Two additional cases of bird flu in West Coast farmworkers
Bird flu infections have been confirmed in a dairy worker in California and a poultry worker in Washington, raising the U.S. total to 46 people, said the Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the USDA said tests indicated that migratory waterfowl were the source of H5N1 avian flu infections in two pigs on an Oregon farm.
How climate change drives farmworker activism
From wildfires and drought to lost work days due to soaring temperatures, the changing climate is fast becoming another issue that farmworkers must contend with. One way they're doing that is by organizing, according to FERN's latest story, published with The Nation.(No paywall)
Grocery-tax referendum in Washington state would block soda taxes
The three largest soft drink companies in America have donated more than 98 cents of every $1 given to a campaign in Washington state to ban local governments from imposing new taxes on groceries, including soda and other sugary beverages. Voters will decide whether to enact Initiative 1634 in a statewide vote as part of the Nov. 6 election, 10 months after a soda tax took effect in Seattle, the largest city in the state.
Coho salmon die in ‘witch’s brew’ of stormwater runoff
Coho salmon face fatal levels of pollution in 40 percent of their range in the Puget Sound Basin, chiefly because of stormwater runoff, says a study published in the journal Ecological Applications.
Green group to sue over farmed salmon leak in Puget Sound
The environmental group, Wild Fish Conservancy, has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, the company responsible for a massive leak of farmed Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound. “The accident began Aug. 19 and continued into Sunday, when one of three net pens at …
Voluntary limits to blame for Puget Sound pollution, law center says
“Washington state and federal government spend taxpayer money on programs designed to fix the pollution problem, but recently only two of 17 reporting regions in Puget Sound showed any improvements in water quality,” says the Western Environmental Law Center.
U.S. Northwest opens the door for Big Marijuana
Out-of-state investors have the green light from regulators in Oregon and Washington state to invest in the legal marijuana industry in the Pacific Northwest, making possible the emergence of Big Marijuana, says the Los Angeles Times.