In a year of three deadly officer-involved shootings within five months in Butte County, overall attendance is down markedly among law enforcement personnel in Butte College’s annual Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) academy.
However, the Chico Police Department, involved in two of those fatal shootings, is sending three officers to the CIT academy, after having almost no presence there in recent years.
The academy, which begins Monday at the Chico Fire Training Center, provides instruction in de-escalation techniques and in dealing with the mentally ill. For its first seven years, the 40-hour training was conducted by Andy Duch, a recently retired Butte County sheriff’s captain. Duch quit the CIT post in protest shortly after Chico police shot and killed Desmond Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man, in his West Fourth Avenue living room on March 17.read more
Regenerative agriculture expert Roland Bunch was at Chico State today discussing the ways farming techniques can help end an African famine threatening 20 million people. Bunch has spent the last six years using these techniques to end famine in Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and other nations, and has consulted on regenerative agriculture in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
During years of working in other parts of the world, Bunch says he’s come to realize that sound priniciples that have been developed for tropical climates can be applied to agriculture everywhere. (Regenerative agriculture involves using techniques that mimic nature to nourish the soil in place of dependence on chemical fertilizers.)read more
Bidwell Park’s three rangers will begin carrying guns and taking their orders from the Chico Police Department as a result of a plan approved Tuesday night by the City Council.
The conservative majority of the council held sway in the 4-2 vote, with council members Ann Schwab and Randall Stone in the minority and Karl Ory absent.
“You can’t convince me this is anything but a revenue grab for the Police Department from the Public Works Department,” Stone said. “The park is the perpetual whipping boy … to placate a Police Department that needs to grow.”read more
Olive Bone, though just 14 months old, already knows what she likes when it comes to art, pointing Sunday to a piece displayed at the “Portraits of Desmond” art show in remembrance of Desmond Phillips. Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man, was shot dead by Chico police in his living room March 17. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey ruled the killing justified, but a group called Justice for Desmond Phillips has asked the state attorney general’s office for an independent criminal investigation. The Phillips family also is represented by the office of prominent civil rights attorney John Burris of Oakland. David Phillips, Desmond’s father, called the art pieces at the weekend exhibit at Estes Ranch “so Desmond" -- photo and story by Dave Waddell.
Tim Zaal (izquierda) y Matthew Boger se reunieron como voluntarios en el Museo de Tolerancia de Los Ángeles. Zaal, un neonazi de una sola vez, atacó a Boger como un adolescente. Los dos son ahora amigos cercanos. (Crédito de la imagen: BuzzFeed News).
por Katherine Kam, New America Media Translation by New America Media
Editor’s note: To read this story in English, visit New America Media here.
Los Angeles — Se puede curar el odio? La pregunta ha sido central en la vida de Tim Zaal durante las últimas dos décadas.
Cuando Zaal tenía 17 años, él y sus amigos fueron una noche en busca de pelea en West Hollywood. Cerca de un local muy frecuentado, divisaron a un grupo de jóvenes y persiguieron a un indigente gay, de 14 años, hacia un callejón. Mientras el muchacho estaba tumbado en el suelo, Zaal le dió una patada en la frente con una bota con clavos afilados, dejándolo inconsciente.read more
Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars feed mostly on the native Pipevine plant that contains a toxic substance that also makes the caterpillars toxic, so that birds and other predators leave them alone.
by Karen Laslo
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, take a look at what you’ve got. The black and red-dotted caterpillar phase of the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly sets a good example of this parable for humans.
Normally, in a more natural setting, the caterpillars attach themselves to rocks or trees. But in lower Bidwell Park’s recent freeway construction site, these familiar objects have been stripped away. In the absence of the customary, the caterpillars must improvise.
They do so by hauling themselves up the sides of the concrete freeway supports where they attach and weave a protective, hard shell around themselves.read more
