Cascadia today: Feds won't get WA voter rolls + coyotes are moving to Seattle + Indigenous climbers on Tahoma
Court rules feds can't demand WA voter rolls
KUOW reports that a federal judge in Seattle this week ruled against the Trump regime's demand that Washington state turn over voter information in advance of the November mid-term elections. It's the 25th loss for the Trump regime in its effort to mess with elections nationwide. Earlier this month, the US supreme court ruled against the feds' attempts to use the US postal service to meddle with vote-by-mail.
Still, the administration may use suppression tactics like sending ICE agents to ballot boxes, so Cascadia needs to remain vigilant. Be sure to use a ballot box in Oregon or Washington rather than the failing postal service, which Trump has tried to kill with a thousand small cuts. And do respond if your ballot is challenged: an article at Washington State Standard looks at a study from the University of Washington that finds that young people and people of color see their ballots challenged more than the average.
OR student test scores improve slightly
Oregon State Standard reports that the latest data show that test scores on various subjects for Oregon's K-12 students have improved slightly, but are not yet at pre-pandemic levels. Earlier this year, Oregon's quality education commission recommended the state increase education funding by at least 21% – $2.5 billion – in the 2027-2029 budget. Governor Tina Kotek, however, has been vague about education funding in her re-election platform, though she says she'll push for universal preschool statewide.
BC premier running against Trump, apparently
CBC reports on the upcoming provincial election in British Columbia and finds that BC premier David Eby and his party, the BC NDP, seem to be running mostly against Trump rather than provincial opposition parties. In a recent speech, Eby referred to Trump and his trade policies 18 times but only four times mentioned the leader of the BC Conservatives, Lorne Doerkson. To be fair, the conservatives have cycled through so many leaders in the past few months as the party descends into chaos, it's hard to keep track.
In municipal election news, Mo Amir at the Tyee thinks Vancouver Greens candidate Pete Fry is a strong candidate, but needs to better articulate his policy positions in contrast to incumbent Vancouver mayor Ken Sim. Frankly, I think his campaign needs to do more to publicize these images of Pete as a young punk and political activist. Damn!
More coyotes are moving to Seattle
KNKX looks at a new wildlife ecology study published by the University of Washington that find that urban coyote populations are increasing in places like Seattle. That's because of an abundance of rabbits, wild and domestic fruits – not to mention amenities like transit, great live music and vibrant visual art scene. Coyotes are cultured creatures.
Indigenous climbers experience Tahoma
OPB has a great report on a group of climbers from the Muckleshoot and other Cascadia Indigenous nations that set out to climb Tahoma – Washington's highest peak – each year. The group is led by Rachel Heaton, who says it's important for Indigenous people to connect with the sacred peak and to call it by a name more close to the 20 original names:
“We’ve done a lot of work to continuously say Tahoma. Even though it’s different for every tribe, at least it’s closer to the traditional name of the mountain.” --Rachel Heaton, Muckleshoot tribal member and outdoor educator
Andrew Engelson
Thanks for reading! Keep loving and keep fighting. --Andy
