Cascadia today:Trans woman murdered at UW, feds want to log the fuck out of OR, and a symphony debuts lullabies written in prison

Just one week to go until Cascadia Day: Be sure to join me for the Cascadia Day Poetry Explosion at 7 pm, Monday May 18 at Vermillion bar and art gallery at 1508 11th Ave in Capitol Hill. It'll be a fun evening with poetry from Paul Nelson, Matt Trease, Nadine Maestas, and Rhea Melina. Cascadia Democratic Action will be raising money that evening for the Migrant Survival Fund and the Kawaguchi O'Connor Initiative.

And in Portland, the Gathering Cascadia event happens from 4 - 8 pm at Taborspace, 5441 SE Belmont and will feature local artists and musicians, workshops, and discussion pods. Tickets are here. Hope to see some of you there!

Trans student murdered at University of Washington

Seattle police are investigating the murder of a 19-year-old UW transgender woman student Sunday night at an apartment building contracted with University of Washington. The UW Daily reports that the apartment building had improperly working security code locks. Meanwhile, Seattle Gay News interviews the founder of Arm the Dolls, a trans second amendment organization, about proposed new federal ATF gun ownership rules that would complicate gun registration for trans identifying people by requiring sex markers assigned at birth. Protect the Dolls.

Sound Transit grapples with expansion plans

The Urbanist takes a deep dive into Sound Transit's new plan for light rail expansion in the Puget Sound region in the face of a $34.5 billion budget shortfall. Tacoma and Everett win in the plan, while an extension to the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard and and two promised infill stations in Seattle's south end are delayed until more funding appears. The Southend Transit Justice Coalition is holding a public meeting at 5740 Martin Luther King Jr Way S Seattle from 6:30 - 8 pm Tues May 12 to discuss the transit stop delays in one of Seattle's most diverse neighborhoods.

Rich neighborhood agrees to emergency helicopter flights

The Stranger reports that residents of the wealthy Laurelhurst neighborhood in Seattle, facing community pressure, have given up their decades-long attempts to prevent emergency helicopters from landing at nearby Children' Hospital.

It's a great victory, but Seattle needs to push the wealthy NIMBYs of Laurelhurst by pushing the city to build affordable housing on an 18-acre parcel called Talaris it recently purchased in Laurelhurst. And while we're at it, in Seattle comprehensive plan, let's go big like Minneapolis and end apartment bans across the city. Sightline Institute recently wrote about how building more apartments is one of the easiest ways to flight climate change.

Feds want to log the fuck out of Oregon

Guess it's time to start organizing tree sits again: The Portland Mercury reports that the federal Bureau of Land Management wants to quadruple the amount of logging it does on BLM lands in Oregon. In related news, Washington State Standard reports that logging revenue is in decline at the state's Department of Natural Resources, and the agency faces a budget deficit.

The limits DNR director Dave Upthegrove set on mature forests are necessary – the state's school systems shouldn't be relying on cutting down our wildfire threatened forests. We need to tax corporations and the wealthy and consider pushing Congress to turn over federal forest lands to the states and tribes.

As Trump burns down the Forest Service, Cascadia should take control of our federal land

Lost in recent news of violence by ICE goons, an apocalyptic war in Iran, and a refusal to make public the Epstein files, the Trump regime last week quietly killed the US Forest Service. As Jim Pattiz wrote in a scathing article at Hatch magazine, Late Tuesday afternoon, with the

Cascadia JournalAndrew Engelson

REI union urges boycott May 15-25

After management refused a fair contract, the union representing workers at the Washington-based outdoor retailer REI are urging customers to boycott the store's big annual sale between May 15-25. The US's largest co-op retailer has been facing financial struggles in recent years, but improved performance in 2025, Gear Junkie reports.

OR symphony debuts lullabies by incarcerated mothers

OPB reports on the amazing Lullaby Project – a program that encourages incarcerated and homeless women who are parents to write lullabies for their young children. The Oregon Symphony will be debuting some of these songs in a performance on on Tues May 12 at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland. Buy tickets here. You can listen one of the lovely lullabies in this audio report:

Lullabies co-written by incarcerated and homeless parents to be performed by the Oregon Symphony

Ada McGraw worked with singer-songwriter Bre Gregg while she was serving time at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. She and Gregg collaborated to write a lullaby for her son, Legend, which was then performed by the Oregon Symphony in 2025. This year’s performance is May 12, 2026, at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland.

OPBAllison Frost

Thanks for reading. Keep loving and keep fighting. --Andy