George Cadman is co-hosting a new radio show on KSCO 1080 AM every Saturday from 5 to 6 pm. The show is "The Cabrillo Insider" and is a project of the journalism program at Cabrillo College. The first show is on Saturday, March 21st and the topic will be the rally in San Francisco against the 6th anniversary of the war on Iraq, the 8th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan, and the occupation of Palestine.

Calls are welcome from listeners who wish to express their views on this topic, or give reports about their experience at the protest. You may be aware that KSCO is very right wing radio station and many of the listeners who normally call in are quite reactionary. Read more

See also: Buses from Santa Cruz to Protest in SF || AntiWar Copwatch in Santa Cruz

Teachers For Class War spent a second Monday in a row discussing massive cuts to education. California Federation of Teachers (CFT) Field Representative Pat Lerman of the Pájaro Valley Federation of Teachers took some time out to speak with l@s Maestr@s.

Teachers for Class War airs every Monday night on Freak Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM. Two of the hosting Maestr@s got pink slips on Friday, March 13th, plus a third pink'd Maestr@ who is featured at the close of this week's edition. Read more and listen to audio

Previous coverage: Bad Faith Bargaining By PVUSD || PVUSD Board attacks Class Size Reduction

Curtis Reliford and his Follow Your Heart Action Network sued Starbucks for slander after a Starbucks manager tried to have Curtis arrested for panhandling. Curtis, and about 20 supporters, attended a court hearing on March 17th in front of Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Jeff Almquist. The case was dismissed on the premise that calling a charitable organization a "panhandler" was not going to hurt its reputation or influence how it conducts its business.

It stemmed from an occurrence back in 2007 where Curtis, founder of the Follow Your Heart Action Network, parked his truck and trailer in front of Starbucks on Pacific Avenue in order to get a cup of coffee. The manager claims Curtis went table-to-table asking for donations, though the witnesses all claimed he had just arrived and had not asked anyone for money, he just wanted coffee.

Curtis Reliford started the Follow Your Heart Action Network to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. He has received the 2006 KSBW Jefferson Award, the American Red Cross' Good Samaritan Award, and the NAACP's Community Service Award. Further action against Starbucks is being planned. Read more

Previous coverage: Santa Cruz Sends Relief to Louisiana || "Thank You Santa Cruz!" from Shreveport, Bogalousa and New Orleans, Louisiana || Gulf Coast Communities Still Need Help from Santa Cruz || Follow Your Heart: Refusing to Abandon Katrina’s Victims

On March 5th, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) board of trustees approved a budget that closes a 14 million dollar deficit. The cuts eliminate the Class Size Reduction program in kindergarten and 3rd grade (eliminating 50 teacher positions from the elementary schools), slash funding for nurses, custodians, aides, and counselors.

Hundreds of teachers, nurses, classified workers, parents, and students were present at the PVUSD board meetings on March 4th at Ann Soldo Elementary in Watsonville, and March 5th at Aptos High, to demand the board of trustees make fair and equitable cuts across the district. Despite this, no jobs were eliminated at the top, as superintendent and assistant superintendent contracts were protected. But this was not the first time that the top brass has put themselves ahead of the teachers and students. Read more and view photos

See also: Bad Faith Bargaining By PVUSD || T4CW: An hour with Dr. Pedro Noguera

autonomous rebels for social collapse write: Last night, we attacked the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Mission St. Two stones cracked two windows and we melted back into the shadows. Property will never be worth more than the lives of living things. Solidarity with our poultry brethren; we may not be the same species, but we breath the same poison air.

We acknowledge that attacks like this do little to actually harm the infrastructure of capital or animal abuse. They are a great way, though, to become familiar with night action. We encourage all who feel a brooding discontent to find ways of expressing it. Read more

Alessandro Tinonga pays tribute to Devin Cohee.

Our comrade Devin Cohee died tragically in Santa Cruz on February 28th. She was a loving friend, a driven activist and an unyielding revolutionary. Her passing is a mighty loss to the antiwar and socialist movement.

Devin was a true revolutionary in the way that she identified all oppressed and exploited peoples' struggles as her own.

She proudly expressed her sexuality in the face of gendered bigotry. She organized against the racist death penalty as if every inmate was a member of her family. Every march for immigrant rights left her with a strained voice after hours of yelling on the bullhorn. She never shied away from defending the right of the Palestinian people to resist.

Devin's biggest passion was ending U.S. imperialism. She protested the first Gulf War as a child with her father, and got involved in Students Against War (SAW) at the University of California-Santa Cruz as soon as she arrived at college. During her time in SAW, she helped organize a kiss-in against military recruiters, a march that kicked them out and several teach-ins. Read more

There will be a wake for Devin in Santa Cruz on Friday, March 6th, at the Zami Co-op (807 Laurel St.), starting at 4:00pm

The Free Skool Santa Cruz Spring 2009 calendar is out. The best place to pick them up is at the SubRosa, 703 Pacific Ave. You can view the calendar online, and download it as well.

Classes run from March through May and include mutual aid for papas, Cabrillo bike series, radical mental health, DIY sewing of undies and bras, D.I.T. (Do It Together) parenting circle, computer music, seashore exploration, and much more.

Free Skool Santa Cruz is a completely grassroots effort, a bunch of individuals deciding to act collectively and autonomously to create a skill-sharing network. It is a direct challenge to institutional control and the commodification of learning. Read more and get the calendar

A report released in February and authored by a group of researchers from various organizations, including the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), California Department of Fish and Game, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, supports concerns Californians have had about the aerial spraying of pesticides in the Monterey Bay area in 2007. The study shows the correlation of the unprecedented bird die off and red tide with the timing of the spraying of the pesticide Checkmate.

The authors of the study reported the birds had a "slimy yellow-green material on their feathers" and that the cause of death was due to "surfactant-like proteins, derived from organic matter of the red tide, [that] coated their feathers and neutralized natural water repellency and insulation." The birds were unable to maintain buoyancy and drowned.

While the researches commented on the foam as being attributed to red tide, the foam was in fact also seen in rivers after the pesticide spraying, and found by a San Jose State University researcher to be filled with microcapsules associated with the spray. Many residents within the spray zone remember the yellowish foamy substance on their windows, decks, and planter boxes left by the spray. Read more

Previous coverage: Obama Administration Asks Court to Suppress Identity of Harmful Chemicals

Since the passage of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), a sweeping new law labeling animal rights activists as “terrorists,” corporations and industry groups have been pushing the federal government to use their new powers. On February 19th and 20th, the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI arrested four animal rights activists as “terrorists” in the most sweeping expansion of the War on Terrorism and the “Green Scare” to date.

As background, a campaign is being waged across California against animal research at the University of California system. There has been a wide range of both legal and illegal tactics. Illegal tactics have included the destruction of UC vans. In August, an incendiary device was left at the home of a UC researcher; no animal rights group has claimed responsibility for this crime, but the university, the FBI and others have recklessly attributed it to activists.

These “terrorism” arrests are not related to that bombing, though. And they’re also not related to the destruction of property. These activists–Nathan Pope, Adriana Stumpo, Joseph Buddenberg, and Maryam Khajavi– were arrested for First Amendment activity. According to the FBI’s press release, the activists are facing charges for incidents which include: Protesting outside the home of a UC professor, chalking defamatory comments on public sidewalks, wearing bandanas to hide their faces, and distributing leaflets with contact information for several researchers.

Will Potter, a freelance reporter who focuses on how the War on Terrorism affects civil liberties, states, "At issue here is not the validity or morality of animal research, nor is it the efficacy of controversial tactics. Differences of opinion on those issues no longer matter. What’s at issue is whether the War on Terrorism should be used to target protesters as terrorists."

FBI Arrests 4 Activists as “Terrorists” for Chalking Slogans, Leafleting and Protesting | Federal Authorities Arrest Peaceful Protesters | Coalition to Abolish the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act | Will Potter on the Green Scare | 5 Reasons for Activists to Cover Their Faces at Protests | Update on Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Four | Solidarity with the AETA 4! | Snitch Hunt

Previous Indybay Features: FBI Collects DNA Samples and Issues Grand Jury Subpoena in Santa Cruz || Affidavit Discloses UCPD "Cause" for Raid on Long Haul Infoshop || UCPD and Feds Raid Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley || FBI Agents Visit Individual's Workplace in Oakland || Police Raid House on Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz, Again || Home, Auto of UC Santa Cruz Researchers Set Ablaze || Police Raid Activist House in Santa Cruz || Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Passes

The Project is an open collective of UCSC students working together to produce a monthly(ish) newspaper with a focus on radical politics and activism. The Project Media Collective believe independent media is crucial for organizing and documenting direct action for social transformation.

If you are interested in contributing, meetings are held at 5:00 p.m. on Fridays at SubRosa (Pacific and Spruce), and articles/opinion/art/poetry can be submitted to theproject [at] riseup.net Read The Project

On February 20th, the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers (PVFT) Negotiating Team met with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD). Later that day, teachers and students rallied at the plaza in Watsonville in support of a fair and honest contract and to educate parents and the community about potential cuts to classroom services.

PVFT is against any budget cuts to student services and programs without first analyzing district expenditures at the management level. In contract negotiations, PVFT claims that PVUSD is not bargaining in good faith. Read more and view photos

In lieu of recent high profile cases of police brutality and murder, some in the community remember that these atrocities are an ongoing epidemic in the Chicano and Black communities. On February 17, 2004, Rudy Cardenas, a father of five children, was shot and killed by state narcotics agent Michael Walker in San Jose. Jesse Villarreal, a nephew of Rudy Cardenas, was interviewed on February 14th about his uncle’s murder, the organizing efforts to bring attention to the issue, the results of the case, and how this incident is similar to the case involving the murder of Oscar Grant.

Walker was formerly a police officer in Watsonville, where he had a history of reported misconduct. Moreover, the murders of Oscar Grant and Rudy Cardenas have three things in common: both victims were shot in the back by the officers, both victims were unarmed, and both officers in the case are being defended with attorneys recommended by the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) Legal Defense Fund. Read more and listen to audio

Previous Rudy Cardenas coverage: San Jose Demands Justice for Rudy Cardenas || Family of Rudy Cardenas Fights Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Killer Cop || San Jose Marks One Year Since The Murder Of Rudy Cardenas || Michael Walker, Killer of Rudy Cardenas, Goes to Trial || Agent Walker Found Not Guilty || Cops Keep it Gangsta

sticks and stones writes: Sticks and Stones seeks to provide a mouthpiece as well as a forum for the Santa Cruz radical community—a means of communicating among ourselves, and with the general public as well, on topics of personal and social concern. We are interested in publishing essays, articles, rants, and visions of all kinds which come from this community and this region. We are interested in words that are not content to sit still on the page, but can jump off of it to set the world on fire! We are interested in analysis and theory that can become a framework for action. We are committed to an autonomous, anti-authoritarian viewpoint that seeks the end of all forms of domination, and the liberation of the earth and all its inhabitants. We also want to publish more pretty things... Read more

Environmental leaders from throughout the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas have asked Federal District Judge Saundra Armstrong to deny the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s motion to block disclosure of the chemicals used in the CheckMate pesticides sprayed on Monterey and Santa Cruz residents as part of the government’s Apple Moth Eradication Program. EPA has requested Judge Armstrong to prevent disclosure of the chemicals in the spray, claiming the manufacturer’s proprietary interest outweighs the public’s right to know. Previously, EPA approved use of these chemicals for continued spraying by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Sonoma counties. Opposing the spray program and seeking disclosure of its chemical ingredients are the lead plaintiff, North Coast Rivers Alliance, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, Albany Mayor Robert Lieber, Santa Cruz City Councilman Tony Madrigal, and leaders of the anti-spray movement in each of the affected counties together with victims of the previous apple moth spray debacle in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Read more

Previous coverage: New Studies of LBAM Spray Inadequate, Reveal More Violations of the Law by CDFA