Feature Archives

On March 16th, UCSC administrators and Vice Chancellors held a meeting to discuss rent hikes at UCSC's Family Student Housing (FSH). A hundred tenants, from a community of 200 rental units, showed up to demand affordable rents. On Monday, March 30th various Associate Vice Chancellors and Directors of UCSC Housing are holding a second meeting to discuss their proposed rent increase of 7.5% with the FSH tenants. This will be an increase of 62% over the last nine years.

A personal account of the government's persecution and entrapment of political prisoner, Eric McDavid, will be given on Monday, March 30th at 7:00pm at the Subrosa Infoshop (703 Pacific Avenue) in Santa Cruz. Eric was arrested on January 13, 2006, and has remained in custody since, after being sentenced to 19 years in prison. Eric was entrapped by an FBI agent, known as "Anna", who spent over three years setting him up for the felony of "thought-crime."

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.

Between the forest and the ocean, among the students and the yuppies, Anarchists in Santa Cruz have fostered a close-knit community dedicated to the destruction of this world and the creation of another. Santa Cruz is a hub of anarchist culture and resistance, with a long history of radical struggle and active anarchist projects spanning decades. From May 7th to 10th, the Santa Cruz Anarchist Convergence was be a four-day event for building community and resistance and sharing radical ideas.

A group of youth in Salinas are activating a chapter of the Brown Berets to help deal with gang violence, discrimination and poverty. Brown Berets are currently active in communities such as Watsonville and Fresno. Historically, Brown Berets have been an important component of the Chicano/Chicana movement and instrumental in educating and inspiring youth to become politically active.

George Cadman is co-hosting a new radio show on KSCO 1080 AM every Saturday from 5 to 6 pm. The show is "The Cabrillo Insider" and is a project of the journalism program at Cabrillo College. The first show is on Saturday, March 21st and the topic will be the rally in San Francisco against the 6th anniversary of the war on Iraq, the 8th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan, and the occupation of Palestine.

Curtis Reliford and his Follow Your Heart Action Network sued Starbucks for slander after an incident in 2007 when a Starbucks manager in Santa Cruz tried to have Curtis arrested for panhandling. Curtis, and about 20 supporters, attended a court hearing on March 17th in front of Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Jeff Almquist. The case was dismissed on the premise that calling a charitable organization a "panhandler" was not going to hurt its reputation or influence how it conducts its business. Further action against Starbucks is being planned.