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Cleaning up contaminated soils in Grays Harbor

Many toxic sites are the legacy from heavy industry of the past including mining, milling, boat building and manufacturing. Much of this toxic pollution was left in our midst years ago, before we knew the impact and before laws were passed that prohibited dumping chemicals on our land, water, or in unlined landfills.

Fort Discovery – The back story

The Pacific Northwest Inlander publishes a story reporting that Fort Discovery’s attorney, Greg Overstreet, wrote a series of 10 dystopian novels called 299 Days using the pen name Glenn Tate. The novels depict the degeneration of the democratically elected government, its violent overthrow by “Patriots,” and its replacement with a libertarian state.

2019: The year of derailments

“Every possible asset trimmed to the bone” The railroad industry is largely “self-regulated” which means that there is no outside agency that monitors safety or anything else, including collecting accident data. Recently the Railroad Workers United (RWU) made a list of “major” derailments on Class One railroads—not including passenger trains—and…

Questionnaire

How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade?

A strategy to reshape the future

Beginning with this issue, Dave Jette will share his view of possibilities for urgent collective action to confront the threat of fascism and the collapse of human habitat.

“Our Revolution” opens a heaquarters in Olympia

Our Revolution Thurston has a new volunteer headquarters at Lamplighters, 211 4th Avenue East in downtown Olympia (the White Building). The Democratic Primary starts February 21, when ballots will be mailed, and ORT is hosting phone banking events there Tuesday through Sunday in support of Bernie Sanders, whom they have…

An enduring drama about the wages of war

An Iliad is an up-to the-minute retelling of Homer’s Iliad. With poetry and poignancy, the ancient tale of the Trojan War and the modern world collide. Brilliantly adapted by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare from Robert Fagles’s acclaimed translation of Homer’s Trojan War epic, An Iliad telescopes the story into…

What’s missing is transparency and public dialogue

The national housing shortage affects millions in the US who can’t afford to rent, let alone buy, a home. The epidemic has rightly sparked a national conversation over racial and economic inequality...

Vets look to sustainable farming for sustenance

The Sustainable Farms and Fields Program, SB 5947, is a grant-based program that would allow farmers to invest in efficient and effective practices designed to address climate change...

Letters to WIP

Dear WIP, The bankruptcy rate today is 3 times what it was in 1991 for people 65 and over.

Touché

Irritated conservative legislator to intense young activist:  “Every college socialist should be encouraged to live under a Marxist regime for six months.” Intense young activist to legislator:  “Okay, then every elected capitalist should be required to live on the $7.25 federal minimum wage for six months.”

Special Events — February 2020

Celebrate Tom Nogler • Orca Recovery • Strengthening Sanctuary • Clean Energy Thurston • Thurston Public Power • Workplace Organizing • Jacobin Reading Group • The Iliad—A retelling • Susan B Anthony • Planned Parenthood • Native American Art Exhibition • Nuclear Weapons Nowadays • The Vote

Community Events Spotlight — February 2020

5G Apocalypse Film • Parallax Perspectives • Civil Survival Events and Game Changer Workshops • Solidarity in Tough Times • 2020 Labor Notes Conference

Then this happened — February 2020

…at the last last minute, facing a statewide strike by 13000 caregivers, Providence finally began negotiations with leadership from the three unions involved (UFCW, SEIU, WSNA). As the clock wound down, at the last possible minute, literally 1 hour before the official 10-day strike notice was to be announced Providence…

Then this happened…

City Manager Steve Hall is gone but local residents continue to pay the price of his leadership...

Providence nursing staff stands up for themselves and their patients

For over a year, health care workers at Providence hospitals across the state have been negotiating with their employer on staffing levels, sick leave and compensation. Hospital administrators, under directives from their multimillion dollar corporate executives, refuse to budge on staffing levels and seek to eliminate hours of earned leave.…

Ballots arrive in mailboxes next month: Changes in voting procedure for presidential primary

If you’re planning to vote in Washington state’s Democratic Presidential Primary, be prepared for some big changes this year. The caucus has been replaced by a vote-by-mail primary. Ballots will arrive in mailboxes February 21, 2020, making Washington one of the earliest states to vote. That means your vote will…

Unsafe by any measure

Creosote Creosote has been used since the 1920s to preserve railroad ties and utility poles. It decays into a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) that bioaccumulates in marine life, affecting the growth, reproduction and survival of aquatic animals. Creosote can also be released into soil and contaminate groundwater, where it can…

Immigrants are welcome here

A message to our elected officials Since assuming office, President Trump and his Justice Department have continued to send a strong message: “Immigrants are no longer welcome here.” Cruel policies toward immigrant families have deepened, families and children are separated and imprisoned, people are blocked from applying for legal asylum…