Puget Sound Business Journal hires new tech reporter

Casey Coombs is the new tech and biotech reporter at the Puget Sound Business Journal, an American City Business Journals publication.

Coombs writes, “As the Puget Sound Business Journal’s new tech and biotech reporter, I’ll be covering all such companies on the west side of Lake Washington, including Amazon, Zillow, Tableau and Juno Therapeutics.

“My journalism background is sort of unique for the tech beat. From 2012 to 2015, I was a freelancer based in Yemen, where I covered the historic political opening that emerged from Arab Spring-inspired uprisings. For almost three and a half years, I traveled all over the country in relative safety reporting on conflict, development and humanitarian issues.

“It was only the last few months of my stay that the situation spun out of control. Following a military coup d’etat and the onset of civil war, I was disappeared in May 2015 by a group that had taken over the country. Fortunately, I was released after two weeks, but not unscathed.

“I arrived to Seattle last summer by way of Oman in a medevac ambulance plane and devoted my first year entirely to recovering from spinal fractures suffered during my imprisonment. I’m very relieved to say that my recovery has gone far beyond my expectations.”

Read more here.