Washington
Read the memos The Washington Post sent staff offering voluntary buyouts as the Jeff Bezos-owned paper restructures
The Washington Post is offering buyouts to select teams as part of an ongoing restructuring.
“Like the rest of our industry, we are adapting to changing habits and new technologies,” executive editor Matt Murray wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday. “To reach new audiences we must increase our staffing flexibility and expand in areas such as audience data and social video.”
The voluntary buyouts will be offered to news employees with a tenure of at least 10 years at the Post, as well as all members of the video department, copy desks, and opinion section.
The time period to accept the buyouts will last roughly two months, ending in July. The announcement comes as Post employees are set to return to the office next week.
In his memo, Murray outlined changes to its video and copy teams.
On the video front, the company will place greater emphasis on “repeatable franchises” and “personality-driven formats for YouTube,” while also embedding producers within the newsroom.
The Post will also restructure its copy teams to combine all editing operations into one desk.
In a separate memo, deputy opinion editor Mary Duenwald wrote that the opinion section is still looking for a new top editor and will soon “carry out in earnest” a plan announced in February to focus on personal liberties and free markets.
“Ideally, our new editor will be known before the time is up” to decide on taking a buyout, Duenwald wrote. She said the offer was “meant to give people security to make a clear-eyed decision on whether they want to be part of the new direction for Post Opinion.”
The Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper sparked a backlash last year after opting not to endorse a candidate in the Presidential election for the first time in 40 years.
In January, more than 400 staffers urged Bezos to meet with company leaders, saying that integrity and transparency issues had sparked high-level departures.
In February, Bezos overhauled the opinion section and announced editor David Shipley would be stepping down. In March, Murray detailed further organizational changes, including new leadership roles and reorganized teams.
A Post spokesperson said the company has been going through a serious and significant transformation in recent months, and called the voluntary buyouts an inflection point for employees to ask themselves if they want to stay or go.
“The Washington Post is continuing its transformation to meet the needs of the industry, build a more sustainable future and reach audiences where they are,” a spokesperson for the Post told BI in a statement.
Here’s Murray’s memo:
Dear All, Today, we are announcing that The Washington Post is offering a Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) to news employees with 10 or more years’ service at The Post, as well as to all members of the video department and to all members of the copy desk and sports copy desk. The program is part of our ongoing newsroom transformation efforts aimed at reshaping and modernizing the newsroom for the current environment. Like the rest of our industry, we are adapting to changing habits and new technologies that are transforming news experiences. Even as we have begun creating new departments and welcoming new colleagues, to reach new audiences we must increase our staffing flexibility and expand in areas such as audience data and social video. Our efforts are beginning to bear fruit. We are producing a more diverse news report with a great deal of superb and impactful journalism. I am confident we have exciting opportunities ahead of us. I also recognize, as I said at the all-staff meeting in March, that reimagining the newsroom, rethinking all we do and how we do it, is disruptive and even uncomfortable. The VSP presents an opportunity to colleagues who may want to pursue alternatives. In that light the VSP is being offered to the entirety of the video team and to the copy desks. In the former case, we are restructuring and refocusing our video team to place much greater emphasis on developing repeatable franchises and more personality-driven formats for YouTube, other social media channels and off-platform more broadly, while embedding some video producers and facilitators in the core newsroom to help all our journalists and artists produce more video for our products. On the editing front, we aim in the coming months to combine operations to one desk that will be part of the central news hub and ultimately will serve our digital products full time. The new print desk will also have a handful of crucial editing roles. These changes will enhance the speed and quality of our digital products and free most of us from constraints imposed by print requirements—while preserving the editing standards that undergird our focus on accuracy, clarity and credibility. I want to underscore that the VSP is voluntary, and that we are fortunate we can offer enhanced packages for those who choose them. Today’s announcement kicks off an approximately two-month process that should culminate around the end of July. Eligible employees will receive a note with more details of the VSP later this morning from Wayne Connell. We will meet with the video team and editing desks later today and hold an information session for all others who are eligible. We also will schedule training and information sessions for managers in coming days. In coming weeks, we will name a print editor and welcome Jason Anders, the new ME for the news hub, and with them share more detailed plans on the new editing desks. And I expect to hold another all-staff in June to update everyone on our progress. In the meantime, please feel free to bring your questions to Wayne and Liz Seymour. With the VSP, we will no doubt see valued colleagues and friends decide to leave The Post. But as stewards of this great institution, we all must remain relentlessly focused on bringing engaging and relevant journalism to growing numbers of readers in the formats and ways they want it in 2025. That is an urgent and important task for us given the pace of technological change, the industry’s evolving landscape and the ever-present need to produce and promote strong, rigorous and independent journalism. Matt
Here’s Mary Duenwald’s memo:
Dear Dept of Opinions, It’s been a few months since we learned about changes ahead for Post Opinion. We’re closer to the time when the section will begin to carry out in earnest the plan laid out in February to devote attention to personal liberties and free markets. So it’s important to begin to transition to this time of reimagining Post Opinion. Today, the company is announcing a voluntary separation program for Opinion. All eligible employees in our section will receive an email from Wayne Connell shortly laying out the details (contractors and freelancers will not). Please know that all of us will have time to make up our minds about whether to accept this offer. The decision period will run until the end of July. Ideally, our new editor will be known before the time is up. This voluntary offer is meant to give people security to make a clear-eyed decision on whether they want to be part of the new direction for Post Opinion. I’m happy to discuss this, of course. At 11:30 today, Wayne Connell will meet with us to answer questions. Mike, Mili, Chiqui, Alyssa, Trey and Bina are read in on this, and all are also willing to listen. Mary
Washington
19-Year-Old Transgender University of Washington Student Fatally Stabbed
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This story contains descriptions of fatal violence against a transgender person.
The Seattle Police Department are searching for a suspect after a 19-year-old University of Washington student was stabbed to death in an off-campus student apartment complex on May 10.
Seattle Police Department Detective Eric Muñoz told NBC News that the victim is “believed to be a 19-year-old transgender female” who was enrolled at the university. The victim has not yet been publicly identified by name. She was found in the housing complex laundry room shortly after 10 p.m. on Sunday night.
The housing complex, Nordheim Court, is privately managed but affiliated with the university, located near an upscale shopping center in Seattle’s U-Village neighborhood. According to NBC News, residents received an official alert from UW to stay inside their homes and lock all windows and doors — an alert that was lifted around 1 a.m. with the acknowledgment that “a death investigation remains ongoing.”
According to SPD detective Eric Muñoz, police and the fire department attempted lifesaving measures but ultimately “pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.”
“Officers are actively searching for the suspect, believed to be a black male with a beard, 5’6-8” tall, wearing a vest with button up shirt, and blue jeans,” Muñoz wrote in a blotter report.
Muñoz noted that the victim would be identified by the medical examiner’s office in “the coming days.” The SPD did not immediately respond to Them’s request for comment.
This is the seventh known trans person to be violently killed in 2026. In mid-April, 39-year-old transmasculine farmer Luca RedBeard was fatally shot in rural New Mexico. Last week, police in Marion County, Florida opened a homicide investigation into the shooting death of a 29-year-old who went by multiple names and referred to “transitioning” on social media. In Kentucky, an investigation into the disappearance of 22-year-old trans college student Murry Foust remains ongoing.
Police are asking anyone with information about the University of Washington case to call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000, emphasizing that anonymous tips are accepted.
This is a developing story.
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Washington
How the Sea Mar Museum Is Preserving Latino History in Washington
On a quiet stretch of Des Moines Memorial Drive in South Seattle, the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture rises like a long‑overdue acknowledgment. Its brick exterior doesn’t shout; it invites. Inside, the rooms hum with the stories of families who crossed borders, harvested fields, organized classrooms, and built communities across Washington state—often without seeing their histories reflected anywhere on a museum wall.
For Rogelio Riojas, founder and CEO of Sea Mar Community Health Centers, the museum is a promise kept. “We wanted to make sure the contributions of Latinos in Washington state are recognized and preserved for future generations,” he told The Seattle Times when the museum opened in 2019. It was a simple statement, but one that captured decades of work—both visible and invisible—by the region’s Latino communities.
Walking through the galleries feels like stepping into a living archive. One of the most arresting sights is a pair of original farmworker cabins, transported from Eastern Washington. Their narrow wooden frames and sparse interiors speak volumes about the migrant families who once slept inside after long days in the fields. The cabins are not replicas or artistic interpretations; they are the real thing, weathered by sun, dust, and time. They anchor the museum’s narrative in the physical realities of labor that shaped the state’s agricultural economy.
Sea Mar describes the museum as “dedicated to sharing the history, struggles, and successes of the Latino community in Washington state,” a mission that plays out in photographs, letters, student newspapers, and oral histories contributed by community members themselves. These aren’t artifacts chosen from afar—they’re family treasures, personal archives, and memories entrusted to the museum so they can live beyond the kitchen tables and shoeboxes where they were once kept.
The story extends beyond the museum walls. Just steps away is the Sea Mar Community Center, a sweeping, light‑filled gathering space designed for celebrations, performances, workshops, and community events. With room for nearly 500 people, a full stage, a movie‑theater‑sized screen, and a catering kitchen, the center was built with one purpose: to give the community a place to see itself, gather, and grow. Sea Mar describes it as “a welcoming space for families, organizations, and community groups to gather, celebrate, and learn,” and on any given weekend, it lives up to that promise.
Together, the museum and community center form a cultural campus—part historical archive, part living room for the region’s Latino communities. Students come to learn about the Chicano activists who reshaped the University of Washington in the late 1960s. Families come to see their own histories reflected in the exhibits. Visitors come to understand a story that has long been present in Washington, even if it wasn’t always visible.
The Sea Mar Museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., offering free admission to anyone who walks through its doors. For many, it’s more than a museum—it’s a recognition, a gathering place, and a testament to the people who helped shape the Pacific Northwest.
Preserving Latino History and Community Life in Washington was first published on Washington Latino News (WALN) and republished with permission.
Washington
Mother’s Day Bunch at Lady Madison | Washington DC
Celebrate Mothers Day with à la carte brunch at Lady Madison featuring seafood, entrées, desserts, and premium beverage options.
Celebrate Mothers Day in sophisticated style at Lady Madison, located inside Le Méridien Washington, DC, The Madison. Join us on Sunday, May 10, 2026, from 12:003:00 PM for an elevated à la carte brunch experience in downtown Washington, DC.
Enjoy a refined selection of chef-driven brunch classics, fresh seafood, seasonal salads, and elegant entrées. Highlights include a Build Your Own Omelette, Crab Benedict with lime hollandaise, Chilled Seafood Trio, and signature mains such as Roasted Rack of Lamb, Cedar Plank Sea Bass, and Marinated New York Strip Loin.
End on a sweet note with classic desserts including Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, Fruit Tart, Strawberry Shortcake, and Passion Fruit Cake.
Enhance your experience with beverage offerings, including bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys for $30 with house selections. Piper-Heidsieck Champagne is also available by the glass for $16 or by the bottle for $49.
Reserve on OpenTable:
https://www.opentable.com/booking/experiences-availability?rid=1426987&restref=1426987&experienceId=695240&utm_source=external&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=shared
À La Carte Menu
Les ufs & Brunch
Egg White Frittata $24
spinach, tomato, mushrooms, green onion
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Build Your Own Omelette $24
ham, smoked salmon, vegetables, cheeses (choose up to 3)
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Crab Benedict $24
lime hollandaise, salsa cruda
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Brioche French Toast $17
berry compote, whipped butter, maple syrup
Les Froids & Salades
Chilled Seafood Trio $28
Jonah crab claws, shrimp, cocktail sauce
Spring Berry Salad $17
brie, berries, champagne vinaigrette
Golden & Crimson Beet Salad $18
red wine vinaigrette
Add protein: shrimp, salmon, skirt steak +18 | chicken +16
Les Plats Principaux
Roasted Rack of Lamb $42
mint sauce, huckleberry reduction, sweet potato purée, asparagus
Cedar Plank Sea Bass $49
saffron rice, spring vegetables
New York Strip Loin $42
mushroom sauce, truffle croquette potatoes, haricots verts
Les Desserts $14
Crème Brûlée Cheesecake
Fruit Tart
Strawberry Shortcake
Passion Fruit Cake
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