Feature Archives

Evaluating the health effects of past and future pesticides applied on and around people to combat the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), three state agencies concluded the potential danger was low because they incorrectly divided instead of multiplying. In their analysis, the agencies divided by the thousands of acres sprayed, when they should have multiplied by the same number of thousands. If only 1,000 acres were involved, the peoples' exposure was as much as one million times greater than reported by the state agencies.

Anticipating a California Supreme Court decision on Proposition 8 that could come as early as this month, lesbian/gay/bi/trans activists and supporters left Berkeley, California for a 100-mile walk to the state capitol in Sacramento on March 25. The event began with a rally on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall at noon on Tuesday, March 24 followed by symbolic march to the State Supreme Court Building. It ended with a rally on the steps of the capitol on March 30. Meanwhile, many activists are calling for a return to the streets and civil disobedience on Prop 8 D-Day if discrimination is written back into the California Constitution.

International Women's Day was Sunday, March 8th, and was celebrated around the Bay Area through a variety of events. The Stop Violence Against Women: 1 in 3 Art Exhibit included performances on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, March 8th, Code Pink marched across the Golden Gate Bridge, and then attended a potluck and program in Berkeley. In Palo Alto, the film "A Single Woman: The Story of Jeannette Rankin" was screened. In L.A., a march and rally aimed to "Celebrate Resistance and Internationalism! " and on Sunday there was a Women Hold Up Half the Sky presentation.

On Thursday, March 5th, legal arguments took place in the California Supreme Court regarding an attempt to overturn 2008's Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage. Lead counsel Shannon Minter argued that if the initiative process is used to take a fundamental right away from a persecuted minority, no one in California is safe. The court has 90 days to issue an opinion, but Equality California thinks that a decision will be issued sooner. Several events related to same-sex marriage are planned for the next few days.

A report released in February and authored by a group of researchers from various organizations supports concerns Californians have had about the aerial spraying of pesticides in the Monterey Bay area in 2007. The study shows the correlation of the unprecedented bird die off and red tide with the timing of the spraying of the pesticide Checkmate.

Following a series of Town Hall meetings that have been held since the murder of Oscar Grant, the first in a series of Caravans for Justice traveled to the California State Capitol on February 19th to speak out and lobby legislators on the issues of Oscar Grant and police killings, repressive gang laws, Three Strikes, the San Francisco 8, environmental justice, and other laws and issues that negatively effect urban communities of color.

Federal authorities have arrested four animal rights activists accused of protesting animal abuse at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, a FBI press release reported on Friday, February 20th. The activists are accused of "chalk[ing] defamatory comments on the public sidewalks", protesting while "wearing bandanas to hide their faces", and distributing leaflets with the contact information for vivisectors on them. All four will be charged at least in part under the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.