Feature Archives

William C. (Bill) Rodgers, aged 40, of Prescott, Arizona, was found dead in a jail cell in Flagstaff early on December 22nd. The Coconino County sheriff's office and medical examiner said that he had committed suicide by placing a plastic bag over his head while he was in his one-person cell.

Bill Rodgers was one of six people arrested this month in connection with eco-defense actions in Oregon and Washington in recent years. He was charged in the firebombing of a government wildlife lab outside Olympia, Wash. In an affidavit that was filed in federal court last week, an FBI agent said that Rodgers attended a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the arson of a Vail, Colorado ski resort was planned.

Community members are mourning the passing of a tireless activist who had worked for social justice and environmental responsibility. He was a co-founder of the Catalyst Infoshop and Bookstore. One of his loved ones said about the case, "We need to show Prescott and the U.S. that we are not ashamed of who Bill—or The Catalyst—is, but proud of how they have served to bring people together."

Update about Defendants Arrested in Other States

SupportBill.org | Catalyst Infoshop | Arizona Indymedia | Read more about eco-defense arrestees on Indybay's Environment and Forest Defense Page

December 22nd Update: New York City's three-day mass transit strike ended today when union leaders, facing mounting fines and threatened jail terms, voted to return their 33,000 members to work without a new contract. Read more No agreement has yet been made about the MTA's proposal to raise contributions to the pension plan for new workers from 2 percent to 6 percent.

New York City’s 34,000 bus and subway workers defied threats of fines and imprisonment and walked off the job at 3:00 a.m. Tuesday morning December 20th. Their union, the Transport Workers Union Local 100, rejected the demands of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for sweeping concessions on pensions, health care and working conditions. This strike is the first to shut down the city’s mass transit system in 25 years.

This struggle has pitted transit workers in a direct confrontation not only with the MTA, but with the state and city governments, the Democratic and Republican parties, and New York’s ruling establishment of Wall Street financiers and corporate CEOs. It also pits them against the trade union bureaucracy. The president of Local 100’s parent union intervened after the breakdown of negations to urge that the MTA’s offer be accepted and warn that the strike would receive no support from the international union. Under New York State’s anti-labor Taylor Law, workers face the prospect of being fined two days’ pay for every day on the picket line, while threats have been made to arrest union leaders and possibly striking workers themselves for defying a court injunction.

After the walkout, the MTA Chairman said that he and the state’s attorney general would go to court immediately seeking contempt rulings. The city went to work and won a $1 million fine per day from the union. More militant parts of the labor movement say that at least AFSCME union leadership, if not the AFL-CIO itself, should call an immediate general strike in New York City in support of the transit workers, and at the very least demand the fines be revoked. Updates on New York Indymedia

Read more of this story on Indybay's Labor and Workers News Page

It appears to be that many animals in New Orleans died because Governor of LA Kathleen Blanco, FEMA and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin did not allow people affected by Hurricane Katrina to stay with their pets or to return to New Orleans to rescue their loved family pet members. Some 40,000 companion animals reportedly died because they had been left at home, either starving to death or suffering from injuries. Some pets who survived have been lost in the system because it took organizations several months to get organized enough to be able to list so many rescued animals. Many people have complained about incompetence of Humane Services of the United States in particular, saying that HSUS lost their pets in "the system." Volunteers in many areas are still overwhelmed with trying to take care of the displaced animals: Needs Assessment as of November

It appears that some 10,000 companion animals did survive. Animal advocates are asking for people to notify gulf coast residents and displaced people that there are now several resources that they can use to search for their pets..

Read resources and tips for finding animals

Read more stories about people and animals who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina

On December 7th, six people were arrested in coordinated busts in five states for their alleged roles in radical ecodefense actions. The FBI said that these arrests came after nine years of investigation. The six people arrested were Stanislaus Gregory Meyerhoff, who was arrested in Virginia; Daniel Gerard McGowan, who was arrested at his job in New York; Kevin M. Tubbs, who was arrested in Oegon, and William C. Rodgers, who was arrested in a raid on an Infoshop in Arizona; Sarah Kendall Harvey who was arrested in Arizona; and Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, of Oregon.

The defendants have been indicted by federal grand juries in either Oregon or Washington, on charges related to four separate fires in the Northwest and the destruction of a power tower-- events that date back to 1998. The FBI says that the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility for several of the incidents. Meyerhoff and McGowan were indicted in Oregon for alleged roles in the 2001 arsons at a lumber company and at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, which resulted in over $2 million in total damages. If McGowan and Meyerhoff are convicted, they would reportedly face the most severe sentences for non-violent sabotage in United States history- a minimum of 30 years per incident, which amounts to life sentences.

McGowan denies any involvement with arson, and denies membership in the ELF. McGowan was a spokesperson for the RNC Not Welcome campaign in New York City in 2004 (using the name Jamie Moran). Read more

Also on December 7th, Portland human, environmental, and animal activists Frank Winbigler and Shannon (Nonny) Urick were served with papers ordering them to be witnesses for a federal Grand Jury. They were also told that they are targets of the Grand Jury's investigation. Read more from Portland Indymedia Federal agents reportedly were in Boston this week, asking about the whereabouts of wanted California man Daniel Andreas San Diego. Read More

US DOJ Statement | What to do if the FBI "Drops By," from the National Lawyers Guild | New York Indymedia | US Indymedia

On December 7th, 2005, Rigoberto Alpizar was returning with his wife from South America where they had participated in missionary work with her uncle. As the two were boarding a connecting flight in Miami bound for Orlando, Alpizar became agitated, bolted up the aisle, and tried to flee the aircraft. Passengers said that his wife ran after him shouting, “My husband is sick, my husband is sick.” Others heard her pleading that he was bipolar and had not taken his medicine. After being confronted by plainclothes marshals, Alpizar fled the aircraft and was shot to death. A spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, Dave Adams, claims Alpizar had “run up and down the aisle yelling, ‘I have a bomb in my bag,’” but no passengers interviewed has said that they hear him say anything.
Read More | Eyewitnesses refute official story | Shooting the Mentally Ill | Brother of man shot dead in Miami demands answers | Florida man Murdered by air marshals at Miami | Air marshals kill Latin American U.S. citizen in Miami under questionable circumstances
More Stories About Police Brutality One Indybay's Police Page

A Community Housing Rights March was held in New Orleans on December 3rd. Report and Video | Photos People gathered at the Iberville Projects on Basin Street to march in support of the rights of residents, particularly those who lived in public housing, to return home. The housing shortage, rapidly rising rents, and the lack of sustainable government supports have made it hard for thousands of people who wish to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. Evictions - both illegal and legal - are epidemic in the New Orleans area and returning home or the lack of ability to return to a home are causing further problems for the displaced residents of the flooded city. People who needed public assistance to meet basic needs, including housing, are finding the rug pulled out from under them as the city makes plans to tear down public housing, closing even livable and marginally damaged housing with little or no dialogue with displaced residents.

Despite the fact that less than 20% of New Orleans residents are back in town, a few dozen marchers gathered in front of the Iberville Public Housing projects just outside of the French Quarter to show support for the city's poor and working people. The crowd marched freely down Canal Street to the Federal encampment by the Mississippi Riverwalk. Groups present at the protest included the Coalition to Save Iberville, New Orleans Housing Emergency Action Team (NO HEAT), the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, and Common Ground Eviction Defense.

12/6/2005: A federal jury on Tuesday failed to return a single guilty verdict on any of the 51 criminal counts against former Florida professor, Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants accused of helping to lead a Palestinian terrorist group. He remains in jail and awaits the decision of the prosecutors on whether or not to retry him on the deadlocked charges.

Until his arrest, Al-Arian was one of the most prominent Palestinian academics and activists in the United States. His indictment in 2003 was hailed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as one of the first triumphs of the Patriot Act. The prosecution took nearly five months to present its case, presenting hundreds of documents, including thousands of hours of wiretapped telephone calls, intercepted e-mails and faxes and bank records gathered over a decade. Al-Arian didn't call a single witness on his behalf. After months of prosecution "evidence", the sole response by Al-Arian's attorney was "On behalf of Dr. Al-Arian, the defense rests."

Democracy Now On The Acquital | Sami Al-Arian Acquitted | US court clears Sami al-Arian of terrorism
Previous Coverage: Free Sami Al-Arians | The Case of Sami al-Arian | End The Silence (video) | Alleged Islamic Jihad boss was Bush guest | Sami Al-Arian's side of the story in his own words (audio) | A.N.S.W.E.R. statement on the arrest of Al-Arian | Labor Video Project: Free Speech Silenced (video) | Sami Al-Arian at Berkeley Palestinian Solidarity Conference (Audio) | College staff find chilling free speech climate