likely be higher.

BIG FIGHT AT POLAND’S WROCLAW ZOO!!!

Lakanwal now faces numerous charges, including first-degree murder for the death of 20-year-old Guard member Sarah Beckstrom. The ambush-style killing has been widely condemned across the nation, including by immigrant advocates, the Afghan community and elected officials.

“When an Afghan is helping us fight that war on terror, they’re doing it with the same mindset and moral compass as the U.S., as Western society,” said IAVA Director of Policy and Advocacy Jess Finucan. “There is definitely room for improvement for mental health resources for our Afghan nationals.”

They are not considered veterans despite many of them serving alongside the U.S. for more than a decade. They are not venerated within the U.S. despite their sacrifices. Yet, they face compounding stressors of navigating a new country with trauma from their military service.

Lakanwal, who had served eight years in a CIA-backed paramilitary force, evacuated Afghanistan with his immediate family in 2021.

Yet, a limited patchwork of mental health resources is available to Afghan refugees in the U.S., such as Lakanwal, who fought and killed for American interests.

National Guard shooting suspect ‘fell through the cracks’ in Bellingham | Cascadia Daily News Patchwork of mental health resources available for Afghan refugees who fought for U.S.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal's mental well-being had been spiraling downward for more than two years before the Bellingham father of five opened fire on two National Guard members on Nov. 26 in Washington, D.C., killing one of them. @cascadiadaily.com #Lakanwal

www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/jan/08/...

DHS Is Lying To You About ICE Shooting a Woman At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.

www.404media.co/dhs-is-lying...

Large debris, root balls and logs moving quickly down under the last bridges before the North Fork joins the Nooksack. Video from @simonelli.bsky.social.

Live updates are outside our paywall. Click the link above to read more.

Follow the FREE COVERAGE, as we work to keep our community informed and safe.

Is an old law helping PeaceHealth maintain its local monopoly? | Cascadia Daily News Through a state regulation, no opposition to the hospital’s expansion emerged

Fantastic work by @owenracer.bsky.social for @cascadiadaily.com breaking down @peacehealth.bsky.social monopoly in Whatcom County.

www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/nov/13/...

This was only possible because of the orange cup coral samples taken by the R/V Albatross, whose nets and dredges caught all manner of sea life, from tiny cold water corals to enormous halibut and salmon, as the research vessel surveyed the fisheries of Alaska and the West Coast in the late 1800s.