Daily Digest: ICE tactical units headed to Cascadia, SPD chief thinks Trump might jail him & George Takei's artistic creation debuts in Portland
Good morning, Cascadia! In this moment of crisis, it's important to have accurate, on-the-ground coverage of what's happening in Pacific Northwest and information on how our bioregion is responding to what has clearly becoming an authoritarian US government. Can you help support my work? I'm still thirteen paid subscribers short of my goal for the month. And if you appreciate this newsletter please forward it on to a friend and tell them to sign up.
Newsom slams Trump, ICE is sending tactical units to Seattle
In a televised address yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom forcefully resisted Trump's activation of his state's National Guard and 700 marines to bolster abduction of undocumented workers by ICE and put down protests against those raids. "What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him," Newsom said. In Seattle, interim police chief Shon Barnes said at a press conference that he expects to be jailed by the feds if he protects the first amendment rights of protesters. And NBC reports that ICE is preparing to send Special Response Teams (SRTs) like the ones deployed in Los Angeles to large cities with Democratic mayors, including Seattle.
In related news, Washington governor Bob Ferguson and his attorney general have been planning for months how to react if Trump attempts to mobilize the state's National Guard in response to protests, Washington State Standard reports.
“If the facts arose here that were the same as California, it would be illegal,” --Washington attorney general Nick Brown.
Meanwhile, small protests and blockades occurred at an ICE facility in Portland and outside the federal building in Seattle, where ICE agents have been abducting undocumented workers at immigration courts. WA attorney general Nick Brown is also looking at legal options to fight Trump's air travel ban from 12 countries.
Wildfires in north BC continue to rage
Wildfires in far northern British Columbia continue to burn uncontrolled, with CBC reporting that the Kiskatinaw River fire is now at 216 square kilometers, and sending smoke east across much of North America. A human-caused fire in central Washington burned 55 acres, KING-5 reports, and Oregon is seeing a higher wildfire risk this week with thunderstorms and wind in the forecast.
Vancouver social housing drops rent to $775
The Narwhal has a great report on how non-profit social housing programs in Vancouver are creating affordable, energy-sustainable and climate-resilient housing in British Columbia's most populous city. It's a great way to tackle decarbonization of housing, which I've previously reported for Investigate West that it will cost Cascadia billions. Seattle recently approved and agreed to fund its own social housing program. In related news, the city of Seattle announced in an email it has curtailed its cumbersome design review process, which limited the construction of new apartments.
"Proposed reforms are expected to reduce the number of projects subject to Design Review by up to 40% in an average year," the email said, noting the change will reduce permitting times from two years to one year on average.
The city was responding to a new state law banning the practice, and a few years ago I wrote for PubliCola about how the program had significantly slowed the construction of new multifamily housing.
BC to create more overdose prevention sites
The Tyee reports that British Columbia's health service is authorizing the creation of new sanctioned overdose prevention sites – where people can take unregulated drugs under the supervision of medical professionals – at nine hospitals across the province. Fatal overdoses from fentanyl and other drugs have seen a recent decline in Cascadia, with BC seeing a 30 percent drop and Washington observing an 11 percent decline in overdose deaths. Part of the drop may be attributable to distribution of nalaxone, which reverses overdose, and increased access to Buprenorphine, a medicine for treating opioid use disorder.
George Takei's artistic collaboration debuts in Portland
Oregon Arts Watch profiles what sounded like a wonderful artistic collaboration between former Star Trek actor George Takei, Oregon composer Kenji Bunch, Chamber Music Northwest and the Portland Japansese Garden. The project: Lost Freedom, chronicles the devastating impact of the Japanese American internment in the western US during World War II. Included in the program was Bunch's moving 2016 piece "Minidoka" a tribute to Japanese Americans deported to camps in Idaho:
--Andrew Engelson
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