🌱 Weed sales are dropping

What Can Seattle Learn From the Spokane 3 Trial?

Today on the podcast, host Jane C. Hu speaks with Erin Sellers, a staff reporter at RANGE Media, and Schuyler Mitchell, assistant editor at Mother Jones, about the federal conspiracy charges brought against three protestors in Spokane and the free speech and data privacy implications of this case on a statewide and national level. [City Cast Seattle/Range Media]

• June 11, 2025: Protesters attempted to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from taking two detained young men, Cesar Alvarez Perez and Joswar Rodriguez Torres, to the Tacoma ICE facility to be deported. The two men were in the US legally, and a district court later ruled that Torres had been wrongfully detained.
• June 12, 2025: The day after the first demonstration, the Justice Department sent a memo to federal prosecutors across the country directing them to prioritize and publicize prosecutions of anti-ICE protesters. The day the memo went out, the FBI “requested that any cellular devices [in the department’s] custody would be processed by the FBI.” The next day, the Spokane police turned them over.
• July 15, 2025: Some protestors were charged with federal conspiracy to impede or injure a U.S. officer. No officers were injured by protestors.
• May 28, 2026: A little over a year later, nine protesters were indicted in federal court. Six took plea deals, and three faced a two-week trial, where they were found guilty of conspiracy charges. The defendants are expected to appeal.
• Podcast: Sellers takes us through this story from the protests last summer to the nine indictments and the three protestors who ultimately were convicted of federal conspiracy charges in May. Then Mitchell explains how the FBI in Seattle secretly extracted data from the phones of at least a dozen of the protesters and what this means for data privacy going forward.

🌱 Weed sales drop in WA: Marijuana sales in Washington state have dropped to $1.1 billion, down from their “high” (get it?) of $1.4 billion in 2021. This means growers are struggling to get rid of their inventory, and since cannabis degrades over time, the clock is ticking. KUOW gets into the reasons for the drop on Soundside. [KUOW]

🚗 We’re driving less: According to the non-profit Frontier Group, the miles driven by an average Washingtonian has dropped significantly over the past 30 years — the most of any U.S. state. In 1994, the average Washingtonian drove around 9,000 miles per year; in 2024, it was around 7,600 miles a year. Why? State policies that encourage shared commuting, bus and light rail service, and working from home. [Frontier Group]

⚽ Will Seattle host the Women's World Cup? Despite mixed outcomes for local businesses, Seattle’s recent hosting of six World Cup games has been seen as a massive success, and now local officials are already planning to apply to host the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup. A hosting country has yet to be announced, but Seattle wants to continue its growing reputation as a sports town. [KING5]