Daily digest: WA gov to cover Planned Parenthood cuts + time to rename Washington

Andrew Engelson

Andrew Engelson

— 3 min read
At the top of a hill, a person hold a proposal for a new Washington state flag, with light blue sky and white star-like sun, five triangles representing mountains
Some people have suggested changing the flag of Washington State, as well as the state's name. Photo from a Kickstarter campaign to redesign the state flag.

WA governor will cover lost Planned Parenthood funding

According to the Washington State Standard, Washington governor Bob Ferguson pledged to backfill $11 million in Medicaid funding cuts approved recently by Congress to health services provided by Planned Parentood in the state. The state is suing to recover the funds – none of which covers abortion (Planned Parenthood provides many other low-cost health services). Oregon Capital Chronicle notes that Oregon faces the prospect of 200,000 people losing health care coverage because of Medicaid cuts. Cascadia is going to need to become more resilient soon – and an op-ed at the Urbanist argues that Washington needs to increase taxes on the wealthy if it's going to keep its residents safe and healthy.

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Vancouver goes bold on more housing

CBC reports that the Vancouver city council approved a plan this week that would encourage high residential towers in the Rupert and Renfrew neighborhoods of east Vancouver, that would boost housing units from about 10,000 now to more than 24,000 by 2050. The Vancouver city council is also nearing a vote on a plan to rezone much of the city to boost social housing towers for affordable mid-range housing. Meanwhile, Bothell, a suburb north of Seattle, approved a measure that bans parking requirements for new apartments, the Urbanist reports. And at Oregon Captial Chronicle, an op-ed makes the dubious claim that it isn't supply of housing but the cost of housing that's in crisis in Oregon, and the Tyee has a piece about how a recent luxury housing development near Vancouver's Commercial-Broadway station reduced the required inclusion of affordable units.

One-word text leads to mountain rescue

The Seattle Times reports that a mountain biker who sustained life-threatening injuries in the Cascades east of Seattle was rescued via helicopter after managing to text HELP to 911 and communicate through broken cell phone service. Axios notes that search and rescue calls are surging in the Cascades near Seattle. Before you head out on a hike, do your research! Washington Trails Association has detailed info including hike descriptions and current conditions.

Oregon to lose solar projects thanks to Trump

OPB reports that 4 gigawatts of new solar energy projects in Oregon are at risk thanks to massive cuts to renewable energy in the recently passed Big Ugly Bill. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management is putting up for lease land in eastern Oregon that could be used for geothermal energy, Columbia Insight reports.

Kids want to rename Washington, create new flag

Real Change has a great little feature about a nine-year-old kid in the Seattle area who's leading a campaign that would redesign Washington state's flag and also consider a new name for the state. They were inspired after reading about George Washington and the fact he owned slaves and never visited our region, the article says.

“I’m stolen Native American, and me and my mom live here knowing that George Washington hurt a lot of Native people,” Maxwell said

I've written here in Cascadia Journal about what it would take to change the name of Washington state (and Mount Rainier) to Tahoma, as well as returning the Columbia River to an original name, such as Nchi Wana.

-- Andrew Engelson

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