Cascadia today: WA cops shared data with ICE + increasing consultation with tribes + folk opera about York

Good morning. Here's your roundup of news, environmental reporting, and arts coverage from across the Cascadia bioregion. A huge thank you to everyone who's signed up for paid memberships this month – I'm still six subscriptions short of my goal by the end of October, so if you appreciate this newsletter that documents how Cascadia is pushing back against authoritarianism and building a more resilient bioregion, please consider signing up for a $5 per month subscription. --Andrew

WA law enforcement agencies shared data with ICE

KUOW reports that at least eight local law enforcement agencies in Washington shared license plate surveillance data gathered by Flock cameras with federal immigration authorities. The agencies were all rural or suburban, with ICE mining data from Arlington, Auburn, Yakima, Lakewood, Richland, Sunnyside, Wenatchee, and Benton county police departments. It is illegal under the Keep Washington Working Act for local law enforcement agencies to assist the feds in immigration enforcement.

To find out where Flock cameras are located near you, check out DeFlock. Also, if you live in Seattle, please vote for Katie Wilson, who in a recent interview, stated that she opposes Bruce Harrell's plan to install more surveillance cameras across the city:

"I was opposed to the legislation that passed recently through the council with the mayor’s support to massively expand surveillance CCTV cameras throughout the city. I think we’re in a moment right now where it’s very, very dangerous to be creating new tools that the Trump administration could potentially use to obtain sensitive personal information, whether that’s danger to immigrants, danger to LGBTQ folks or danger to women seeking reproductive healthcare." --Katie Wilson

WA to increase consultation with tribes

Washington State Standard reports on Washington governor Bob Ferguson's welcome executive order that mandates the state increase communication and consultation with Indigenous nations on matters that impact tribes. The order sets Washington on a path toward meaningful consultation with tribes, as required in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (which was opposed by the US and Canada). In addition to requiring agencies supplement "best available science" with accepted Indigenous knowledge, the order states that:

All cabinet agencies must engage Tribal Nations early and often
during the development and implementation of any of the agency’s policies, programs, or actions that may impact Tribal Nations.

Trailblazers coach arrested for gambling scheme

OPB reports that Portland Trailblazers coach Chauncey Billups was among 30 people arrested in what the FBI says was a scheme to rig online poker games and illegal sports betting. But really, who knows if the charges are legit? Nothing the feds do now is to be trusted, now that the FBI has become a politicized tool to arrest Trump opponents and those who have attempted to hold the Emperor of America accountable. Another example: Idaho Capital Sun reports that FBI agents lied about whether 14-year-old suspects were put in zip ties during a raid in Wilder, Idaho. The feds later reversed themselves after media coverage pointed out the young people were in fact zip-tied.

Management asks leader of BC Conservatives to resign

The Tyee reports on the ongoing chaos with the BC Conservative party, with the top management committee of the party issuing a request that the embattled leader, John Rustad, resign. He responded by refusing to step down. Rustad is accused of creating fraudulent party memberships during a leadership vote this past summer. Meanwhile, the ruling centrist NDP is pushing forward on fast-tracking major infrastructure projects with limited environmental assessments and Indigenous consultation.

Telling the story of York, forgotten member of Lewis & Clark expedition

Oregon Arts Watch reports on a new folk opera that tells the story of York, an enslaved Black man who was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition across North America in 1805. Entitled York the Explorer, the piece is by Portland musician and children's educator Aaron Nigel Smith. The work incorporates banjo, guitar, and fiddle and takes as its starting point the mysterious arrival of bronze bust of York in a Portland's Mount Tabor Park in 2021. Tickets are still available for performances on Oct 24 and 25 at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.

Thanks for reading! --Andrew