Chico City Council looks for alternatives to Alternative Camping Site

by Yucheng Tang | Posted September 18, 2025
Brenda Sallee speaks at the Council meeting earlier this week. Photo by Yucheng Tang.

The City Council voted unanimously Sept. 17 to identify location and service options for the Cohasset and Eaton Roads camping site where unhoused people have lived for several years, sheltered only by tents. The Council’s motion directs staff to look at alternative locations, whether the camp could be split among smaller sites and possible collaboration with service providers.

The discussion was initiated by Councilmember Mike O’Brien after a resident living in the neighborhood brought up safety concerns at a recent meeting. 

Erik Gustafson, Chico Public Works director, addressed the Council on challenges that Public Works has with the site and recent improvements that have been made. During public comment, neighborhood residents raised safety concerns about the north Chico campground and one camper, Brenda Sallee, spoke. read more

Redistricting will matter to District 1 residents

Climate, farming practices, rural health would be debatable
by Yucheng Tang | Posted September 16, 2025
Audrey Denney argues for passage of Prop 50 at a recent Sweet September meeting. Photo courtesy of Bruce McLean.

If California’s congressional districts are redrawn, District 1 residents could see lively debate about climate change and how farmers can adopt environmentally friendly practices.

Audrey Denney, chair of the Democratic Action Club of Chico, has announced she will run in the District 1 election if the proposed map is approved. Denney views agriculture as “a tremendous asset in the fight against climate change,” and would push for more incentives for farmers to adopt regenerative practices.

District 1 Congressman Doug LaMalfa, by contrast, rejects climate-focused regulations as burdensome for small farmers and the food industry. LaMalfa, a rice farmer from Richvale who was first elected to the House 13 years ago, was one of four congress members to introduce legislation to provide disaster relief for farmers in the form of a permanent program. read more

Immigrant data-sharing threatens privacy of all Americans

"Digital watchtower" -- system of surveillance -- expands
by Selen Ozturk/American Community Media | Posted September 14, 2025

Lea en español en ACoM aqui.

The federal expansion of immigrant surveillance is increasing political targeting, identity theft and data breach risks for all Americans.

The second Trump administration has raised alarm from experts that government use of personal data under the banner of fighting fraud, stopping crime or detecting undocumented immigrants — including an immigrant name and address data-sharing agreement between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — could threaten the privacy rights of residents nationwide, including citizens.

Last May, a federal judge denied a preliminary injunction against such data-sharing between DHS, the IRS and Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE); this effectively greenlit the first-ever time the IRS formally agreed to provide taxpayer information for immigration enforcement under a memorandum of understanding. read more

The Hidden Cost of Trump’s Deportation Agenda

‘Education Chaos and Psychological Scarring’
by Peter Schurmann, ACoM | Posted September 9, 2025
Classroom
L.A. Unified Supt. Alberto Carvalho with students in a science classroom. Photo courtesy of American Community Media & LAUSD.

On Aug. 11, masked agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handcuffed and pointed their guns at a disabled 15-year-old while he waited for his mom to pick him up from school in Arleta, California. On Aug. 8, ICE arrested Benjamin Guerrero Cruz as he walked his dog in Van Nuys, days before the 18-year-old was set to begin his senior year of high school.

These are just two in a string of examples of ICE’s aggressive implementation of the Trump Administration’s mass deportation agenda, an approach experts say is traumatizing kids and families and sending a chill through school communities across the country. read more

Ingersoll named to Climate Action Commission

Goldstein wants the Commission to encourage climate action
by Yucheng Tang | Posted September 3, 2025
Bryce Ingersoll. Photo by Yucheng Tang.

The Chico City Council appointed recent Chico State graduate Bryce Ingersoll to the Climate Action Commission at its Sept. 2 meeting.

Ingersoll, who was nominated by Councilmember Bryce Goldstein, won unaninmous Council approval, and said he wants to work toward making the city more bike-friendly and increasing the supply of housing that doesn’t worsen urban sprawl.

“Chico has been ripe for climate solutions,” Ingersoll told ChicoSol later.

“With this position, I hope to spark new conversations with community organizations, university students and staff, and the City,” he said in a presentation to the Council. read more

Butte County police-shooting probes stall

After decades of rapid reviews, DA Ramsey hasn't issued a report in years
by Dave Waddell | Posted August 31, 2025
The CHP report for the 2022 shooting is still not finalized.

Butte County’s system for investigating officer-involved shootings has stalled without explanation, leaving several cases unresolved and marking a sharp departure from a pattern of rapid exonerations stretching back decades.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey, who oversees such investigations, has issued no reports on police killings since 2020 or on non-fatal police shootings since 2017, according to an extensive review of county records.

A number of cases remain open as a result.

  • In November 2022, a California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agent shot four times, missing 19-year-old Madison Sells during a confrontation in a Chico Safeway parking lot. Ramsey’s failure to make a charging decision forced ABC to abandon plans to provide psychological support for the officers involved, according to emails obtained under a Public Records Act request. Nearly three years later, Ramsey still has not ruled on the case, leaving all reports stamped as “drafts.”
  • On the second day of 2023, 33 days after the ABC shooting, three Gridley police officers fired 31 times in killing Baltazar Rubio, who was in mental crisis and allegedly pointing an unloaded gun at police. The officers’ final few shots came with Rubio on the ground after a four-second pause in the gunfire. It has been more 2½ years since the shooting, with silence on the case from Ramsey.
  • Also missing is any information on Chico PD’s fatal shooting six months ago of Michael Oxley as well as on the May 8 killing of Valerie Ann Cadwallader, by Butte County sheriff’s deputy Tyler Dentinger. The Oxley shooting involved four officers, including two sergeants previously involved in controversial killings that Ramsey had cleared. The City of Chico last week issued a blanket denial of a Public Records Act request for investigative reports about the Oxley shooting, saying the incident is still under investigation.

Seth Stoughton, one of the nation’s foremost experts on police uses of force, said officer-involved shooting investigations can be complicated and time-consuming.  read more