Daily Digest: More shootings + fighting for birthright citizenship & how to speak Cascadian
Good morning! Here's your roundup of news, arts and culture from across the Cascadia bioregion. I'm trying to make a goal of 50 paid subscribers by the end of the month. Help me continue to write about this region we love, thanks!
Idaho sniper kills two firefighters
A gunman started a wildfire outside of Coeur d'Alene and then began to target firefighters who responded, fatally wounding two, OPB reports. Police later killed the man. Our region seems to be on edge with unstable armed men – Travis Decker, the man suspect of killing his three young daughters in central Washington, vanished in the Cascades west of Leavenworth. And a logging blockade on the Olympic peninsula was attacked by several people in a black Jeep. Thankfully, no one was injured.
Washington vows to fight for birthright citizenship
After the US Supreme Court handed a gift to the increasingly fascist Trump government in the form of curtailing the ability of federal courts to issue nationwide injunctions Washington state attorney general Nick Brown said the state would continue to argue that the US constitution guarantees that children born of undocumented residents be granted citizenship. And the South Seattle Emerald notes that the annual Duwamish River Festival in a largely Latino neighborhood has been cancelled due to aggressive detainments by ICE. An independent Cascadia should guarantee the right of citizenship to people born here, and encourage a rational immigration policy that welcomes refugees and workers from across the globe.
BC farmers lost millions
CBC reports that British Columbia farmers, facing a crisis that began during the pandemic, lost $457 million in 2024. Land prices, catastrophic floods, and climate change are all threatening the province's agriculture sector. In an article for Columbia Insight earlier this year, I wrote about how owners of small farms and orchards in Oregon and Washington are aging out of the business and selling off their lands to developers.
Oregon to lay off transportation workers
After Republicans blocked an ambitious $14 billion transportation funding bill, Oregon governor Tina Kotek says she'll have to start layoffs due to a bare-bones $2 billion bill that will have to do before the legislature finishes business this week. The Oregon legislature did move forward on a measure that would help low income people pay energy bills and another that offers $2,000 rebates to home owners who install electric heat pumps.
How to speak Canadian (and Cascadian)
The Tyee has a fun article about the unique features of Canadian English, whether it's the phrase "elbows up" or the use of "down island" and "up island" on Vancouver Island. Those of us "south of the line" could learn a lot about getting "dinged" in excessive fees or ways to avoid a "kerfuffle" over tariffs. I'm curious what if any words and phrases are unique to Cascadia. I've heard that the phrase "muckety-muck" comes form Chinook jargon, as does the Pacific Northwest tradition of a "tolo" dance (a version of a Sadie Hawkins-style high school dance). We definitely experienced "Juneuary" this past month (when summer doesn't quite arrive) and we do occasionally get "sun breaks," even in February. And no, you don't use a "clam gun" to catch "geoducks," but you might wear a "Northwest tuxedo" when you go clamming – or just about anywhere (since it's a fleece, jeans, and day hikers).
--Andrew Engelson
