Only a few hours left, but today is still Fred Korematsu Day. Just like Minoru Yasui* (Oregon's hero), it is important to remember Korematsu. *Minoru Yasui Day in Oregon is March 28th.

We can have MORE TRAINS in the Pacific Northwest if the Oregon legislature listens to the LOUD CALLS for MORE TRAINS.

Welcome to Winter Solstice on the island. The only sounds are water birds calling and the bubbling of air out of the soil as the floodwaters rise.

NCAR* is essential. This audience demonstrates why. * = National Center for Atmospheric Research

Sending love to all our friends (and you!) in Western Washington. Heed those warning signs. I'll never forget the terror of driving farm to market road from US 20 to Bow and seeing my headlights disappear as I hit the flooded section. (Headlights stop lighting the road when they shine onto water.)

Reading Dillon v. Legg, I'm struck by the truth in the last line: “To deny recovery would be to chain this state to an outmoded rule of the 19th century which can claim no current credence. No good reason compels our captivity to an indefensible orthodoxy.”

For law school, I'm reading Fred Korematsu's 1942-44 legal challenge to the incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent. The 1944 Supreme Court dissent opinions echo today; in part, they warned that... declaring an emergency does not authorize wholesale attacks on our civil rights, nor on us.

We've reached the "I can leave salad greens on the porch" season!

Decisions, decisions.... Listen to the Supreme Court's IEEPA tariff oral argument *OR* My law school homework?

Good News Update: www.opb.org/article/2025...

My hot take: I think the state of Oregon should backfill the SNAP fund, even though it is the responsibility of the federal government. People need to eat. And Oregon has the money.

First frost on the Island!

Yesterday was a dirty day in the Coast Range.

It's that* time of year! * Bear's Head, hericium mushroom time

TLDR: Judge Immergut GRANTS a 2nd TRO blocking the Trump admin from sending ANY federalized troops from ANY state into Oregon/Portland. (Full hearing thread below)

I just got to share with the 15yo Jimi Hendrix's performance of the national anthem at Woodstock (because their cello piece sounds just like Hendrix's performance). So good. Both of them.

I think I just learned part of this in Civil Procedure... Article III, § I says you cannot cut the compensation for sitting federal Judges and Justices. There might be more detail in case law about funding the court operations, but that's all I see in § I.

So much lightning So early this morning

A moment of fun! (The climbing trail at Big Creek in Newport, Oregon.)

"Immigrants deserve to be treated with dignity. Communities deserve safety from wildfires, and first responders deserve protections from federal immigration officials while they are putting their lives on the line to protect our Pacific Northwest communities." - Congresswoman Andrea Salinas

Firewood for the next *two* years is split and curing. Walnut from limbs trimmed by the county road crew and cherry thinned from our little firewood patch behind the shed.

There are few things as sweet as the first steady west wind that breaks the heat during summer in Oregon. (with thanks to the ocean for that one.)

Diversity of food on the farm these days: late-planted watermelon plants with baby fruit; dry beans just starting to dry down. And carrots for the winter!

This is awful. And it will continue to be awful. Snatching people on their way to work? Awful. Not letting them contact lawyers? Awful. www.opb.org/article/2025...

It is amazing how much respite you can get from one day of slightly rainy weather in the middle of a dusty, diesel-y, hot, dry summer

Here's the news. Special session announced.... www.opb.org/article/2025...

Actually, Moises needs to be returned to our community by the federal gov't.

This is absurd and horrific. And it needs to stop.

Join Katie for an awesome book event in Bellingham Aug 3!

On these endless hot days, super-grateful for irrigation and the Home Orchard.

"When asked if immigration is generally a good thing or bad thing for the country, a record-high 79% of U.S. adults call it a good thing; a record-low 17% see it as a bad thing." - Gallup poll, June 2-26, 1402 Americans news.gallup.com/poll/692522/...

Riding the bus is cool. Riding the train is cool. Making both better for everyone is cool.

The Glacier Peak Wilderness is looking so good. (Standing at Larch Knob high above Spider Meadow.)

Oregon could lose enough renewable energy to power 1 million homes. Sadly, the Big, Ugly Tax Scam does more than strip away health care and SNAP — it'll hike up energy costs, hurt businesses, and take a huge step back in curbing the climate crisis.

Plants keep growing. Immigrant family, friends, and neighbors are still important.

Um...Amtrak is rad?!

It was so so so wonderful to see Rep Hoa Nguyen on the House floor yesterday. Continuing to send prayers her way. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/06/20/o...

We've got a cloudy and rainy Summer Solstice today (pretty sure we're 50:50 for cloudy Solstice here in Oregon) and yesterday's Juneteenth was more important than ever to remember and celebrate.

Moises Sotelo is his name. ICE snatching people has to stop. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

In light of the SCOTUS decision in Skrmetti, hug your family. Hold your kids close. Fight for your neighbor. Trans rights are human rights.

Proposals to sell public land are absurd. Much of this land has little value except to very very wealthy people, especially when it all goes up for sale at once and the price plummets. Congress proposes to transfer our shared treasures to a privileged few. www.wilderness.org/articles/med...

HD 26!!!

The forest is full of surprises. Two high-severity fires atop one another in the Whitewater Creek Valley, west of Mount Jefferson. There's fire-killed old-growth Ponderosa, carpets of conifer seedlings, some of the largest downed trees I've ever seen, and outrageous pink-blooming rhododendrons.

Led by Oregon's AG @danrayfield.bsky.social

Some good news from the early returns (May 2025 election): Both the Chemeketa Community College bond renewal and a new operating levy for the City of Salem are passing at the moment.

This is devastating reporting. Take a few minutes to read it. www.opb.org/article/2025...

Today is the 45th anniversary of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. Every time I see the "new" version of the mountain's shape, I marvel at the energy released to reshape the mountain so dramatically. Thinking about all the folks who died and those who escaped the hot ash torrents.

The first time I worked on a steam line in the tunnels under Western Washington University, I thought, "dang, I'm in a Richard Scarry book."

"Examples include Safe Routes to Schools, the Community Paths program, the state transit plan ...and, frankly, directing some of that 2017 project funding to city and county road departments." @caseykulla.bsky.social's op ed in the News Register: #orleg newsregister.com/article?arti...

Y'all this is so cool... High-severity wildfire at 4,000 feet in the Old Cascades of Oregon, silver snags and charred stumps. At the base of every stump is a baby fir or mountain hemlock. All that snow slowly melts as water for the soon to be sapling. Char on the stump warms the air. So cool.