Cascadia today: WA offers help for menopause + Trump yanks ocean monitors + Dragon boat races in PDX & SEA
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WA governor signs order on menopause
KUOW reports that Washington governor Bob Ferguson signed an order this week directing state agencies to develop plans to help accommodate women workers experiencing peri-menopause, menopause, or post-menopause, and to create guidelines for private employers. Some 600,000 women in the state are experiencing menopause symptoms in the workforce, and have experienced stigma, or simple unawareness. One in 10 women leave the workplace because of menopause and related symptoms.
Trump dismantles Cascadia ocean monitoring system
After cuts to the National Science Foundation, the Trump regime is dismantling an ocean monitoring system off the Pacific Coast, including Oregon and Washington, OPB reports. It's all part of the feds' wrecking-ball approach to climate science, and further evidence that our bioregion needs to go it alone if we're going to continue to care for the planet and ocean environments.
“It’s a crippling loss of information,” – Ed Dever, a professor at Oregon State University
Vancouver mayor won't face sanctions for harassment
The Tyee reports that Vancouver mayor Ken Sim, who was found to have harassed council member Sean Orr by falsely accusing him of antisemitism, won't face sanctions after members of Sim's ABC party on the city council voted to ignore an integrity commissioner's report. Orr has also filed a defamation lawsuit against Sim for falsely accusing him of distributing illegal drugs.
Ken Sim and his center-right ABC party need to go. A coalition of progressives reached an agreement in April to run a limited slate of candidates to better defeat ABC. That coalition includes Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), Green Party of Vancouver, and OneCity. Vancouver, you know what to do.
More vendors in Seattle link stations, please
Sam Lynaugh at the Urbanist argues it's time to get more vendors – shops, food stands, coffee carts, and such – inside Sound Transit light rail stations in the greater Seattle area. It's an idea that's long overdue: stations in the rest of the world do this increase the vibrancy of these spaces. And let's get real: Washington state and King county make it too burdensome to open food carts.
Seattle & Portland dragon boat races this month
Portland Mercury reports on Portland's annual dragon boat races on the Willamette River this coming weekend, June 6-7. The 1,760-pound, 40-foot-long boats, of Taiwan-style design, will be paddled by more than a dozen rowers each. And next weekend, on June 13, the Seattle Dragon Boat Festival comes to Lake Union. Cheer them on – it's an exciting athletic and cultural experience!
Thanks for reading. Keep loving and keep fighting. --Andy
Do you appreciate Cascadia Journal's exclusive reporting on the ways the Pacific Northwest is pushing back against US fascism? If you have the means, please consider a paid subscription of just $5 per month. Each subscription helps me produce original reporting and opinionated notes on Cascadia's fight to build a more resilient and autonomous bioregion. And to those who already subscribe, thank you! --Andrew
