Cascadia today: a fab Cascadia spoken word reading + progressives start uniting in Vancouver mayor's race + lynx makes comeback in WA

Many thanks to Vermillion art gallery and bar in Seattle and all who attended the debut of the Subduction spoken word series last night! It was a lovely, lively evening of poetry rooted in the Cascadia bioregion. Many thanks to Ankober Yewondwossen, Rhea Melina, Nadine Maestas, and Paul Nelson for their stellar performances. Cascadia Democratic Action and Cascadia Poetics Lab will be continuing this series the first Wednesday of every month at Vermillion. So, mark your calendars for Wed Oct 7 at 7 pm for the next chapter. There's an open mic as well, so bring your verses and get in front of a supportive crowd.

Progressive candidate for Vancouver mayor drops out

The Tyee reports that Stephanie Allen, candidate for Vancouver mayor with the progressive party COPE, has dropped out of the race and urged the two remaining progressive candidates to unite behind one candidate. This is good news for progressives, though it's not clear if the two remaining candidates on the left, Pete Fry of the Green Party, and William Azaroff of OneCity can come to an agreement before the filing deadline on Sept 11. Progressives have been running a fractured campaign to unseat Ken Sim, whose center-right ABC party has opposed new permanent supportive housing and backs more police officers and a controversial ballot measure that would encourage involuntary care of people with mental health issues. CBC has more on the rift between Fry and Azaroff.

OR & WA use cheap prison labor to fight wildfires

OPB reports on how Oregon trains prisoners to fight wildfires – but only pays them about $2 per hour for their difficult, risky work. Washington also puts incarcerated people to work fighting wildfires and setting prescribed burns for as little as $1.25 per hour. Yes, it's great that incarcerated folks are able to do meaningful, skilled work, but this is slavery. In the US, the 13th amendment abolishing slavery had one regrettable exception: "except as punishment for crime." Prison labor in Cascadia needs to be abolished. Or, at the very least pay incarcerated people minimum wage.

Seattle overdose recovery center a big success

KUOW reports on the first year of operation for Seattle's new overdose recovery center, funded by the city and run by the nonprofit Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC). The center and a mobile unit have served more than 500 people, offering a place to recover and to prescribe them buprenorphine, a medicine that can help with recovery from opioid use. Fatal overdoses have dropped in King County, and increased access to naloxone (which treats overdose) and bupe are two major factors in the decline.

Lynx makes a comeback in north central WA

Columbia Insight reports on some good news regarding the endangered Canada Lynx in Washington: the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, working with the Colville National Forest, successfully reintroduced lynx into the mountains of north central Washington. Remote cams showed that six kittens were born to two of the lynx this summer, which were reintroduced to the wild five years ago. That's great news for the wildcat with long legs and huge paws that the Colville tribes call wápupxn.

Music festival supports Spokane fire victims

RANGE Media reports on a two-day music festival hosted and organized by the Spokane Tribe that will raise money for people affected by wildfires in north Spokane that destroyed more than 800 homes. The Spokane Strong Music Fest on Fri Sept 4 and Sat Sept 5 will feature more than 50 local musical acts and all ticket sales will go to support those impacted by the fires.

Thanks for reading. Keep loving and keep fighting!