Cascadia Daily, May 22, 2018

Join us for a reading by poets and writers Friday June 1!

Cascadia Magazine is kicking of the summer season with a reading by the poets and writers who’ve been published in the magazine. Join us at 6:30 pm, Friday, June 1 at Vermillion on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

You’ll hear poets and fiction writers read from their work, as well as journalists discuss some of the issues they’ve covered at Cascadia Magazine, including racial equity in the cannabis industry, and how two women in the Washington attorney general’s office are leading the fight against Trump’s executive orders on DACA and the Muslim travel ban.

So grab a cool beverage and join us at Vermillion: 1508 11th Ave. More info at Cascadia Magazine.

Kate Brown’s business tax cut passes OR legislature

According to OPB, the Oregon House and Senate passed governor Kate Brown’s tax cut for sole proprietorships in a special one-day session — Despite tepid support from both Republican and Democratic legislators. Experts say about 75 percent of the cut will go to businesses earning more than $200,000 per year.

BC will sue Alberta over threat to cut off oil and gas

CBC reports that the fight between British Columbia and Alberta over the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline took another turn as the BC government announced it was suing Alberta over its threat to cut off oil and gas to BC if it continues to oppose the KinderMorgan expansion. Meanwhile, YES! magazine profiles Kanahus Manuel and the First Nations activists fighting KinderMorgan with tiny houses. Read Cascadia Magazine’s feature on Manuel and other activists here.

The WA women running for office after Trump’s victory

Ben Stocking, writing for Crosscut, profiles Uyen Nguyen, director of Emerge Washington, the local chapter of a national organization helping recruit progressive female candidates to run for local offices in response to Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments and actions toward women.

Oregon’s timber industry one of state’s largest carbon polluters

Writing for High Country News, Carl Segerstrom reports on a new study that finds Oregon’s timber industry accounts for a whopping 35 percent of the state’s carbon pollution. Researchers at Oregon State University & the University of Idaho found that logging of private land–which is often clear-cut, produces a huge carbon imbalance. Meanwhile, 1859 Magazine reports on the debate over whether increased salvage and logging of Oregon’s forests would help prevent fires like the massive Eagle Creek fire last year. And Alex Zielinski makes a great point at the Portland Mercury: why is a judge ordering a teen to pay $36 million for a forest fire he accidentally started when forest mis-management and climate change created the conditions for that fire?

Seattle is a UNESCO city of literature: now what?

Brangien Davis at Crosscut interviews a variety of people in Seattle’s literary scene to find out what the recent designation of the city as a UNESCO city of literature will do to unite the city’s disconnected creative world. Tonight, Seattle’s central public library will host a forum on the city of literature project.

A Vancouver comic’s novel about the high cost of housing

At The Tyee, you’ll find a profile of comedian and author Charles Demers, whose new book Property Values skewers Vancouver and its astronomical housing costs. It’s a far-fetched caper involving desperate millennials, gang warfare, and a realistic portrayal of the city’s immigrant community. “My daughter, as far as the world sees, is a little Chinese girl. She’s a fifth-generation Vancouverite. She has as deep roots in this city as any non-Indigenous person.”


That’s today’s arts and news from across the Pacific Northwest. –Andrew Engelson

Photo credit: Oregon clear cut by Wikimedia Commons user Calibas, CC BY-SA 3.0