Daily Digest: Bob signs budget with few cuts, nurses leave US for BC, and weekend poetry
WA governor signs budget with $9 billion in new taxes
Yesterday, according to Washington State Standard, Washington governor Bob Ferguson signed a $78 billion, two-year state budget that includes $9 billion in new revenue, mostly in higher business taxes and a 6 cent increase in the gas tax. Ferguson line-item vetoed about $25 million in programs, a much smaller series of cuts than Republicans in the legislature were hoping for. This session, the WA legislature also approved paying unemployment benefits to striking workers and a requirement that new gun owners get a permit before purchasing a firearm. Meanwhile, the Oregon House passed a bill that would prevent landlords from discriminating against renters based on their immigration status.
Portland passes record school bond
In local school elections across Oregon yesterday, voters weighed in on variety of school board and bond measures, including passage in Portland of a $1.8 billion school construction bond, the largest in state history. In other news affecting kids across Cascadia, the South Seattle Emerald reports that United Way programs that include meals for children and food banks, will be severely impacted by federal cuts. And The Tyee reports on how the Trump administration has set up a "snitch line" for children who seek gender-affirming care north of the border.
Nurses abandon Texas for British Columbia
CBC reports on a growing trend: US nurses leaving a country descending into fascism and threatening to slash funding for health care and demonizing LGBTQ folks to go live in British Columbia. The story documents two nurses who are partners and who are considering relocating to Nanaimo. BC recently made it easier for US nurses to relocate to the province. Maybe we should make things simpler and just get the authoritarian US government out of Cascadia instead.
How the Klamath dams came down
For your weekend reading, Grist has an amazing, detailed feature about how the four dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and northern California were removed – the largest river restoration project in the United States. It's the story of tireless Indigenous activists, skilled negotiators, and decades of diligent work.
Poems by Miriam Åkervall & Jory Mickelson
Take a moment to read some verse by Cascadia-based poets. Pacifica Literary Review has a poem, "Birthday" by poet and translator Miriam Åkervall, who lives in Moscow, Idaho. Also at Pacifica, read "[i’ve always loved to dance]" by Jory Mickelson, a queer writer living in Bellingham, on the lands of the Lummi and Nooksack people: "who doesn’t/want to rehearse the body/until it becomes/an easy glamour"
--Andrew Engelson
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