Cascadia today: Eby gambles on BC wealth tax + Cascadia high speed rail moves forward + making pow-wows accessible

Good morning! Do you appreciate independent journalism and opinion writing? If so, thanks! I'm grateful for my devoted readers. If you're a frequent reader of Cascadia Journal, and you have the means, I have one request. If you haven't already, will you consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 or $10 per month? Your support helps me continue to offer these news roundups and spicy opinion pieces about the Cascadia bioregion and the progressive movement for autonomy in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks! --Andy

Will Eby's wealth tax bring the NDP victory in BC?

Writing for the Tyee, Paul Willcocks looks at British Columbia premier David Eby's proposal to raises taxes on those earning more than $190,500 and whether it might turn the BC provincial election in the NDP's favor later this month. The piece notes that BC has the second-lowest tax rate of any province in Canada other than Alberta. With BC residents feeling the affordability pinch, taxing the rich to help lower health care premiums and college tuition might be a winning pitch. In related news, the Narwhal looks a key election issue: BC's Indigenous rights law passed in 2019. Conservatives are exaggerating its impact, and the piece looks at how DRIPA doesn't affect private property rights. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Sun profiles key BC legislative races in ridings in suburban Vancouver and elsewhere.

Data centers seek expansion in central WA

Washington State Standard reports that data center companies are eying Klickitat county on the shores of the Nichi' Wana (Columbia River) in central Washington for expansion. The massive proposals have asked the federal Bonneville Power Administration for 5,655 megawatts of power – enough to power 15 cities the size of Seattle! All so Microsoft can fire all its programmers and the US president can post AI-generated pictures of himself looking like Jesus.

Moving forward on Cascadia high speed rail

Transportation planners are nearing completion on a draft plan for a Cascadia high speed rail corridor between Portland and Vancouver, BC, the Columbian reports. The Washington state department of transportation has more on the early stages of planning, which will establish a route, stations, and explore financing models. The route would supplement, not replace, the existing Amtrak Cascades route, which just received new trains.

Spokane newspaper bans AI-generated op eds

After an investigation by RANGE Media found tons of op-eds in the region have been written by AI, the Spokesman Review announced it will no longer publish guest opinion pieces or editorials that have been generated by AI, RANGE reports. In related news, Seattle Times journalists and creative staff walked off the job for an afternoon to seek a contract that promises the paper won't use AI to replace jobs such as copy editing, photojournalism, or social media management, GeekWire reports.

Cascadia Journal never uses AI to generate articles, copy, and this newsletter. I do occasionally use an AI-assisted transcription service, Otter, for recorded interviews, but that's it. Period.

Another orca mother carries a dead calf

KUOW reports that whale researchers observed a female orca whale swimming with a dead, newborn calf on her nose. Still births among the J pod of resident orcas, and this act of grieving, are actually fairly common – especially because of low populations of chinook salmon, the orcas' main food source. In 2018 an orca known as Tahlequah carried a calf for 17 days and drew global attention to the plight of orcas in the Salish sea.

Puyallup tribe making pow-wow dancing accessible

KUOW reports on efforts by the Puyallup Tribe of Washington to make Indigenous pow-wow dancing more accessible to people with disabilities and students with special needs.

“ You can come down with your blankets, your tablets, your headphones,” he said. “You don't have to be in regalia. You can have your caregivers with you. You can have your parents with you, a support person or persons.” --Shawn Reynolds, Puyallup Tribe

Thanks for reading! Hope to see some of you at this evening's Subduction Cascadia Spoken Word reading at Vermillion in Seattle at 7 pm!