Feature Archives

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.

On December 14th, hundreds of PG&E customers, outraged about the health damage caused by wireless 'smart' meters, ramped up protests by testifying at county government meetings and shutting down payment centers in both Santa Cruz and Marin Counties to demand an immediate halt to the program. Protesters are also angry about PG&E's attempts to cover up the growing health scandal and recently revealed espionage carried out against their customers concerned with increasing reports of nausea, headaches, and bouts of dizziness from the meters. The protesters, backed by 22 local governments and an increasing number of scientists and medical professionals, are demanding that PG&E halt any further installation of smart meters.

Private First Class Bradley Manning is facing up to 60 years in prison for allegedly leaking information through WikiLeaks that expose U.S. war crimes. Among these is helicopter gunship video that shows U.S. troops nonchalantly mowing down two journalists, first aid respondents, and children with machine gun fire. The perpetrators of these crimes are not being punished, even with video proof of the cold blooded murders. Instead, the military brass are prosecuting Bradley Manning.

The California coast, from Davenport south through Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Castroville, is Brussels sprouts country. Most of this vegetable in North America comes from these fields, although a growing harvest now takes place in Baja California, in northern Mexico. In both California and Baja California, the vast majority of the people who harvest Brussels sprouts, like those who pick other crops, are Mexican.

Indybay has not only survived but thrived for ten years now. On November 13th, 2010, Indybay acknowledged everyone who has contributed over the last decade to the many projects of the SF Bay Area and Santa Cruz Independent Media Centers. We hosted a media conference with speakers, panels, and workshops — and then we threw a benefit party with radical musicians into the night. Thank you to everyone who came out!

On Sunday November 7th, there will a benefit at 7pm in Santa Cruz for Dine (Navajo) indigenous resistance communities at Big Mountain / Black Mesa, AZ who are in their third decade of resisting the expansion of coal strip mining operations and forced relocation from their traditional homeland by the US government. This benefit is part of the 2010 Fall Caravan of Support. On November 20th, work crews from Santa Cruz and all across the country will converge in support of the indigenous resistance communities of Black Mesa / Big Mountain.

More than a hundred healthcare workers marched outside Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital on October 21st to draw attention to the potential impact of more than 100 layoffs and employee buyouts ordered by hospital management. Employees decided to hold the picket by a 97% vote. Last May, nearly 900 respiratory care practitioners, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, clerical workers and others voted by a landslide to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and leave their old union, SEIU.