Feature Archives

After two days of destroying property, the City of Fresno completely dismantled and removed the homeless from several of the largest encampments in downtown Fresno on August 27. Much of the homeless people’s property was put in roll off dumpsters by city workers where they say it can be "reclaimed." All of the Golden State off ramp encampment, Santa Clara street, F street, and G street south of the Rescue Mission are now gone. Nearly two hundred people have moved to other encampments or they are planning on returning once the dust settles.

After spending $17 million, Santa Cruz City officials now want to re-engage the public by backing off on their promised desal vote in 2014. In response, the Desal Alternatives steering committee has issued a call to all citizen supporters to advocate that the City Council adopt water security measures that can be implemented immediately.

On August 16, community members returned to La Playa Carmel for a boycott rally in support of the workers who lost their jobs when the hotel shut down and re-opened in the summer of 2012 after a change of ownership. The labor rally coincided with the final events in a series of "elite" automobile shows occurring throughout the Monterey Peninsula, and protesters marched for justice for the former workers next to Ferraris and other high end vehicles parked in front of La Playa.

Long-term trends show that climate change is impacting the Lake Tahoe Basin with drier years, less precipitation, higher lake temperatures and projected lower lake levels. These conclusions are found within the 2013 Tahoe State of the Lake Report released on August 7 by the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at the University of California, Davis.

On August 6, San Jose Justice for Trayvon Martin held a rally at San Jose City Hall, followed by a march downtown where the group circled the federal building. San Jose Justice for Trayvon Martin is "a local mass multi-issue campaign made up of San Jose and larger Silicon Valley community members acting in support of the larger Movement of Justice for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander."

Assembly member Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) and eight other California lawmakers are calling on the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency to investigate reports of fracking (hydraulic fracturing) beneath the seabed floor off the California Coast. Assembly members Mark Stone, Marc Levine, Richard Bloom, Adrin Nazarian, Bob Wieckowski and Senators Fran Pavley, Noreen Evans and Hannah-Beth Jackson have signed on in support of Williams' letter to federal regulators.

On July 31, community members in Santa Cruz marched to the county jail as part of "Hunger for Justice," an international day of protests and events held in solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike in state detention facilities across California since July 8. According to the organization Sin Barras, 37 prisoners in the Santa Cruz County Jail have also joined the hunger strike.