📈 How much did our population grow?

UW Student Killed on Sunday Identified As Juniper Blessing

The King County Medical Examiner’s office has identified the UW student who was fatally stabbed on Sunday in the laundry room at Nordheim Court. Her name was Juniper Blessing. She was 19 years old. A 31-year-old man turned himself in for the crime to Bellevue police on Wednesday night after his photo was released. At a hearing held Thursday afternoon, a judge found probable cause for murder in the first degree with a deadly weapon enhancement. Bail was set at $10 million. [KUOW]

• 💔 'Juniper’s loss… diminishes the world': Blessing’s family released a statement saying “Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known – highly intelligent, extremely talented and deeply sensitive to the needs of others.” UW’s student newspaper, The Daily spoke with roommates of Juniper, who shared that their friend was a “sweetheart,” “thoughtful, and down to earth.” The residents also highlighted the lack of communication from the police and university. Students told The Daily that the lock on the laundry room was broken, and The Seattle Times reported Nordheim Court experienced multiple break-ins in the weeks prior to the murder. [The Daily]
• ❌ Turning Point USA event postponed: After news of the homicide was released, the national chapter of far-right political group Turning Point USA postponed a campus event featuring Chloe Cole, a woman who speaks out against gender-affirming care for minors. Turning Point USA was founded by Charlie Kirk, who called the acknowledgment of transgender identities “one of the most destructive social contagions in human history.” [Seattle Times]
• 🏫 Community Healing: Trans Collective at UW and Gender Justice League is hosting a community healing event on Saturday, May 16th at 4 pm in Sylvan Grove at UW. The family has requested that the media not be present, and organizers ask that all attendees refrain from filming or taking photographs. Here are the details.
• 🏳️‍🌈 Will Seattle declare a civil emergency? Yesterday on the podcast, host Jane C. Hu was joined by Madison Jones from Seattle Gay News to talk about her reporting that the city may soon declare a civil emergency for LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing other U.S. states to live in Seattle. This would give the city access to more funding to in turn give displaced queer and trans people more resources.

🏢 More tech layoffs: LinkedIn is laying off 5% of its staff, which will amount to hundreds of employees. It is unclear how many of those cuts will be from Seattle, though some employees have posted (on LinkedIn) that they have been affected. This news comes as KUOW reports that the number of tech layoffs in WA is second only to California this year. [Seattle Times]

📈 Population and inflation up: Seattle was the fifth fastest growing city in the U.S. from July 2024 to July 2025, adding 11,572 people. A potential hindrance to that growth: we are also outpacing the rest of the country in terms of inflation this year, which is currently nearing 5%.

🧑‍🍳 We talked to Kenji: In case you aren’t a listener to our podcast (which, come on, get with it!), our host Jane C. Hu spoke with chef, food scientist, and author Kenji López-Alt this week about Seattle dining, restaurant industry scandals, and what he eats for “girl dinner.” [City Cast Seattle]