Feature Archives

Aerial spraying of pesticides in Monterey and Santa Cruz is set to continue and soon will come to the Bay Area. Pesticide opponents say, "This supposed 'emergency' is the presence of the light brown apple moth in Bay Area counties, but like all toxic dumping by the agriculture industry, it is likely more about industry profits." While pro-environment organizations are calling on officials to use sticky traps instead of sprays, aerial treatments are scheduled to begin June 1st in the infested areas of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, with subsequent aerial treatments expected to begin August 1st in San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Tiburon and Belvedere.

Jeff Muskrat writes, "With the fall of the Bear Mountain tree-sit in Victoria, BC, it seems like this is a very crucial time for activists in the trees up and down the west coast. There are two campus trees-sits, one under attack right now at UC Berkeley and one at UC Santa Cruz. These actions are opposing the unnecessary development of greenspace."

The Humane Society of United States conducted a video-taped undercover investigation of Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, California. The investigation documented cows unable to walk, known as "downed" cows, being rammed with the blades of a forklift, jabbed in the eyes, stabbed with electric prods and sprayed in the nose with high-pressure water hoses. Under federal regulations, only animals able to walk on their own can be used for meat.

Vigils will be held across California this week to remember Lawrence "Larry" King, the 15 year old E.O. Green Junior High student who was shot on February 12th in Oxnard. Larry was declared brain-dead Wednesday after he was shot in the head twice by a fellow junior high student at school, and he was taken off life support three days later. According to friends, Larry was perceived to be gay and gender non-conforming and had been bullied at school. The suspect, a 14-year old student, has been charged with attempted murder, and the case is being prosecuted as a hate crime. Vigils will be held in San Francisco on Tuesday and in Fresno on Wednesday.

Anti-war protesters celebrated on February 13th after having forced the US Army's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) to cancel the second day of its annual conference at UC Santa Barbara. The day prior, over 500 UCSB students and Santa Barbara community members disrupted the conference to demand an end to UC complicity in weapons research designed to kill Iraqis in an illegal war. The ICB is a $50 million Army-funded research institute hosted by UCSB, with sub-contracts at MIT and Caltech.

Friday, February 15th was Iraq Moratorium Day #6. The Iraq Moratorium is a community- based nationwide campaign to organize public displays of opposition to the war in Iraq on the third Friday of each month. Iraq Moratorium events include actions such as wearing black ribbons, calling Congress to say "Bring Home Our Troops," and coming together for protests and outreach events in cities all over the US. There were actions at military recruiting stations in Berkeley and Mountain View, and leafletting at Caltrain.

The California Fish and Game Commission in San Diego voted 3-0 on February 7th to designate the longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), a native fish that has dropped to record low numbers in the San Francisco Bay-Delta and is nearing extinction in other northern California estuaries, as a "candidate species." This is the first step toward a formal listing as an endangered or threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act, according to a press release from a coalition of three environmental groups.