A U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California has ruled that the City of Fresno's practice of immediately seizing and destroying the personal possessions of homeless residents violates the constitutional right of every person to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Bay Area environmental and social justice organizations are demanding a halt to San Francisco's proposed highly polluting Peaker Power Plant Project. Also known as the Combustion Turbine Project, the plant is proposed to be built in Southeast San Francisco, right next to the Bayview Hunters Point community that is already overburdened with pollution.

On the heels of University of California's ongoing executive pay scandals, UC's Administration is once again being denounced for misplaced priorities. For ten months, 20,000 UC medical and service workers have been trying to protect quality patient care and CA communities, reporting that lack of competitive wages is impacting the University's ability to retain its best staff. After ten months of negotiating for equal pay for equal work, they have reached impasse, and the workers announced they will take a strike vote, running from May 17th-May 22nd.

On Tuesday, June 3rd, Gay Shame will conduct a séance to "summon the ghosts of Polk Street's past", defend street culture and protest Lower Polk Neighbors, whose "business improvement district" has been slowly squeezing the spirit out of Polk Street. Mary writes, "Because the gentrification of the Polk Street area in the Tenderloin is an intersection of so many different wars City Hall is waging -- against people of color, sex workers, homeless people, immigrants, drug addicts, youth, and marginalized queer/trans people -- it's the perfect place to channel voices of resistance."

Hector Antonio Ventura, one of 14 people arrested last year during an anti-water privatization protest in the town of Suchitoto, El Salvador, was assassinated in his home on May 3. The assailants apparently stabbed him to death, while another man was attacked but survived. Organizations such as the legal group FESPAD have called for a full investigation into the death of the 19-year old Ventura, while expressing concern that Salvadoran authorities will not address the likely political motivation for the murder.

Monday, May 12, 2008: In Lebanon, armed clashes over the past week have left at least 81 dead. Fighting erupted last week during a general strike called by the General Federation of Labor Unions to protest the high cost of living. On May 8th, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah held a press conference in Beirut and condemned a decision by the Lebanese cabinet to outlaw Hezbollah's telecommunication network and dismiss the head of Airport security for his alleged ties to the party. Nasrallah said their private communication network was critical to their success during the July 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah-led opposition forces quickly overpowered pro-government militias and took over large parts of the capital city of Beirut before handing over control to the Lebanese army.

The work stoppage at all 29 West Coast ports on May 1, 2008 by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) was an historic turning point for the U.S. labor movement. For the first time in more than seventy years, a major U.S. trade union led marches and a system-wide strike on May Day. And for the first time ever, it was not for economic reasons, but for the political demand to end the disastrous and debilitating U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Robert Norse writes, "Donna Deiss called in last night to report that yesterday (May 9th) around 5pm, Officer La Moss (Badge #114) assaulted her, broke her arm, and then put her in handcuffs when he attempted to question her at "Three Tree Lot" near Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz. Deiss was taken to the Watsonville hospital, where she waited hours for x-rays, which confirmed her arm was broken."

The indynewswire show airs weekly on Freak Radio, Friday mornings 10-12 noon, broadcasting news and opinion from independent media worldwide, focused on indymedia sites but also drawing from other websites. On May 9th, danielsan interviewed Katherine Redmond of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes (NCAVA) on the De Anza Rape Case, closed last week by the CA attorney General Jerry Brown's office, citing lack of evidence. More than a year later, Katherine Redmond discusses this and other cases nationwide.

On May 8th on the Cal State East Bay (CSUEB) campus, the Queer/Straight Alliance (QSA) sponsored a Mock Marriage for Marriage Equality and a LGBT Resource Fair. Five couples, of varying sexes, genders, and sexualities were mock married and three ceremony types were utilized: a Jewish ceremony, a Pagan hand fasting, and a Christian ceremony. There were also participants of varying ethnicities within the ceremonies.

On May 8th, Eric McDavid was sentenced to 235 months. He was convicted in February of 2008 of "conspiracy to damage or destroy government property by means of fire or explosives." The "conspiracy" was fabricated by "Anna," an FBI informant who was paid over $65,000 to entrap him. Now that the sentencing is over, Eric will be able to start the appeals process. In the near future, Eric will likely be sent to a federal facility recommended to be close to his family. His supporters are hopeful that the move will bring many improvements in his overall standard of living.

Two experienced cyclists have been killed on Mission Street in Santa Cruz in the last year. According to People Power, Santa Cruz County's advocate for human-powered transportation, both of these deaths could have been avoided had the City designed the street six years ago with bike lanes. People Power also asserts that both deaths could have been avoided if the cyclists had felt safe riding in the middle of the right hand lane. On Tuesday, May 13th, bicyclists will converge at the Santa Cruz Clock Tower at 6pm for a group ride taking up the right lane of Mission Street, and eventually ending at the City Council meeting to ask that "BIKE MAY USE FULL LANE" signs be posted on Mission Street.

Unconventional Action Santa Cruz writes, "Continued wars, housing foreclosures and ecological crises have proven that neither docile street marches nor electoral campaigns will solve the problems plaguing our daily lives. We can only have leverage over our rulers by showing our own power, and we must back our demands by demonstrating that we can interfere with their business as effectively as they interfere with our lives. People are gathering at Zami Co-op on Saturday, May 10th for an exciting chance to develop skills and social bonds for direct action of all kinds."

May 7th marks the 6th month anniversary of the tree-sit on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz, and of the two-month ground occupation which was born in torn fencing and broken police lines. There will be a gathering at 8pm underneath the tree-sit for an open-ended collective celebration. The tree-sit has been a continuous act of resistance against the University's expansion plans, including a Biomedical Sciences Facility at the site of the tree-sit and the development of over 120 acres of Upper Campus' redwood and chaparral.

On May 2nd, immigration agents conducted a large-scale raid at taquerias across San Francisco and the East Bay. Agents arrested about 60 employees at several locations of the El Balazo chain. Some of the workers have been released, but forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets while they await deportation hearings. On Monday May 5th, immigrant rights activists marched on the I.C.E office in San Francisco to protest the raids.

Farm Sanctuary, which operates the largest rescue and refuge network for farm animals in North America, and Animal Place, a nonprofit sanctuary for abused and discarded farmed animals, have responded to a call from Santa Cruz Animal Services and are coming to the aid of 14 neglected animals confiscated from a Watsonville slaughterhouse on May 1st. The rescued animals—12 goats, one cow and one sheep—were discovered at the Lee Road slaughter facility on May 1st by Todd Stosuy of Santa Cruz Animal Services, when he noticed a cow with a bloody horn from the road and initiated an investigation.

On April 24th and 25th, Centolia Maldonado Vasquez and Bernardo Ramirez Bautista, Oaxaca-based members of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations, gave presentations in Greenfield and at UC Santa Cruz on indigenous Mexican migration to the U.S. and its impact in the communities of origin, the current political situation in Oaxaca, the role of women in the movement for social justice in Oaxaca, and current challenges of indigenous governing community institutions in Oaxaca.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is helping put together the largest Iraq war spending bill yet. The aim appears to be to fund the war for nearly six months into the next president's term to prevent a new Democratic President from having to vote for the war without risking the war actually ending. On April 28th, Code Pink started a peace vigil on the front porch of Pelosi's house in San Francisco to urge her to not give the President another blank check for the occupation of Iraq

On May 1st, the US assassinated Aden Hashi Eyrow, one of senior leaders of Somalia’s Islamist movement, in an air strike that killed at least 10 other people. Many in Somalia have taken up arms to resist a US backed occupation by Ethiopian troops. Violence has increased in the past year and there have been many well documented cases of war crimes by Ethiopian troops. The upsurge in violence comes as the country is on the brink of a severe drought. The number of people in need of assistance in Somalia has increased to 2.6 million people (35% of the total population), an increase of more than 40% since January 2008.

On Thursday May 1st, Al-Jazeera reporter Sami al-Haj was released after six and a half years at Guantanamo. Upon his arrival in Sudan early on Friday, Al-Hajj was carried off a US air force jet on a stretcher and immediately taken to a hospital. Al-Hajj told reporters at the hospital that "rats are treated with more humanity" than the inmates at Guantanamo, whose "human dignity [is] violated". Ten journalists have been held for extended periods by the U.S. military and then released without charge. The U.S. military continues to hold Jawed Ahmad, a journalist for Canada's CTV, at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

On April 29th, California's Assembly Committee on Public Safety passed A.B. 2743. The bill, authored by Assembly Member Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) and spearheaded by the Marijuana Policy Project, or MPP, would direct state and local law enforcement officers to not assist in federal raids on medical marijuana patients and providers. The bill will now continue on to the appropriations committee.