On New Year's Eve, as it has for the past six years, Santa Cruz will again host the DIY New Years Parade, what has become both a homespun, family-friendly alternative celebration and a controversial embarrassment for the city. The result of six years of do-it-yourself community organizing, the Last Night DIY Parade, a community-sponsored New Year's Eve celebration will again hit Santa Cruz streets.

However, because of its lack of official sanction, civic leaders have opposed the celebration from the beginning. "While the police and civic leaders try to frighten us with the specter of downtown violence, we just want to participate in a communal celebration with our neighbors," said Elizabeth Burchfield. "We are tired of being afraid. It's time to organize together."

According to the Last Night DIY website, the parade, from its beginnings in 2005, was not about merely celebrating, "but celebrating what we as a community can do ourselves, without corporate or city-sponsorship. It is a celebration of both our autonomy and the support we offer each other."

This year on New Year's Eve, the DIY Parade will meet at 5pm near the Saturn Cafe parking lot on Pacific Ave and Spruce Street.

Read more | City Threatens Arrests in DIY Parade | Wes Modes Targeted as City Tries to Put an End to Last Night DIY Parade | Last Night Celebrates Five Years of Do-It-Yourself Community Organizing

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.

Robert Norse was ejected from a Santa Cruz City Council meeting and arrested in 2002 for giving the board a "silent Nazi salute."

A full panel of the Pasadena-based federal appeals court ruled that the district court had failed to give Norse adequate notice and an opportunity to present evidence before dismissing his complaint in 2004.

In a separate, concurring opinion, joined by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Kozinski said the incident would not have caused any disturbance if Councilman Tim Fitzmaurice had not thrown "a hissy fit."

"Councilman Fitzmaurice clearly wants Norse expelled because the 'Nazi salute' is 'against the dignity of this body and the decorum of this body' and not because of any disruption," Kozinski wrote. "But, unlike der Führer, government officials in America occasionally must tolerate offensive or irritating speech."

Read more | previous coverage: Jun 28th, 2010 | Mar 12th, 2010 | Nov 21st, 2009 | Apr 12th, 2007 | Dec 3rd, 2004

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. A statewide investigation is underway into the health impacts from the wireless radiation from the meters, which are suspected of sickening thousands throughout the state.

On December 13th, PG&E sent a number of internal emails that it had released to the California Public Utilities Commission, attempting to offer up a sanitized version of an emerging scandal, to the regional media. Despite the fact that PG&E had censored the release, there are still a number of revelations.

Read more and view photos | Stop Smart Meters! | EMF Safety Network

See also: Mothers Angry About Smart Meter Health Threat Shut Down PG&E Service Center | PG&E's 'Smart' Meter Director Caught Infiltrating Activist Group | Health Questions Loom Over CPUC Release of 'Smart' Meter Report

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 leaked documents come from the Internet investigative site, WikiLeaks. Editor and chief of this site is Julian Assange. WikkiLeaks has released 90,000 documents on the war in Afghanistan and 350,000 on the war in Iraq. These documents detail executions at U.S. checkpoints, the torture of detainees, the sectarian carnage unleashed by the occupation of Iraq, and the U.S."Task Force 373", a team of professional assassins responsible for numerous massacres in Afghanistan. These atrocities started under Bush and have continued, without respite, under Barack Obama, including Obama’s "reduced" occupation force in Iraq.

The newly formed Santa Cruz Coalition to free Julian Assange and Bradley Manning has organized two demonstrations to support Assange and Manning, while calling for an end to the of U.S. occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. An informational protest was held on December 18th. (Photos). On Saturday, January 8th, there will be a protest with speakers and a march. The demonstration begins at 1pm at the Clock Tower on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz.

Read more | WikiRebels – The Documentary | Governments and Corporations Attempt to Repress Wikileaks: Holding Up Mirrors | PayPal Pulls Plug on WikiLeaks Donations | Ellsberg, Former Gov't Officials Kick Off Campaign to Free 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. In Baja they're migrants from the states of southern Mexico. In California, they're immigrant workers who've crossed the border to labor in these fields. On a cold November day, this crew of Mexican migrant workers picks Brussels sprouts on a ranch outside of Watsonville.

Many people love this vegetable, and serve it for dinner on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Native people in the U.S. point out that Thanksgiving celebrates the beginning of the European colonization of North America, which drove them from the lands where they lived historically. Read more and view photos

Indybay has not only survived but thrived for ten years now. On November 13th, 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 an independent media conference and party to celebrate this milestone. The event was held at the historic Continental Club in West Oakland.

From 1pm to 6pm, the media conference featured speakers, panels, and workshops focusing on independent media's role in social and environmental justice movements. Two dozen media and social justice organizations tabled. Speaker, Panel, and Workshop Line-Up

From 8pm until midnight, the benefit party featured DJ Public Frenemy, Eddie Falcon, Ras Ceylon with Unity and Sinista Z as Gideon.Force, and Audiopharmacy.

Thank you to everyone who came out!

Full Audio of Media Conference | Audio from Celebration Party | Dave Id Interviews | Story Booth: Independent Media journalists tell it like it is! | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Speaker, Panel, and Workshop Line-Up | Tabling Organizations | Event Posters | Calendar Listing | Announcement Feature

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.

"Cutting jobs means cutting healthcare for our community," said Nina Perez, an OB tech in the Labor and Delivery department for 11 years. "When they eliminate this many staff, patients and their families are going to see the difference. Caregivers are already stretched too thin."

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. But according to NUHW, the losing union filed frivolous objections to delay the transition. While collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues from the workers who rejected them, SEIU officials failed to protect quality jobs in Salinas or quality care at Memorial Hospital. Read more

On the night of October 20th, four Santa Cruz Police Department officers ticketed a woman for spitting on Pacific Avenue. No warning was given, and she was issued a ticket for nothing more than spitting.

Santa Cruz Municipal Code section 9.50.020, governing conduct on public property, monuments, and lawns, indicates that the ticket is unjustifiable and therefore should not have been issued. 9.50.02 (d) forbids the intentional discharge of a liquid substance. However, the municipal code states that a person is violating 9.50.02 "after having been notified by a police officer, public officer or downtown host that he or she is in violation of the prohibition." Read more and view photos

Veterans of Foreign Wars "Bill Motto" Post 5888 announced that it is unable to hold Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinners, this year, at the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building.

Speaking for the Post, the Holiday Meals Committee Chairman, Bob Young, said, "We the Bill Motto Post of the VFW regret to announce that our Holiday Dinners, which usually take place on Thanksgiving day, and Christmas day each year for 24 years at the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building will not be held this year. This event has helped the needy people, veterans, seniors, students and lonely residents during holidays which are based in giving." Read more

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) houses prisoners of every faith imaginable; Islamic, Catholic, Protestant, Episcopalian, Baptist, Jewish, Mormon, Buddhist, Hinduism, Taoism, Paganism, Voodooism, Satanism and many other beliefs. Not much different than you would find in any eclectically populated neighborhood out there in the free world.

Because religious freedom in America is protected by state and federal laws and the Constitution of the United States, some people from all over the world migrate to America to free themselves of the hate and prejudices they experienced while practicing their faith in other countries.

Just like many Americans in large and small cities and towns throughout this country, men and women who practice their beliefs behind prison walls have a right to do so without bias, prejudice, or interference. Unfortunately, this was not the case for four Muslim prisoners serving out their sentences as fire fighters at the Ben Lomond fire camp in the remote hills of Santa Cruz County, California. Read more

Dylan Powell of The Vegan Police recently interviewed Joseph Buddenberg of AETA 4, four animal rights activists who were charged with violating the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Although the case was dismissed in July, it is not over. A federal magistrate signed a warrant in August ordering Joseph to provide a DNA sample to the FBI. In the interview, Joseph discusses the AETA 4 case and its implications for activists.

Joseph states, "I appeared before Magistrate Vadas, UC Santa Cruz graduate, and he scolded me. He yelled that the three allegations against me at that point were some of the most 'chilling' accusations he’d ever seen. The allegations at that point were attendance at two demonstrations and that I somehow helped make leaflets opposing UC Santa Cruz vivisection. Keep in mind this is a federal judge and former prosecutor who has dealt with child pornographers, meth dealers, bank robbers, etc."

Read more | Joseph Buddenberg DNA sample warrant & affidavit | Support the AETA 4 | previous coverage: AETA 4 Case Dismissed, But Re-Indictment Possible

At the August 25th Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting, district nurses used their allotted time during open comment to make an organized, collective presentation to the school board and community regarding the imminent safety of PVUSD staff and students. The presentation School Nursing Services in Hard Times by school nurses Kathleen Kilpatrick, Elizabeth Thorne and Judy Schwartze shared important information about the state of school medical services in PVUSD.

Some of the major points presented to the school board and district administrators were that the average caseload for senior nurses is 5,000 students and ten school sites, current assignments are unsafe and put students at risk and caseloads are already above state and national averages. Nurses in PVUSD also manage Special Ed students in all levels of acuity. Read more

On August 28th, the new Santa Cruz County chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) held a fundraiser in Felton. It was the local chapter's first public event.

Americans for Safe Access, based in Oakland, is the largest member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens working to ensure safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic uses and research. ASA works in partnership with state, local and national legislators to create policies that improve access to medicinal marijuana for both patients and researchers. ASA claims to have over 30,000 active members with chapters and affiliates in more than 40 states.

Gail, a member of the Wo/Man's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) who was born with glaucoma and is blind, was grateful for the opportunity to meet and socialize with others who benefit, physically and mentally, from cannabis. As an eighteen year old student at UC Santa Cruz, Gail was passed a joint for the first time. That is when she discovered that marijuana eases the pain she experiences from glaucoma. Read more and view photos