Cascadia today: Cascadia Day is May 18! OR & WA fishing industry hit by gas prices + film about Indigenous redemption

Cascadia Day is right around the corner! If you're in Seattle, make sure to join in the celebration at 7 pm, Monday May 18 at Vermillion bar and art gallery at 1508 11th Ave. The Cascadia Day Poetry Explosion will be a fun night of poetry from Paul Nelson, Matt Trease, Rhea Melina and Nadine Maestas. A special surprise guest may also be added to the lineup. The event is free, but we'll be raising money for the Migrant Survival Fund, a mutual aid project in South King County, and the Kawaguchi O'Connor Initiative, which assists new trans residents of Washington fleeing hostile states. Please join us!

In Portland, definitely check out the Gathering Cascadia festival at Taborspace in Portland from 4 to 8 pm, Monday May 18. The event has an action-packed lineup of info booths, musical performances, discussion pods, workshops, local food, visual art, and a film screening. Get your tickets here.

Victim of UW killing identified

Them magazine reports on the 19-year-old University of Washington student murdered in an off-campus apartment building last week: Juniper Blessing, a student in the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, an avid video game player, and someone who loved to sing. UW Trans Collective is hosting a space for community healing this Saturday on the UW campus. Media are asked not to attend, and those participating are asked not to take photos.

Lawsuit aims to toss WA legislative maps

In the wake of the electoral chaos sowed by a recent US supreme court decision tossing federal congressional maps and eviscerating the Voting Rights act, Washington State Standard reports that a federal court is looking at whether Washington's state legislative district maps helped booth Latino votes (because apparently the feds no longer value equity, only more power for white people). In related news, Oregon voters are returning ballots in this year's primary, which will decide, among other things, which member of Trump's party will face off with governor Tina Kotek in November. And the Urbanist looks at dark money flowing into Washington state supreme court races, which will decide the fate of the state's new millionaires tax.

Fishing industry hit hard by Trump's gas price hike

Diesel prices are climbing through the roof thanks to Trump's ill-conceived Iran war, and small-scale fishing operations in Oregon and Washington are struggling with high costs, OPB reports. In other maritime news, CBC reports that BC ferries are testing a new technology on its vessels that would help prevent strikes with whales or orcas.

OR may end free community college

Jefferson Public Radio looks at Oregon's tuition-free community college program, which may get axed. The Promise Grant (which is different from other, need-based grants) offers free tuition to anyone attending one of Oregon's 17 community colleges.

Cascadia would do better with fiscal independence. By disconnecting from the wasteful federal government, which now wants to squander $1.5 trillion of our tax dollars on a bloated military, we could instead keep the money at home and fund things we need here: education, universal health care, affordable housing and robust transit.

Haida Gwaii shifts from diesel to solar

The Narwhal reports that Haida Gwaii, the autonomous First-Nation led archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, is making the shift from diesel-powered electricity to solar power. Haida Gwaii is disconnected from BC's power grid and has to generate its own power.

A new documentary film about Indigenous redemption

The South Seattle Emerald interviews Yakama Nation filmmaker Brenda Fisher about her new documentary, Reservation Redemption, which recently debuted at the Seattle International Film Festival. The documentary tells the story of Chief Marchand Rice, a member of the Colville confederated tribes, who was incarcerated for murder at the age of 17. "Chief" eventually transformed his life thanks to spirituality and Indigenous culture. The film screens tomorrow, May 16 at the Duwamish Long House in Seattle.

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