Feature Archives

On July 9, thousands marched down Market Street in San Francisco to the Department of Education to protest the privately run Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges' (ACCJC) revelation that they aim to terminate City College of San Francisco’s accreditation. Thousands of students could be cut off from this educational resource by 2014.

On July 3, an activist served representatives of the Santa Cruz County government with a written notice stating that the Sheriff department's policy of seizing the property of pre-trial homeless detainees violates federal code and the United States Constitution. The notice was accepted, and the activist believes that if a lawsuit is brought against the county, the authorities can not assert that they were unaware of the dangers they subject the homeless to.

Community members targeted by security guards paid by the City of Santa Cruz to patrol San Lorenzo Park say their free use of the area has been inhibited due to profiling. For years now, guards employed by First Alarm Security Services have been 'identifying,' and watching closely, individuals they perceive to be on probation or more generally, individuals they perceive to be undesirable for a variety of other reasons.

The Gill Tract in Albany has been a battleground in recent years as the University of California's development plans have met repeated resistance from Occupy the Farm and others fighting for land sovereignty. The tract was first occupied and farmed in 2012, providing hundreds of pounds of free produce to local communities. This year, in the space of nine days in May, occupiers broke ground, establishing a new urban farm, and replanted the field twice. Each time the UC police ploughed over the seedlings. Currently, Occupy the Farm is launching a pressure campaign against Sprouts Farmers Market, a supermarket chain looking to build on the land.

Faced with empty beds, demand concerns, and a bleak outlook, a report released by Anonymous on July 9 details why the hactivist group expects Corrections Corporation of America’s earnings to get smacked under the weight of current and future contract losses. CCA is a publicly-traded prison operator with a history of horrendous prison conditions and human rights abuses.

A plan by Warren Buffett’s PacifiCorp to apply chemicals to kill toxic blue-green algae on the Klamath River for the second year in a row has ignited opposition by North Coast Indian Tribes and river users. The Hoopa Valley Tribe and river users cite studies from 2012 that show killing the algae actually releases the algae toxin, microcystin, at a time of year when people are swimming, wading, rafting and fishing in the Klamath River.

Hundreds gathered at the Federal Building in San Francisco on July 2 to protest the proposed Chained CPI, and to send a strong message to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi “Do Not Mess with Our Social Security, and Expand Medicare for All!” After surrounding the Federal Building, demonstrators covered blocks as they marched to Post & Market Street. In 50 cities around the country, similar demonstrations took place and fired up the fight.