Category: Community

Farmers Market keeps many vendors in business Some are struggling with the effects of the pandemic

photo by Karen Laslo
Emma Harris works her Pine Creek Flowers booth April 25, abiding by public health guidelines Farmers Market has adopted.

by Leslie Layton

For Emma Harris, the past five weeks of pandemic have meant a hard hustle.

She’s had to fashion a new business model in just weeks to keep her Chico flower farm, Pine Creek Flowers, afloat.

As the pandemic set in, she saw that her market sales were going to plummet; the spring opening of the Thursday Night Market was postponed and the Saturday crowd at the downtown Farmers Market was smaller. She says she didn’t qualify for a loan from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program; Pine Creek Flowers doesn’t have a payroll. read more

ChicoSol journalists capture 5 state awards Waddell honored for police shooting, Sites stories

photo courtesy of Sites Project Authority
A conceptual rendering of the Sites reservoir west of Maxwell. Dave Waddell’s first-place story was supported by an Ethnic Media Services fellowship.

ChicoSol contributor Dave Waddell has won four honors, including two first-place awards, and ChicoSol Editor Leslie Layton was named a second-place winner in the 2019 California Journalism Awards competition.

The results were announced Tuesday by the sponsoring California News Publishers Association, which cancelled its planned spring awards gala because of coronavirus risks. read more

City Hall rally for public safety creates danger A tense confrontation is diffused

photo by Morgan Kennedy
A Trump flag was flown at the so-called public safety demonstration in front of city hall Tuesday.

by Morgan Kennedy
guest commentary

“Chico First,” “One Chico,” “Safe Chico,” or whatever this group is choosing to call itself this week had a protest in front of city hall on Tuesday.

As a response to a recent escalation in the aggressive language members or supporters of the groups use on social media, some Chicoans – myself included — decided to hold a counter demonstration prior to the City Council meeting. read more

City re-examines police advisory board Some want more transparency from Chico PD

photo by Leslie Layton
Chico Police Chief Michael O’Brien is retiring in June.

by Leslie Layton and Dave Waddell

Item 5.5 on tonight’s City Council agenda could easily be overlooked given other hot-button topics competing for attention. But it could be instrumental in shaping police-community relations.

Mayor Randall Stone has agendized a discussion on the Police Community Advisory Board (PCAB), a nine-member panel, in a bid to press for more transparency from Chico Police Department. [Editor’s note: Stone tabled the discussion at the Feb. 18 meeting until a replacement for the retiring chief is appointed.] read more

Demonstrators in plaza call for impeachment On 'impeachment eve,' Chicoans join nationwide mobilizations

photo by Karen Laslo
A demonstrator at City Plaza Tuesday evening shows his support for impeachment proceedings.

by Leslie Layton

More than 200 hundred people converged on Chico’s City Plaza Tuesday evening to support President Donald Trump’s impeachment, joining many thousands of people across the nation who mobilized.

Chico’s Jim Henson led a spirited series of chants as demonstrators waved signs, many saying, “Nobody is above the law,” until a man from a pro-Trump counter-protest that was also stationed at the plaza slipped into the middle of the larger group and raised a bright blue “Trump 2020” banner. Henson, who didn’t organize the event, then asked the pro-impeachment demonstrators to follow him to the City Council meeting and show support for sheltering the homeless; about half of the demonstrators followed him. read more

Community members mourn, commemorate On one-year anniversary of #Camp Fire, Butte County residents gather to remember

photo by Karen Laslo

Marge Nelms (left) holds a picture of her best friend of 46 years, Lolene Rios, who died in the Camp Fire one year ago today, as area residents gathered for minutes of silence in Chico’s City Plaza. Today’s ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the deadly Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people, was organized by the Chico Area Interfaith Council. read more