Feature Archives

In conjunction with its October production of "The Laramie Project", Pisces Moon Productions is collaborating with the Matthew Shepard Foundation to present “Raising Ourselves/Erasing Hate: An Invitation to Change,” providing for a dialog about the power that one individual has to change their world and adopt the values of respect and dignity for others. This free performance will feature spoken word artists, musicians, actors, speakers and victims of hate crimes. It will take place from 7 - 9 PM at Louden Nelson Center, 301 Center Street in Santa Cruz, on September 6th.

On August 29th at approximately 2:00pm, an FBI agent posing as a neighbor knocked at the door of a home in Oceanside, CA, lured Nathan Pope/Knoerl from his mother's house, and arrested him. The only known charge at this point is felony perjury. He is being held on $100,000 bond. Nathan is a resident of the house on Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz that has been raided twice in the past six months.

In the early morning of August 25th, three windows were broken and a surveillance camera knocked off the roof of the Ocean Street McDonald's in Santa Cruz. In a post on Santa Cruz Indymedia, not lovin' it writes, "The Beijing Olympics have ended, but the repressive apparatus set up for the Games remains in place: some 300,000 surveillance cameras, 400,000 informants, and a general tightening of government control. McDonald's, one of the major sponsors of the Olympics, also remains omnipresent and continues to reaps its profits with four new restaurants and a large share of the advertising spectacle."

On August 24th, the ACLU of Santa Cruz County held their 2008 Summer Awards Celebration and Fundraiser at the Long Marine Lab's Seymour Center. The local ACLU presented Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty with the 'Hammer of Justice' award. Meanwhile, homeless rights advocates tried to educate ACLU members about what they say is the true nature of Mayor Coonerty.

The 2008 Watsonville Gay Pride Parade Committee, a group of diverse volunteers, organized the first ever pride parade in Watsonville on August 24th. The celebration was a huge success, with 325 people marching through the streets and over 500 enjoying a party in the plaza.

At their meeting on September 9th, the Santa Cruz City Council will decide whether to fund the initial design for a 5-story garage at Cedar/Cathcart. The garage will displace the Downtown Farmer's Market. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation is proposing that the City implement less costly and greener alternatives to building the garage. On September 3rd, City Council candidates will face the garage issue at a Candidate Night on Sustainable Transportation, at Louden Nelson Center, 7-8:30pm.

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a second report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. Professor Chase's first report revealed the falsehoods the CDFA delivered after June 19 when courts and public pressure stopped the CDFA from aerial spraying synthetic pheromone based pesticides directly on cities. This second report reveals the fraud and misinformation delivered by the CDFA from the fall of 2007 until June 19, 2008.