Daily Digest: Wildfire season gets started, more anti-LGBTQ protests and tall towers for Vancouver
Good morning! Here's your daily wrap-up of news, environmental reporting, and arts coverage from across Cascadia. I'm still 18 members shy of my goal of 50 paid subscribers by the end of the month. If you appreciate this newsletter, please consider chipping in $5 a month to keep it going, thanks!
Wildfire burns in central Oregon
In one of the first wildfires of the season, a 1,800-acre fire, is burning near Claro in central Oregon, OPB reports. It's likely going to be an intense fire season, and Cascadia will likely need to better fund wildfire fighting and prevention now that federal funds are drying up. One encouraging development: OPB reports on a prescribed burn association near Ashland, Oregon that's working to set controlled "good" fires in coordination with certified burn managers to help reduce the risk of catastrophic fires. And as the wildfire season has already started in British Columbia, the Narwhal reports that the BC Wildfire Service is working to dispel misinformation on social media about wildfires.
Another anti-LGBTQ rally in Seattle
The right-wing Christian fundamentalist group Mayday USA staged another provocative protest in Seattle at city hall yesterday, KUOW reports. Eight counter-protesters were arrested, several days after SPD arrested 23 counter-protesters at a Mayday USA rally in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The anti-LGBTQ rightwing group, supported by extremist former state legislator Matt Shea, clearly has intentions to stoke conflict. And right on cue, the right-wing deputy FBI director and former podcaster Dan Bongino posted on X that the FBI would be "investigating." Be safe out there, folks.
Portland approves "back to basics" budget
The Portland Mercury notes that the Portland city council approved an $8.5 billion amended budget last week that increases funds to address homelessness but also cuts permitting jobs and other city departments. It also gave mayor Keith Wilson an additional $4 million to hire more cops. Willamette Week reports on one unique development in the budget: re-directing revenue from the city's five public golf courses (why, why waste city land on golf courses??) to the city's general park maintenance fund.
Will Vancouver be home to Cascadia's tallest building?
Daily Hive has a story about four proposed mixed use towers in downtown Vancouver, including a 1,033-foot hotel that would be Canada's (and I think Cascadia's) tallest skyscraper. The project also includes a 38-story social housing tower in the Downtown Eastside that would include 378 units and that the developer would donate to the city of Vancouver. One solution to the region's housing crisis is build more housing!
--Andrew Engelson
