Feature Archives

Mark Hawthorne writes: Animal Place, an education center and sanctuary for farmed animals, is pleased to announce that in addition to our new location in Grass Valley, we will retain our current property in Vacaville, California.... Animal Place will keep our 60-acre location, transforming it into Rescue Ranch.... The Ranch will be dedicated to finding loving homes for easily adoptable animals, such as chickens, sheep, and goats.

On August 16th people gathered on the sidewalk in front of Whole Foods in Berkeley to let customers know that its founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board, John Mackey, is working to prevent public funding of health care. In an August 11th opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (it is also available on the Whole Foods website), Mackey wrote in a piece entitled "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" that the "last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement."

On August 15th, hundreds rallied at the Richmond BART and then marched to the Chevron oil refinery. The protesters called attention to Chevron’s polluting oil refinery in Richmond and to its oil industry expansions - killing people and the planet for profit. A critical mass bike bloc also meet at the Richmond BART and followed the main march to the Chevron refinery. At the end of the march there was non-violent civil disobedience action against the refinery.

Michael and Stephanie Williams report that they were brutalized by the Albany police department on June 5th in front of their children. Michael was tasered multiple times and Stephanie was searched under her clothing by a male officer. A rally was held at the Albany City Council meeting on August 5th in support of the family. Michael Williams has a preliminary hearing on Monday, August 10th, for charges related to the Albany police claim that he threatened them.

On Saturday, August 1st, an Oakland police officer shot and killed carpenter and handyman Brownie Polk at a liquor store in East Oakland. Police claim he was threatening people, but employees and other witnesses have contradicted the police account, saying they didn’t call the police and Polk was carrying his work tools and was trying to walk out of the store when he was shot.

On Sunday, August 2, the documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe will screen in Berkeley as part of the Jewish Film Festival. The late civil rights attorney William Kunstler was one of the most famous and controversial lawyers of the 20th century. He represented civil rights and anti-war activists, as well as accused terrorists and murderers.

On Monday, July 20th, Oakland's Street Level Health Project held a community rally and press conference in response to the burglary and vandalism of the center that took place the night before. The perpetrators of the attack broke equipment, destroyed wall paintings and files, and stole three computers.The break-in took place while the security cameras were down due to repairs. This has forced SLHP to close down for a week and turn away people seeking health services.