The Daily Digest: Seattle tax revenue tanks, Cascadia pummeled by federal cuts
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Seattle city revenues face $241 million shortfall
Over at PubliCola, my colleague Eric Barnett broke the news that the city's latest revenue forecast predicts tax revenues will be $241 million less than predicted in the next two-year budget cycle. That's very bad news for a city that recently had to trim budgets and has a council majority and mayor who are resistant to raising taxes.
Cascadia hit by federal cuts to – well, everything
PubliCola also reported on how King County's regional homeless authority is bracing for Trump's slash and burn to federal funding, which could leave more than 2,000 people without housing. The Seattle Times looked at how staff cuts at NOAA are impacting the study of fisheries and ocean health in Washington and Alaska in the face of climate change. And even hiking trails aren't exempt. OregonLive notes a half million dollars in grants to Trailkeepers of Oregon are at risk, meaning many summer hiking destinations might be inaccessible.
Trump's plan to clearcut Cascadia forests a disaster
Columbia Insight talks with an expert on forest management about the Trump administration's bonkers plan to increase logging on 60% of national forests. The upshot: clearcuts and logging make wildfire risk even worse across Cascadia. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Sun reports that BC's logging industry could face a disastrous plummet because of Trump's trade war.
Lidia Yuknavitch on repetition and corporeal writing
This Q&A came out over a month ago at the Stranger, but if you haven't read this fantasic interview with Oregon writer Lidia Yuknavitch, definitely make some time for it. The author of genre-bending books such as The Chronology of Water and Reading the Waves talks at length about building community among artists, working through trauma by writing through our bodies, and taking fantastical leaps in creative expression. "This is where I turn to frogs and seals and butterflies and ribbon eels," she says.
--Andrew Engelson