Joel Connelly: Seattle Journalist's Legacy

0:00It's April 17th. Welcome in. This is Canada News Today, where local news meets AI. Veterans Seattle journalist Joel Connelly passed away Wednesday at age 78, surrounded by family after years of health issues. He lost his career with a summer job at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer back in the 1970s, building a five-decade run as a sharp. Political commentator and fierce defender of Pacific Northwest wilderness raised him belling him. He graduated from Notre Dame, hit grad school at the University of Washington, and let his Catholic faith and love for hikes fuel his work. Early scoops, like killing a logging scheme at Larby State Park, and exposing the Washington public power supply system meltdown that huge bond. To fall put his team in the running for a 1983 Pulitzer, tributes flooded in from Governor Bob Ferguson, who hailed him as Washington's top political analyst with a knack for history, plus Senators Patty, Murray and Maria Cantwell, who praised his gritty reporting, wit, and

1:02plushed to hold leaders accountable. Colleagues raved about his encyclopedic memory, endless sources, and clean editor-proof pros. Connelly powered through the Post-Intelligencer's 2009 print shutdown, shifting to online with a lean team, then retired from Seattle Pie. Dotcom in 2020, though he kept writing for spots like Post-Alley, battling old drills and mines, health woes from diabetes led him to assisted living, survived by three stepchildren after his partner, Mickey Palford. A public memorials brewing, but his voice for wild lands and straight talk echoes on in the northwest.