Let’s embrace responsibility and help the unhoused Individual stories eclipse overused term ‘criminal vagrant’

photo by Karen Laslo

Chico City Councilmember Scott Huber.

by Scott Huber

After recent experiences, I’m compelled to present a counter-narrative to those who have spoken out against a “Code Blue” cold-weather shelter (and other sheltering ideas).

At the Feb. 5 Chico City Council meeting, a minority of speakers expressed their reasons for opposing a city-sponsored cold-weather shelter. Their reasons included (paraphrased) “sheltering these people is not Chico’s responsibility, it is the responsibility of Butte County or the non-profits.” Others asserted that because this form of shelter would be open to anyone it would allow for “drug addicts, criminals and sexual predators” (again paraphrased). read more

Citizens group responds to DA’s ruling Letter to the community on death of Myra Micalizio

by CCJ

Recently the Butte County District Attorney found that Butte County deputy sheriffs acted in reasonable self-defense when they shot to death a Palermo woman in April 2018. Concerned Citizens for Justice (CCJ) disagrees with that decision.

We believe that the community should find the following facts alarming:

1. Both deputies were wearing body cameras that they did not turn on until after the shooting. read more

#ClimateUprising helps Camp Fire survivors tell their stories Group calling for bipartisan climate action

photo courtesy of #ClimateUprising
John Kunst with wife Vicki Redridge-Kunst

by Leslie Layton

Like thousands of Californians, Los Angeles filmmaker Nirvan Mullick spent early November following wildfire news and worrying about friends and family who were in harm’s way.

Then, two developments forced him to think in a larger context: President Donald Trump visited Paradise and advised Californians to rake their forest floors, and Sen. Bernie Sanders announced a national town hall on climate change. The Washington, D.C., town hall would feature well-known experts and activists – climate change stars, so to speak. read more

Family: Mentally ill woman had no history of violence DA Ramsey to rule today on Micalizio killing by Butte deputies

Hali McKelvie with her mother, Myra Micalizio, in 2014.

by Dave Waddell

Myra Micalizio didn’t live to achieve the baptism she so desired.

Instead, the unarmed Micalizio was killed with stunning swiftness in a barrage of bullets from two Butte County sheriff’s deputies responding to what started as a trespassing complaint last April 26 in Palermo. In her 56th year of a life that had no history of violence, Micalizio was accused of trying to back her vehicle into a deputy she had encountered only seconds earlier. read more

Shafer says Tree of Greed must come down Chico's MLK celebration features Poor People's Campaign rep

photo by Karen Laslo
Greg Shafer speaks at Trinity United during MLK celebration Sunday.

by Karen Laslo

Greg Shafer, Northern California representative to the Poor People’s Campaign, told a Chico audience of about 200 people Sunday that the “American Tree of Greed must come down,” and that it’s responsible for the environmental degradation, endless wars and the prison-industrial complex that cause suffering, in particular for the poor.

Shafer asked, “But who will cut the Tree of Greed down?” Not the government, not the rich and powerful, not the corporations, he said, responding to his own question. Shafer said America must listen to the African-Americans who’ve been warning for years that the tree’s fruit is toxic. Shafer told the crowd, “We need a new Poor People’s Campaign.” read more