Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Ferguson Seconds Phillips’ Call to Audit Sheriff’s Dept.

King County Council president Bob Ferguson says he supports the concept of doing an audit on the King County Sheriff’s Department, as his council colleague Larry Phillips proposed earlier this week.

“I want to see the details, obviously, but I’m open to the concept of it,” Ferguson says. “It worked extremely successfully at Metro Transit,” where a 2009 audit found potential savings of $16 to $23 million a year.


  • co-pays are a good thing

    How does Ferguson feel about the Cadillac health plan?

  • seadog

    Ferguson doesn't have an original thought in his head. He jumps on the train if he thinks its going somewhere but he never leads. He didn't do ask any questions about the Brightwater tunnel problems even though they were in his district. He closed down Animal Control without a plan, closed the Bothell King County health clinic (in his district), Hague & Ferguson were the only councilmembers to say nothing about the NEC jail sites in their districts, and now he wants to be AG and question court costs in King County.

  • Seattle Taxpayer

    Yes, I'm very curious if all those public safety contracts with suburban cities actually pay for themselves.

    Do the revenues received cover the fully-allocated costs to the County of providing Sheriff's Department services to those cities?

    Let's see the audit report that covers this matter.