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SCPD Officers Beat and Tase Man Exhibiting Erratic Behavior Near Court House Witnesses to the recent tasing and arrest of a man in Santa Cruz describe the incident differently from the account communicated by police through the reporting of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Individuals on the scene report excessive force was used when officers with the SCPD arrested Oliver Howard near the Court House on Water Street on the afternoon of October 13. They say officers struck Howard with a baton, tased his bare body, piled on top of him, wrenched and twisted his limbs, and grinded...
Posted: Tue, Oct 21, 2014 5:52pm PDT
Massive Pollution of Water Supply Shows Big Oil's Power in California 
As the oil industry spent record amounts on lobbying in Sacramento and made record profits, documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity reveal that almost 3 billion gallons of oil industry wastewater were illegally dumped into Central California aquifers that supply drinking water and irrigation water for farms....
Posted: Wed, Oct 15, 2014 6:26pm PDT
War Profiteering 
Shortly before the Fall 2014 quarter was to commence at the University of California Santa Cruz, an undergraduate student decided to take a leave of absence from her studies....
Posted: Wed, Oct 15, 2014 5:52pm PDT
Petition Initiated at UCSC Due to Inadequate Housing Also Opposes Upper Campus Expansion 
A petition started by a student at UC Santa Cruz is calling for Chancellor Blumenthal to take the necessary steps to provide adequate housing and transportation on the campus. The petition also calls out the university's plans for expansion, stating, "we also believe that building into Upper Campus is NOT an adequate solution to this problem and will only add to the over-enrollment issue."...
Posted: Tue, Oct 14, 2014 10:55pm PDT
Martin's Beach Access Lawsuit Won Against Billionaire Vinod Khosla 
On September 24, the Surfrider Foundation scored a huge victory in its protracted legal battle against billionaire and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla to restore beach access at Martin’s Beach in San Mateo County, California. In 2010, Khosla had locked gates that provided the only public access to the beach. “Today’s court decision upholding the Coastal Act is an important victory for Martin’s Beach and ultimately strengthens the public's right to beach access in California,” says Angela Howe...
Posted: Thu, Oct 9, 2014 3:19pm PDT
Community Members Oppose Construction of New McDonald's in Downtown Watsonville 
A petition has been circulated and community members are planning to attend the October 14 Watsonville City Council meeting to show their disdain for the approval of a new McDonald's restaurant in the historic downtown area of the city. "We can stop this from happening. Our children deserve better. Watsonville has moved forward, a McDonald's would be a huge step back," the petition states....
Posted: Tue, Oct 7, 2014 6:17pm PDT
Legal Settlement Allows Park Service Marine Wilderness Restoration to Begin at Point Reyes 
On October 6, the Department of the Interior and the Drakes Bay Oyster Company announced a settlement agreement that will dismiss the oyster company’s failed litigation and assign clean-up costs for the mess caused by the company’s non-native oyster cultivation. The settlement agreement follows four consecutive Federal court decisions that upheld DOI’s November 12 decision to let Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s lease expire as long planned, thereby protecting the West Coast’s first marine wildern...
Posted: Tue, Oct 7, 2014 5:28pm PDT
Pomo Leaders, AIM Elders and Environmental Activists Shut Down Caltrans Construction 
On September 23, Native American Tribal members joined environmental groups in a protest on the north end of the Willits Bypass highway project. Protestors entered the construction zone north of town in the early morning hours, stopping the fast and furious flow of dirt-filled, double-belly dump trucks that have been working from dawn to dusk to cover the wetlands and archeological sites the activists seek to protect....
Posted: Mon, Oct 6, 2014 11:06am PDT
Movement to End Capital Punishment Growing 
At a rally in Palo Alto on October 5th, speakers Mary Kay Raftery and Chris Walker said that there is no such thing as the "closure" that death penalty advocates promote. Mary Kay's son was murdered; Chris spoke of his experience as an innocent man in Pelican Bay prison. Long time Amnesty International member Terry McCaffrey said it is clear that support for the death penalty is in decline, but "we must not let up on our struggle to put an end to capital punishment"....
Posted: Mon, Oct 6, 2014 4:39am PDT
Police Brutality Victims Demand San Francisco Giants Take Stand on Cultural Appropriation 
April Negrette and Kimball Bighorse have filed tort claims against the City and County of San Francisco for police brutality that occurred when the Giants called in SFPD to eject Negrette and Bighorse from its June 23, 2014, “Native American Heritage Night” event and game. Ms. Negrette and Mr. Bighorse had peacefully confronted a group of inebriated men who were inappropriately and disrespectfully wearing a plastic counterfeit Native American-themed headdress. The Giants ordered the San Fran...
Posted: Sun, Oct 5, 2014 12:27pm PDT
Tenant Facing Eviction Hands Out "Eviction Protection" Condoms at Folsom Street Fair 
Claudia Tirado, a third grade teacher and tenant being evicted by Google's head of eDiscovery, Jack Halprin, queered her fight to remain in her home at the Folsom Street Fair on September 21. With other activists from Eviction Free San Francisco, Tirado handed out condoms for "eviction protection" at the annual kink and sex-positive SoMa fair. Eviction Free SF reported that many fair attendees agreed that housing is a queer issue and that it is unconscionable for Halprin to evict residents so...
Posted: Sun, Oct 5, 2014 11:13am PDT
Edward Snowden's Revelations Heralded for Safeguarding Democracy in the Digital Age 
On September 8, 2014, Bay Area chapters of Code Pink and World Can’t Wait participated in a worldwide reading of texts by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: “With this worldwide reading, we call on the United States Government to recognize that Edward Snowden's revelations are of essential importance for the safeguarding of democracy in the digital age.... Washington should therefore immediately lift all legal charges and complaints against Snowden, so that he can return home safely as a free ...
Posted: Sat, Oct 4, 2014 8:16pm PDT
Salinas Police Release Names of Officers Who Killed Residents in 2014 
Following months of pressure by family members and the media, the Salinas Police Department announced that Brian Johnson and Scott Sutton were the officers that shot and killed Frank Alvarado on July 10. They were named in a press release that also listed the officers involved in the killing of three other Latino residents in East Salinas in 2014. Frank Alvarado's father and sister spoke out at a press conference held at City Hall on October 1, stating that justice would be served, if not in ...
Posted: Sat, Oct 4, 2014 7:40pm PDT
Sin Barras letter to Center for Conflict Studies challenges legitimacy of Police Chief 
On October 9, Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin is scheduled to speak on a panel titled “Police Legitimacy in Communities of Color” presented by the Center for Conflict Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Under Chief McMillin’s command, four unarmed Salinas community members — all Latino men — were shot and killed by officers in a span of four months. Sin Barras, a group that works to eradicate the prison industrial-complex, authored a letter to the hosts...
Posted: Sat, Oct 4, 2014 7:15pm PDT
Sit-in Held Following UCB Rally for 50th Anniversary of the Free Speech Movement 
Uniting students, workers, community members, and veterans of the Free Speech Movement, Cal Progressive Coalition (CPC) led a surprise sit-in at Capital Projects following the rally for the 50th Anniversary of the birth of the Free Speech Movement. Capital Projects is the real estate arm of the University of California Berkeley that is actively privatizing public resources, such as in their proposed commercial development of the historic Gill Tract Farm. The CPC action sparked dialogue across...
Posted: Thu, Oct 2, 2014 2:12pm PDT
U.S. Dietary Guidelines Must Include Reduced Meat, Dairy to Meet Sustainability Goals 
Newly proposed U.S. dietary guidelines should include meat and dairy reductions to create a sustainable food system in the United States that helps curb climate change, reduce environmental destruction and protect wildlife, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, currently in the process of developing the 2015 Dietary Guidelines, is taking sustainability concerns into account for the first time....
Posted: Thu, Oct 2, 2014 10:46am PDT
For Second Time in Two Months, Zim Ship Forced to Leave Oakland Port Without Unloading 
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) activists in the San Francisco Bay Area came together again on September 27 and 28 to picket and blockade an Israeli Zim Line ship at the Port of Oakland. Organized by the Stop Zim Action Committee this time, Palestine solidarity activists dispersed across five entrances at the SSA terminal over multiple shifts, preventing longshore workers from unloading cargo for two days until the ship left port....
Posted: Mon, Sep 29, 2014 11:11pm PDT
No More Sweetheart Water Deals for Billionaire Farmers 
Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills billionaire owner of Paramount Farms in Kern County, and his wife, Lynda, have been instrumental in promoting campaigns to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley Chinook salmon and Delta smelt populations, as well as to build the fish-killing peripheral tunnels. One of the largest private water brokers in the U.S., the Resnick holding company Roll International makes millions of dollars in profits off marketing subsidized public wat...
Posted: Sun, Sep 28, 2014 7:06pm PDT
Workers Reject Three-Year Wage Freeze Proposal from Dream Inn Owners 
On September 26, workers held a rally at the Santa Cruz Dream Inn to demand a fair contract with meaningful wage increases. Dream Inn workers are presently without a contract and have been negotiating with the hotel for months. Owners are proposing they take a three-year wage freeze followed by 1% and 2% raises in the fourth and fifth years. "We can barely support ourselves now and the Dream Inn wants to make it worse over the next five years," read a flyer handed out to hotel guests at the r...
Posted: Sat, Sep 27, 2014 11:02pm PDT
Homeless Rights Group Examines Police Records for Patterns of Selective Enforcement 
After a lively debate, Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF) voted to endorse a "mellow" but visible presence on the corner of Laurel and Center Streets in front of the Santa Cruz Police Department parking lot. Since 2013, HUFF has received complaints about officer Barnett of the SCPD targeting homeless residents for minor offenses, and the organization pressed the department to release the citations he has issued....
Posted: Sat, Sep 27, 2014 10:58pm PDT