Feature Archives

On Friday, August 24th, Gary Johnson was ordered by Judge John Gallagher to report to the Santa Cruz County Jail at 3 p.m. The jail refused to accept Johnson, ordering him to return on Monday at 8 a.m. Johnson was frustrated with this and returned to the Santa Cruz Courthouse. Upon entering the Courthouse, Johnson was immediately arrested by a sheriff's deputy.

Brent Adams writes: "The City of Santa Cruz has been using the Santa Cruz Police Department and the City Parks Department to attack homeless camps. We are in the 7th week of this campaign that has seen more than 300 citations given, more than 100 camps destroyed, personal belongings trashed, and more than 150 arrests. While the Homeless Services Center has closed the Paul Lee Loft Shelter, the City has offered no other solutions to people who are survival camping in the woods, river levee, and downtown."

On August 24, supporters of GMO-Free Santa Cruz and Proposition 37 on the California ballot, marched and sang along Pacific Avenue to raise awareness about the proposition, and encourage people to vote in favor of it. Throughout the United States, people currently eat genetically engineered food, but they generally are not aware of it. The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, Prop 37 on the November ballot, would simply require food sold in retail outlets in California, such as grocery stores, to be labeled if it is produced with genetic engineering.

The 2012 Republican National Convention was held in Tampa, Florida from August 27th 28th through 30th. The entirety of downtown Tampa was within the RNC security zone. There were demonstrations, rallies, and marches happening throughout the week. Beforehand, hysterical corporate media reports — fed by releases from law enforcement authorities — warned of threats from "outlaws and anarchists." Local officials wrote a new-anti protest law, set up security cameras throughout the city, and set aside 1,700 beds at the local jail to handle "troublemakers", but the largest protest was only 1000 people strong and Tampa itself was largely a police state ghost town. There were just two arrests, both under the new city law. Indybay has reports, photos, and video from throughout, with more still coming in.

On August 10th, Thomas Matzat and supporters appeared before the Yolo County District Court for a pre-trial hearing. Thomas is being charged with five counts of felony vandalism, fourteen counts of misdemeanor vandalism, and one misdemeanor charge for “possessing a marking substance with the intent to commit vandalism”. At the hearing, Thomas’ pro bono legal team provided evidence that police lied about security footage used to identify him.

Approximately 50 supporters of the Santa Cruz Eleven packed into Department 6 of the Santa Cruz Courthouse on August 20th, for a hearing before Judge Paul Burdick to decide if the case against the seven remaining defendants would be dismissed. The defendants, their attorneys, and supporters were disappointed when Judge Burdick ruled that the case will proceed, and scheduled a confirmation hearing on January 4th, 2013, followed by a preliminary hearing on Monday, January 7th.

A well-known anti-Muslim group known as "The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI)" began running Islamophobic ads on ten San Francisco buses. The ads read: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." After MUNI announced that it would not remove the ads, local artists took matters into their own hands and began modifiying the ads. Several now read: "In any war between the colonizer and the colonized, support the oppressed. Support the Palestinian right of return. Defeat racism."