News items for November 8, 2024

Friends kayaking in Bear Glacier, Alaska

• 1. Four ways Gov.-elect Ferguson and WA leaders can build on the state’s big climate win

  After Washingtonians overwhelmingly voted to keep the Climate Commitment Act, their leaders have powerful opportunities ahead.

  Sightline Institute

• 2. The 5 states where environmental ballot initiatives triumphed

  Across the country, voters approved spending billions of dollars on climate resilience and conservation.

  Grist

• 3. Montana: So close to better elections

  Primaries featuring more choice for voters and candidates almost became the law in Big Sky Country.

  Sightline Institute

• 4. Oregon elections will continue to suffer spoiler candidates

  The state’s voters rejected Measure 117 to implement ranked choice voting in the state, though notably not in places where voters use ranked choice voting locally.

  Sightline Institute

• 5. Almost 1 in 3 Idahoans wanted open primaries and instant runoff elections

  In the reddest patch of Cascadia, a sizable minority of voters wished for a system to thwart spoilers, promote cooperation, and allow participation beyond partisan labels.

  Sightline Institute

• 6. Biden administration limits scope of Arctic oil drilling lease sale

  The Biden administration has restricted an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, just hours after Trump’s re-election, reducing the area available for drilling to 400,000 acres and safeguarding key wildlife habitats.

  The Washington Post

• 7. 5 takeaways from Canada’s draft emissions cap rules

  If the federal draft rules are finalized as expected next year, they would represent the first time Canada has imposed binding obligations on the sector to slow its rising carbon emissions. The oil and gas sector is already Canada’s biggest polluter, and Canada is the fourth-largest oil producer and fifth-largest natural gas producer in the world.

  The Narwhal

• 8. The year’s weirdest ballot battle

  Environmentalists, Amazon, and BP united to fend off a challenge to Washington’s recent climate law. But a different, equally right-wing ballot initiative might pass.

  The New Republic

• 9. Interview: How Democracy Vouchers diversified Seattle candidate and donor pools

  For almost a decade, Seattle voters have utilized a tool designed to make campaign and candidate support more inclusive: Democracy Vouchers. Research of all the city’s election cycles shows the program has diversified donor and candidate pools.

  Cascade PBS

• 10. NY twiddles thumbs on ‘un-pausing’ first-in-nation congestion pricing

  Gov. Hochul is showing no urgency to un-pause congestion pricing before Donald Trump takes charge of the federal government.

  Streetsblog

More News from November 8, 2024

• Portlanders used ranked-choice voting for the first time. How did it go?

  For the first time, Portlanders used ranked choice voting to select their mayor and city council members. They ranked candidates in order of preference, and their votes got distributed as candidates were eliminated. There are still ballots to count, but the county is calling the experiment a success.

  Oregon Public Broadcasting

• Multnomah County is ready to work with new Portland mayor to fight homelessness

  Three Portland Commissioners decided to pull an ordinance they had filed to end the city’s eight-year partnership with Multnomah County to fight homelessness. The decision was made as Portland is poised to elect Keith Wilson as its next mayor who opposes the city leaving the Joint Office of Homeless Services.

  Oregon Public Broadcasting