Daily Digest: No Kings marches across Cascadia, wildfires smolder & a conversation with BC artist Carol Itter

Thousands turn out for No Kings marches across Cascadia

In a defiant message to Donald Trump on the occasion of his sparsely-attended Soviet-style military parade, More than 100,000 people turned our for No Kings protests across Cascadia. The Seattle Times reported that more than 70,000 marched from Cal Anderson Park to Seattle center, one of the largest demonstrations in the city's history. 50,000 filled Portland's Tom McCall Park, and in the leftist bastion known as Idaho, thousands filled the streets of Boise calling for an end to ICE raids and Trump's unconstitutional actions.

Violent police over-reaction to protests of ICE

In South Portland over the weekend, protests at an ICE facility drew a response of tear gas from police as Portland mayor Keith Wilson told the feds he needed no assistance in over-reacting. Meanwhile, in Tukwila, south of Seattle, a cryptic email to immigrants from Homeland Security led to confrontation between an ICE tactical team and protesters who erected barricades at the facility. Tukwila police apparently aided in the crackdown, firing off tear gas and pepper balls. And according to RANGE media, queer BIPOC protest leader Justice Forral was arrested during a Pride event in Spokane. A city council member, shown the video of the apprehension, said "This feels like a political arrest.”

As dry conditions persist, Cascadia braces for wildfires

The Seattle Times reports that extremely dry conditions persist across Cascadia, prompting the National Weather Service to issue red flag warnings as fires burned in central Washington and the Columbia Gorge. In related news, the Oregon legislature is considering using 60 percent of the "kicker" surplus of the state budget to fund wildfire fighting, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. At the Tyee, an anonymous health care provider at a hospital in British Columbia's lower mainland tells the harrowing story of dealing with a flood of heatstroke cases during the 2021 heat dome in the province: "It was awful. I think that was probably the most CPR I’ve ever heard being done."

Grizzly wanders Texada while a porcupine hitch-hikes

A grizzly who swam to Texada Island on British Columbia's Sunshine coast is making residents wary, CBC reports, but officials say relocation won't be happening. Meanwhile "Mackenzie," a porcupine stowaway in a crashed plane that was transported nearly 900 kilometers from her original habitat is back home, CBC reports.

A conversation with longtime BC artist Carol Itter

Capilano Review has a rambling, lovely conversation with longtime British Columbia installation artist Carol Itter that roams from talk of dolmades and wild poppies to an installation Itter once wove out of discarded tarpaulins and place on a Salish Sea beach: "I was bringing them to life again, but kind of a useless life."

-Andrew Engelson