Feature Archives

Hundreds of UC students and workers from around the state joined together during the November 16th through 18th Regents meeting to protest proposals that they say will harm the public mission of the University of California. They are demanding no fee hikes for all students and no more cuts to staff, many of whom earn below a living wage. At the November 17th meeting, over three hundred protesters confronted a line of police at the Mission Bay campus in San Francisco, where the regents were meeting. Police used pepper spray and 13 protesters were arrested.

Marc Sapir writes, "The core paid staff (representing perhaps 30-50 staff people at KPFA) essentially seized control of KPFA this morning [November 9th] to rally their listener base to resist efforts that could restore KPFA to financial solvency for the first time in 2 years, and bring it back from the brink of collapse (KPFA does not now have cash income to pay the staff regularly). What goes unstated is that the majority of staff at KPFA—over 150 programmers and producers--the people who keep the station on air 24/7 are volunteers are not represented in these antics."

On Friday, November 5th, former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was sentenced for the shooting death of Oscar Grant, III. Mehserle received the minimum jail sentence possible from Judge Robert Perry, two years. Subtracting the 146 days Mehserle has already been behind bars in an LA County jail and another 146 days for "good behavior," he is expected to be released from state prison in less than one year from now. Concerned community members gathered together in Frank Ogawa Plaza by Oakland City Hall to respond to the sentencing and to honor Oscar. Police arrested 152 people in a march that followed.

Protests in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Berkeley at Chevron gas stations featured handmade "No on 26" placards, as environmental activists redoubled their efforts to defeat the initiative they are calling a "stealth" proposition. The demonstrations were part of a statewide action organized by the Sierra Club.

On October 7th, students, workers, & faculty gathered in solidarity to defend public education across the U.S. At UC Berkeley, supporters gathered in Sproul Plaza, marched, and later occupied the North Hall Reading Room at Doe Library. At San Francisco State, supporters rallied, with speakers including Oscar Grant's Uncle Bobby.

A new poll released Thursday by the Public Policy Institute of California shows Proposition 19 — the statewide initiative to control and tax cannabis (marijuana) — leading 52-41, with just 7 percent of likely voters still undecided. "Controlling and taxing cannabis is polling higher than anything else on California's ballot, including the gubernatorial and Senate candidates, as well as all the other initiatives," said Richard Lee, a proponent of Prop. 19.

Nurses, teachers, and union members lined the Bayshore Freeway in front of the San Francisco Airport Hyatt-Regency on September 21st to protest a Meg Whitman fundraising event. Anti-war activists were also on hand to demonstrate against former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who endorsed Whitman for Governor in a speech at the hotel.