Feature Archives

After filming a crime with their video surveillance cameras, Fresno mayor Alan Autry and police chief Jerry Dyer held a press conference to celebrate. They spent $1.3 million of taxpayer money for this video and now they want $1.7 million more so they can install more cameras.

The hearing on the motion for a new trial for Eric McDavid has been changed to January 24th, and his sentencing has been moved to February 21st. Eric is now receiving two veggie burgers a night, and has also been given some items that he can eat for other meals. Sacramento Prisoner Support is encouraging supporters to write to Eric, and to also write to to the Judge in the case, encouraging him to give Eric the lowest possible sentence.

A federal judge's written order on Friday, December 14 to protect delta smelt was welcome news for the California Delta and those who are battling to protect it, in light of the continuing collapse of the Bay-Delta ecosystem revealed by the latest Dept. of Fish and Game surveys. Judge Oliver Wanger of the U.S. District Court in Fresno issued his final written order to put in place a decision he initially made on August 31. Environmental groups say this ruling will protect the smelt and the Bay-Delta Estuary ecosystem from "being further degraded by fresh water diversions."

Peace activists held a demonstration against military recruitment at a shopping center on west Shaw avenue in Fresno on December 19th. The event began with the Raging Grannies singing songs of peace and a delegation going into the military recruiting center to hand out peace cranes and cookies.

Fresno policy on homelessness is changing. This article describes what those changes are and looks at the dynamics that are motivating the changes. The article focuses on a meeting that took place on December 7, 2007. This public hearing included the mayor of Fresno, all Fresno City Council members, all but one member of the Board of Supervisors, and the executive director of the Bush administration’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, Philip Mangano.

West Fresno residents and their allies held a press conference on Monday, November 26, 2007 to respond to elected city officials identifying black gang members as terrorists.

Eric McDavid told his supporters on November 23rd that he had ended his two-week long hunger strike. Eric is still requesting vegan food and medical care from the jail, and supporters are still calling the jail in an effort to convince them to give in to these demands. Eric decided last week that he will finish the commissary food he has left in his cell, but will no longer be ordering items from commissary. The food that the jail gives him is insufficient to meet his dietary needs, and he has suffered weight loss in addition to attacks of pericarditis during his recent hunger strike.