Newsitem List

Eureka - Calpine Corporation of San Jose had planned to build a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facility on the shores of Humboldt Bay. Public opposition quickly mounted against a proposal that would've brought 1000 ft. tankers with the explosive power of fifty-five Hiroshimas to the most populated area of Humboldt County. In-coming tankers would've shut down access of Humboldt Bay to fisherman, boaters and recreation users as often as twice a week. The gas would've been stored in 15-story holdin...

On March 16 there was a City Council hearing on school closures. State Administrator Randolph Ward is threatening to close five Oakland elementary schools in predominately low income African American and Latino communities to potentially save 1.2 million dollars. Meanwhile, Alameda County is spending 177 million dollars to build a new prison for children. Parents, teachers, union members, church members, elected officials and concerned citizens of the Coalition Against School Clo...

This update is for Pacific Lumber/Maxxam logging protests, rallies and Direct Actions in Humboldt County....

3/14: Welcome Home Event for Stephen Funk 3-9 PM Stephen Funk is a Marine reservist who is one of the few GIs who have publicly spoken out against the war. He was the first to be prosecuted for refusing to fight. Funk spent 6 months in a military prison for going AWOL for 46 days while he was filling out a conscientious objector discharge request. Meanwhile, the military budget for recruiting is over 2.4 billion dollars per year, giving nearly 40 million dollars in adve...

3/11/2004: With local courts refusing to put an immediate stop to same-sex marriages, the State Supreme Court in Sacramento stepped in today with a ruling putting same-sex marriages "on pause", after State Attorney General Lockyer asked the high court to take up the case without lower court review. According to Jon Davidson, one of the attorneys representing the over 4,000 same-sex couples married so far in San Francisco, "Today is just the beginning of our fight on behalf of these married...

3/8: In a bid to reclaim Oakland as a "landlord town" – and refashion OPD as the entire city's landlord – the Oakland City Council will vote on a frightening ordinance on March 16th called the "Nuisance Eviction Ordinance." This ordinance would give landlords, neighbors and the police the ability to evict tenants for actions considered "nuisances" without: a) charging tenants with a crime or b) having any real evidence, threatening the rights of everyone who lives in the city. Co...

From March 12-14, the Genetic Engineering Action Network and Californians for GE-Free Agriculture convened a conference in the Bay Area. "Building and strengthening a more coordinated and proactive GE movement," the conference offered workshops with over 30 issue experts and activists from the movement, including Anuradha Mittal and Ignacio Chapela. Here is audio collected from the conference so that you can plug in to what is going in the fight against GE Food and o...

On Wednesday, March 10th, the West Coast premiere screening of "Generation E," was held at UC Berkeley. "Generation E" is a feature-length documentary on a new federal bill known as the R.A.V.E. Act and its relationship to the electronic dance music scene, the War on Drugs, the media, and the criminalization of American youth. This event was a fundraiser for DanceSafe, a non-profit peer organization working for fact-based, non-judgmental drug education. The guest speaker at the event was ...

Argentina 12/20/2003: A bomb went off in a demonstration of around 50,000 people remembering the Argentine popular uprising of 2001. The bomb was placed in a metal rubbish bin in the centre of the plaza as the demonstration passed. 23 people were injured, two seriously. The march was one of many throughout the country over the days of the 19th and 20th involving an array of groups called to remember the more than 30 people killed during the rebellion and the fall of President Fernando De La R...

After a 3000 mile march, The Taco Bell Truth Tour culminated in a huge rally at Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine California on March 3rd, 2004. The farmworkers who pick the tomatoes for Taco Bell must pick up to 2 tons of tomatoes to make $50 and have not received a raise since 1978. In an effort to improve living conditions in the tomato fields of southwest Florida, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers took their struggle against the largest restaurant corporation in the world, Yum Brands Inc....

Hundreds gathered in San Francisco on Monday March 2nd to protest the US backed coup in Haiti (Photos: 1  2  3 | Audio | Video| Report Back) Around California, there were also protests in Fresno (Photos | Video), San Jose, and Los Angeles. Some sites that have updates about Haiti: Democracy Now | Flashpoints | TransAfrica | The Bay Area's Haiti Action Committee | Z Net | Haiti Support Group| The Jamaican Observer| Trinicenter| Latest Indybay Haiti Posts 3/26: Elected Haiti...

On Thursday March 4th, over one hundred students and teachers and students rallied in front of UC Chancellor Berdahl's office to protest the proposed closure of Berkeley Extension's English Language Program(ELP). 32 faculty members will be laid off if the closure goes forward. Read More...

Every year, anarchists from all over the country descend on San Francisco to socialize, browse books, and debate issues related to anarchism. On March 6th there was a DIY Festival in Berkeley (Photos). On March 11th there was an 80's dance party in Berkeley to benefit Anarchy Magazine. The Anarchist Cafe was held Friday March 12th and was partially a benefit for political prisoner Sherman Austin.@ Cafe Photos: 1 2 The Anarchist Bookfair was Saturday March 13th. | Video | There was a soc...

This Thursday, March 11, SF Bay Area Indymedia screened the award-winning documentary "The Cucumber Incident", along with women-produced shorts fresh from the East Coast. Showcased on the Sundance Film Channel and showing in New York at the upcoming NY Underground Film Festival, "The Cucumber Incident" documents the issues of class and gender that lead to severe consequences for three Ohio women who decide to seek justice outside of the law. Filmmaker Bonita Makuch was on hand from LA to an...

3/3/04: Mendocino County in Northern California voted yesterday to ban genetically-altered crops and animals within the county. In spite of the enormous local support for the Measure, CropLife America spent a total of 500,000 dollars on attempting to defeat the measure, in this county of about 88 thousand people. Washington DC based CropLife America represents biotech giants such as Monsanto, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical and others. They spent 55 dollars per NO vote, outspent the local anti-G...

3/4/04: Bush returned to California today, with Air Force One touching down at Moffett Field just a few minutes before noon for a $1,000 per plate luncheon in Santa Clara. Along with some flag-waving pro-Bush-Cheney patriots, several hundred protesters were waiting for him outside the Convention Center to denounce the Adminstration's foreign and domestic agenda. North Valley Baptist Church donated about ten buses to corral/conceal the demonstration from passers by. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | ...

3/2/04: Voters in California's Mendocino County voted to pass Measure H, a county-wide measure to ban the "propagation, cultivation, raising and growing of genetically modified organisms in Mendocino County." Measure H passed, in spite of enormous financial expenditures by CropLife America in an attempt to defeat it. Washington DC based CropLife America represents biotech giants such as Monsanto, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical and others. Mendocino County is now the first county in the nation t...

4/25/04: More than 1 million people participated in the March for Women in Washington, DC today. Report from the Radical Cheer/Anti-Fascist Block. There was a live bilingual broadcast from the March for Women on Pacifica Radio. Speakers and performers on the stage began an hour late because of the large size of the crowd. After 1:00 PST, the coverage continued on KPFT A pro-choice rally was held in Fresno today. Bay Area Women in Black held a Solidarity Vigil in San Francisco. 4/24/...

3/3/04: Mendocino County in Northern California voted yesterday to ban genetically-altered crops and animals within the county. In spite of the enormous local support for the Measure, CropLife America spent a total of 500,000 dollars on attempting to defeat the measure, in this county of about 88 thousand people. Washington DC based CropLife America represents biotech giants such as Monsanto, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical and others. They spent 55 dollars per NO vote, outspent the local anti-G...

Every year, anarchists from all over the country descend on San Francisco to socialize, browse books, and debate issues related to anarchism. The number of events associated with anarchy week has grown this year. On Saturday March 6th there was a DIY Festival in Berkeley (Photos). On Thursday night, March 11th, there will be a dance party in Berkeley to benefit Anarchy Magazine. The Anarchist Cafe will be held Friday night in San Francisco and will partially benefit political prisoner She...

3/1: Over 70,000 members of the Union of Food and Commercial Workers who had been on strike or locked out of their jobs at Safeway (Vons), Kroger (Ralphs) and Albertsons grocery stores since last fall voted this weekend to accept a settlement from the stores. Current workers won a significant prolonged battle over health and pension benefits which the stores had wanted to lessen or do away with, but the final deal includes a two-tier wage scale which will give new workers lower pay and benef...

Update August 2004 March 2004: >>>URGENT: Sign the Online Petition - They need 500 signatures by tonight! PUEBLO and Just Cause Oakland is under attack! Members, board members, and staff have been locked out of the office in a questionably legal move and prohibited from continuing to do the work of the organization and our movement. In addition, the Executive Director has been placed on unpaid administrative leave indefinitely. The staff members have been placed on paid administr...

The misleadingly named “Workforce Housing Initiative," written by the Chamber of Commerce and a few developers and PR consultants, is on San Francisco’s March 2 ballot as Proposition J. Read more on the Housing & Poverty page...