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Cascadia states respond to US changes on legal cannabis
Washington and Oregon officials scrambled to make sense of the US Justice Department’s decision last week to revoke Obama administration orders concerning enforcement of federal laws on marijuana in states that have legalized pot. In WA state, attorney general Bob Ferguson is considering a lawsuit, while some Republican state lawmakers are wary about the feds undermining the new pot industry. In Oregon, the US attorney says he likely won’t attempt to enforce federal law on cannabis in that state, but state lawmakers are nervous about the uncertainty in the wake of Jeff Sessions’ announcement, and US Senator Ron Wyden has co-sponsored a cannabis legalization bill the federal level. Meanwhile, in BC, The Tyee reports that investors may flee the uncertainty of the WA and OR pot market to fund weed businesses north of the border, where pot will be legal across Canada in July. Undeterred by federal changes, some WA state lawmakers are considering a bill to make pot delivery services legal.
Will Dems defend transit in WA state legislative session?
At The Stranger, Heidi Groover writes that state Democrats in WA may give in to demands to cuts to Sound Transit by reworking the car-tab tax system, despite holding a majority. The Urbanist wonders why, since transit remains popular in statewide polls, and federal subsidies are at risk. Meanwhile, NWPB offers a preview of the WA legislative session, where education, gun safety, and capital construction projects will be front and center.
Scientists finding new ways to detect disease in salmon
Hakai magazine reports on a promising new technique that will allow biologists to better detect viruses and bacterial infection in salmon. Transmission of diseases from pen-farmed salmon to wild populations is a serious concern across the Salish Sea.
Tiny radio stations popping up all over Cascadia
Low-power radio stations, such as Seattle’s KBFG, are popping up all over the country, and are especially popular in Oregon and Washington. The New York Times reports on these tiny non-profit stations, which generally have a range of only a few miles, and offer eclectic programming: one station reports listener’s dreams and bedtime stories, another broadcasts high school basketball games, and there’s a Russian-language station in Portland.
“God’s Lake” a play exploring an Indigenous teen’s murder
Victoria’s Metro Studio is producing “God’s Lake,” a play drawn from legal transcripts in the case of murdered Cree woman in Manitoba. It’s a powerful piece about small-town tensions and challenges facing aboriginal women. You can learn more about the project, created by Frances Albright and Indigenous writer Kevin Lee Burton at the God’s Lake website.
“Blue Monday,” flash fiction from Kodiak Armstrong
Pacifica Review, a terrific Seattle-based literary journal, has a few selections from their latest issue online, including “Blue Monday,” a minimalist vignette from Seattle writer Kodiak Armstrong. It’s the story of a woman’s tenuous polyamorous relationship with a couple…
“She flies magnificently, with perfect grace. An example of our species. He says she rides the waves of Einstein’s gravity. She is fond of faeries, those wicked, winged beings. And she reminds me of one. Dark flight. All-seeing, ancient magic…”
That’s all for today from a gray Monday here in Seattle. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: cannabis sativa by “Rotational” courtesy Wikimedia Commons