NPI's Cascadia Advocate

Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Tag Archives: Emergency Preparedness

Washington State Senate unanimously passes much needed school seismic safety grant bill

Excerpt: All forty-nine Washington State senators have voted to pass a bill that would establish a grant program to upgrade seismically vulnerable school buildings in Washington State, providing sorely needed funds to ensure our kids have safe facilities to learn in.
Published at:8:07 PM on Wednesday, February 9th, 2022
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Education, National Defense, Policy Topics
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School seismic safety bill passes out of Senate Ways & Means with bonding plan removed

Excerpt: The purpose of the legislation is to protect schoolchildren, faculty, volunteers, and community members from geologic hazards by modernizing decrepit, dangerous old school buildings that are vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis, and lahars.
Published at:7:38 PM on Friday, February 4th, 2022
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Education, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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Most Washington voters think upgrading our seismically vulnerable school buildings is a state responsibility, NPI poll finds

Excerpt: The finding, unveiled by NPI at a public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee, affirms that voters see the Legislature as principally responsible for upholding the state's paramount duty to "make ample provision" for the education of all of the state's children, as the Framers of the Constitution intended when they wrote Washington's plan of government.
Published at:6:00 PM on Monday, January 31st, 2022
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Education, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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Big news! Meaningful school seismic safety bills have been introduced in the Legislature

Excerpt: The bills (HB 2095 and SB 5933) would create a school seismic safety grant program, backed by general obligation bonds that would need to be voter-approved in a special statewide vote to be held in November of 2022.
Published at:11:14 PM on Wednesday, January 26th, 2022
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Education, National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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First raging fires, now epic floods: British Columbia suffers perils of climate damage

Excerpt: The “province on the Pacific” was just beginning to recover from a summer of record heat and wildfires when an atmospheric river showed up, resulting in massive floods.
Published at:8:30 AM on Wednesday, November 17th, 2021
Written by:Joel Connelly
Categories:Our Environment, Policy Topics
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Mudslides, washouts have made key sections of Cascadia’s major highways impassable

Excerpt: Mudslides and washouts precipitated by torrential rainfall have made highways on both sides of the United States - Canada border impassable, stranding travelers and further disrupting commerce just days before the onset of the holiday season.
Published at:8:37 PM on Monday, November 15th, 2021
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Policy Topics, Public Planning
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President Joe Biden touches down in Boise; visits National Interagency Fire Center

Excerpt: Today, Joe Biden made his first official visit to Cascadia as President of the United States of America, landing in Boise, Idaho to visit the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which is located adjacent to Boise Air Teminal/Gowen Field. 
Published at:2:30 PM on Monday, September 13th, 2021
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Breaking News, Our Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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Twenty years after the Nisqually earthquake, seismic upgrades still needed across Cascadia

Excerpt: There is no question we've made some progress since the Nisqually quake traumatically reminded us that we live in a region that belongs to the Pacific Ring of Fire. Yet there is also a lot that remains to be done.
Published at:10:54 PM on Sunday, February 28th, 2021
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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The Texas-sized politics of calamity: Disasters put a spotlight on elected officials’ negligence

Excerpt: Will the country wake up to the need for infrastructure modernization following the horrors in Texas, or will we see right-wing politicians escape responsibility and go on demonizing clean renewable energy?
Published at:5:10 PM on Sunday, February 21st, 2021
Written by:Joel Connelly
Categories:National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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Joe Biden, Jay Inslee denounce Trump-incited terrorist attack on the United States Capitol

Excerpt: Read or watch what America's forty-sixth president and Washington's chief executive had to say about the violent insurrection of January 6th, 2021.
Published at:10:30 PM on Wednesday, January 6th, 2021
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:National Defense, Open Government, Policy Topics
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DNR fire meteorologist horrified by barrage of (human caused) Labor Day 2020 fire disasters

Excerpt: By the time the sun had set on September 7th, 2020, the Pacific Northwest had joined California in firestorm misery, with hundreds of thousands of acres newly burnt or burning. 
Published at:8:30 AM on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Our Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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Washington, Oregon, and California unveil new alliance: Western States Pact

Excerpt: The United States' Left Coast governors have made it abundantly clear that they -- not Donald Trump -- will decide when to lift their Stay Home, Stay Healthy orders and allow businesses that are currently closed to fully reopen.
Published at:12:29 PM on Monday, April 13th, 2020
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning, World Commmunity
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COVID-19 Update: Torrent of bad news caps absolutely surreal day in the Pacific NW

Excerpt: Get the latest bad news on the novel coronavirus in this mega-update, packed with useful resources, videos, and links.
Published at:10:30 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Healthcare, Policy Topics, Public Planning, Series & Special Reports
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Washington’s beloved Mount Rainier National Park is inaccessible due to washed out roads

Excerpt: It isn't possible to visit Mount Rainier right now and access to the park may take weeks or even months to be restored.
Published at:10:10 AM on Monday, February 10th, 2020
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning
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