Feature Archives

On March 1st, Monterey City Council unanimously adopted a resolution demanding Pacific Gas and Electric immediately halt the installation of Smart Meters and related infrastructure within city limits. Monterey is the first city in Monterey County to take formal action against Smart meters, and joins 28 other cities, towns, and counties around California in taking action opposing them.

On February 11th, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republican state legislators introduced legislation to end collective bargaining for public employees on the premise that the attack on unions was motivated by budgetary concerns. Within a week, tens of thousands of public employees and labor supporters were demonstrating daily in the capital of Madison. Protests and solidarity rallies have since spread across the U.S. On February 26th, rallies were held in over 50 U.S. cities as part of a national day of action to demand an end to the attacks on workers' rights and public services across the country.

While many people were out buying Valentine's Day gifts or flowers, same-sex couples in San Francisco were asking for the right to marry on February 14th. Every year since 2005 same-sex couples go to the City and County Clerks' office in San Francisco's City Hall on Valentine's Day and request to get married. And each year they are denied, so they a hold sit-in until they are arrested.

UPDATE: On February 11th, Mubarak resigned and passed control of the country to an Egyptian military council.

A new mass protest in Egypt took place Friday, February 4th, as plain clothes police and other Mubarak supporters continued to attack protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. In the early morning hours of February 3rd, supporters of the regime opened fire on the protesters in the square, killing at least eleven.

An international day of protest in solidarity with the Egyptian people was held February 5th. In San Francisco, thousands of protesters, including many Egyptians, gathered and marched in solidarity with the mass movement in Egypt.

In a day of protests in Egypt, hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets on January 25th, facing down riot police, water cannons, baton charges and tear gas. The people are chanting for freedom and an end to the corrupt administration of Hosni Mubarak, in power for 30 years, with the demand that he join the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali in Saudi Arabia.

On January 28th, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets again as the government cut access to internet and phone service for much of the country. By the evening, government buildings on fire and many protesters dead and wounded from tear gas canisters and live ammunition. As the army took to the street, replacing the police, and initially not attacking protesters, many thought the revolution had achieved its goal but Mubarak appeared on state television in the early evening to say he had fired the rest of the government but intended to stay in power.

On February 1st, millions took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities to demand an end to the Mubarak regime. Mubarak responded that he will not run for re-election in September but demonstrators will not let him steal another rigged election for his military junta; a protest is scheduled for Friday February 4th to march on the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis and force a change in regime.

On January 29th, hundreds took to the streets in San Francisco to stand in solidarity with the protesters in Egypt.

Newly elected Governor Jerry Brown’s 2011–2012 budget proposal slashes $12.5 billion dollars from essential health and human services. Brown himself characterized his new budget as "draconian." Immediately following the January 10th announcement of Brown’s new budget, health service agencies held a press conference in the Sacramento State House denouncing the proposal. Statewide actions included similar press conferences and rallies in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Fresno.

Tim Hull, Courthouse News writes: The 9th Circuit on Wednesday [Dec. 15] revived the First Amendment claim of a man who was kicked out of a Santa Cruz City Council meeting for giving a Nazi salute. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote that a councilman's ensuing "hissy fit" may have disrupted the meeting more than the silent gesture.