Electric Fishwrap has moved

On Tuesday, a man shot and stabbed his way through his neighborhood in the small town of Alger, about 15 minutes from my newspaper’s office. Six are dead, including a Skagit County deputy, and four are wounded. Countless others are deeply affected. Prosecutors accused Isaac Zamora of six counts of first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree assault. In court Friday, Zamora said “I kill for God. I listen to God” (article and audio here).

Skagit County has been swarming with state and national media since the attacks. Our paper, the Skagit Valley Herald, has been packed with stories since the day after the attacks.

Nothing like this has ever happened here. People are in shock. It is times like these when communities need their newspapers most. As gruesome as the details are, people want to know why this happened. People need to be able to process the tragedy.

Yesterday as I walked into a church that held an open prayer service, someone told me that they appreciated the newspaper and what we are doing. Before that, a barista at a coffee shop said the same thing when we were making small talk. People are also visiting our forums to talk about the tragedy and what the community has lost. This is why quality journalism will never die.

Information is part of the grieving process, too.

Since Tuesday, I’ve produced two videos (here and here), helped other reporters uncover hard-to-find sources, shot still photos, ran to court to get essential documents, made copies, written or contributed to three or four stories and helped other reporters produce audio and video. It’s been a wild and heartbreaking week.

Yesterday I wrote my first education story since Tuesday. It felt comfortable to write about something other than the killing spree that drew the nation’s eye to Skagit County.