Cascadia today: PDX can fine ICE jail owner + WA ponders future of island park + comment on fed plan to log Oregon

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Portland can fine owner of ICE facility

As the Cascadia region once again protested two murders by ICE in the US in less than a week – taking the lives of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Joan Sebastian Guerrerro in Maine – Portland got news that from the city hearings office that it can move forward with daily fines against the owner of the building that ICE leases as its detention center. The center has multiple violations of an agreement that prevents the immigration jail from keeping detainees overnight or more than 12 hours. The feds hate this rule because it forces them to rush detainees north across the Columbia river to Washington state, allowing immigration attorneys time file habeas corpus petitions and force them back to Oregon.

What's clear is that the ICE facility in Portland and the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma (where a detainee recently reported sexual abuse) must face ongoing public pressure, active noisy protests, and be forced to shut down.

WA ponders future of island state park

Washington State Standard reports that Washington State Parks is considering the future of Blake Island State Park in Puget Sound just west of Seattle. The island park which can only be reached by private boat has seen a drop in visitors and aging infrastructure including a derelict former tourist site that once hosted performance of Indigenous dances and culture.

An obvious solution would be to return the island to a coalition of local tribes and let them decide the future of the land.

Impact of federal cuts to OR still to be felt

OPB reports on the impact of federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP food benefits in Oregon one year later – and the worst is yet to come. More than 25,000 people have already lost food benefits and the state legislature next year must confront a $421 million deficit in Oregon's Medicaid health care programs.

We need to tell our legislators and governors in Oregon and Washington that now is NOT the time for austerity. We can and must build fiscal autonomy and provide the services and safety net our residents need.

Comment now on plan to triple logging in OR

Oregon Capital Chronicle reports the public comments are now open on the Trump regime plans to triple logging in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, including tossing long standing prohibitions on road building and cutting of mature trees. "“This plan seeks to open up and pillage one of the wildest places left in the U.S.,” said Lauren Anderson with the organization Oregon Wild.

You have until September 30 to comment on the proposal. You know what to do. Submit comments here.

Portland swordfighters host fencing championships

The Portland Mercury covers the arrival of the US fencing championships in Portland for the first time in 70 years. It's a fascinating sport, and the piece covers the strategy, athleticism, and elegance of this ancient swordfighting sport – plus covering places you can learn to fence if it interests you. En garde!

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