Seattle police no longer under federal oversight KUOW reports that US district judge James Robart ended the 13-year-long consent decree the Seattle Police Department had been under to address the department's excessive use of force. Seattle was placed under the order after the 2010 fatal shooting of Indigenous
West coast states create vaccine alliance Defending the sovereign right of states to protect the health of their residents, Oregon, Washington and California today announced a pact to work together on science-based vaccine policy the New York Times reports – as the fed-run CDC descends into chaos under Robert F. Kennedy
Hope you all got some rest on Labor Day. It feels like fall is on the way, with cloudy skies and a backlog of work and news in my inbox as summer winds down. Thanks to my paid subscribers for helping make this newsletter possible. So, without further ado, here&
This week, federal immigration officials arrested two wildland firefighters working to contain the Bear Gulch fire on Washington's Olympic peninsula. According to reporting from the AP, the two firefighters, who worked for a contractor helping to prevent the human-caused fire from spreading, were living in the US without
Oregon legislature opens special session According to OPB, the Oregon legislature convenes today in a special session to address a $300 transportation budget shortfall that it failed to address earlier this year. The package proposed by governor Tina Kotek includes a 6 cent increase in the current 40 cent per
ICE raids active wildfire operation in WA In an incident that leaves me wondering if the Trump administration actually wants west coast states to leave the union, the Seattle Times reports that two wildland firefighters working on the Bear Gulch fire in Washington's Olympic mountains were arrested by
Good morning! I'm back from vacation and feeling fresh, rested, and ready to fight fascism! Hope you kept cool during the Cascadia heat wave. I can report that the wild blueberries at Anderson & Watson Lakes in the North Cascades are at their peak, so seize the day
Just a sign from a protest at Seattle's Cal Anderson Park earlier this year. PubliCola reported this week that organizers of the “Revive in ’25” right-wing, anti-queer Christian Nationalist rally agreed to move their event, planned for August 30 from Cal Anderson to Gasworks Park in Fremont. We&
I'm enjoying my staycation at home in Seattle and Cascadia Journal will continue next week. In the meantime, here's a photo from my desk when I was working earlier this year. I saw in my inbox yesterday that Washington governor Bob Ferguson sent a fiercely worded
Good morning! I'm taking a break from Cascadia Journal this week, but here's a photo from one of my favorite places in Cascadia: Kalaloch beach in Olympic National Park. What are some of your favorite places to rest and find peace in the Pacific Northwest? If
Good morning! I'm taking a break from writing Cascadia Journal this week and using the week off to play tourist in my home town. Here's a photo of Tahoma from a recent camping trip near Greenwater. Otherwise known at Mount Rainier, the peak is highest of
After a massive earthquake in Kamchatka Russia in late July sent a tsunami across the Pacific, we were lucky that it had mostly minor effects on the coast of Cascadia. But the quake serves as a wake-up call about the risks of a similar mega-quake in the Pacific Northwest. The