Feature Archives

The Local Patients' Cooperative in Hayward was raided by DEA and IRS agents on Tuesday, December 12th. The LPC had been preparing to close at the end of December. The Patients Resource Center, half a block down the street, was not affected by the raid.

The Bay Area premiere of the film "Behind the Mask: The Story Of The People Who Risk Everything To Save Animals" will be shown at the Humanist Hall in Oakland on Saturday, December 16th. "Behind the Mask" explores the history of the animal liberation movement, from its inception to present day. Animal liberation activists have been called the #1 domestic terror threat by the FBI, even though they claim to have never harmed a living being.

On Friday, November 24th, the 5th Annual Buy Nothing Day Action was held from 12:00pm to 4:00pm at the Emeryville Shellmound (Bay Street Mall). Some 100 people gathered at Shellmound Drive and Ohlone Way. They sang, spoke, handed out flyers, and marched through the mall. Report | Photos The mall was recently built atop the Emeryville Shellmound, despite protests and strong objections from Indian People Organizing for Change (IPOC) and supporters. The shell mound, which was older than the pyramids in Egypt, was once 60 feet high and up to 600+ feet in diameter, with at least four levels of burial sites.

While most of America focuses on the turkey they will eat on Thanksgiving, animal rights activists cannot forget the poor conditions millions of turkeys are forced to live in every day. Animal activists do not begrudge the celebration of family and friends on Thanksgiving, partaking in the camaraderie of the day themselves, but they are actively working to improve the living conditions of turkeys and/or to encourage the public to consider more humane animal-free alternatives.

November 20th was the 8th Transgender Day of Remembrance. An observation of the day was held on Sunday, November 19th in Oakland's Preservation Park. Photos: 1 | 2 Organizers highlighted the fact that many transgendered women have been assaulted on the streets near Preservation Park. This event was also a way to let neighbors know that there is a trans community outside of San Francisco. At least two prominent killings of trans people have occurred east of San Francisco in recent years- those of Gwen Araujo in Newark and Alfred Dibble in Stockton.

On Monday, November 13th hotel workers and their supporters gathered for an evening rally against threatened mass firings at the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville. Audio Report Woodfin Hotel workers are still demanding what is owed to them under the new living wage law in Emeryville, Measure C, which took effect last December. After the passage of Measure C, the Woodfin Hotel bosses began to claim that many of the workers' social security numbers are "incorrect," and are threatening to fire the workers unless they fix their alleged, unproved worker authorization problems.

On Saturday November 11th over 500 Berkeley residents and Bay Area environmentalists marched on the Pacific Steel Foundry calling for an immediate halt to the companies discharge of heavy metals into the atmosphere. Photos Pacific Steel Casting is known as a major chronic polluter, emitting noxious odors and toxic pollutants into the air-- the odors, which have been described as smelling like "burned brakes or burned pot handle," can be detected miles south of the facility.