Politics Archives - Page 3 of 19

Policy critics: Chico’s Climate Action Plan neglected Given weather-related disasters, does the City focus enough on climate change?

photo by Leslie Layton

The City’s updated Climate Action Plan.

by Natalie Hanson
posted Aug. 13

Butte County, facing the Camp Fire, the Dixie Fire, the Park Fire and extreme heat, has been on the frontlines of climate change in recent years. But the City of Chico has not made policies reflecting the urgency of these crises, some say.

Chico’s Climate Action Commission’s role has over time been cut dramatically, and the plans staff put together over years to help plan for a future of climate change have not been properly implemented, say some Chico residents. In their view, a lack of planning for climate change is symptomatic of the City’s unwillingness to make climate change the focus of policy or even fund the work to do so. read more

Back to court: City wants relief from Settlement Agreement Chico leaders reject plaintiffs' proposed revisions

by Leslie Layton
posted Aug. 8

The City of Chico plans to file a court motion next week asking for “relief” from the Warren v. Chico Settlement Agreement, an effort to give City leaders the latitude they seek to enforce anti-camping ordinances, conduct evictions and generally address homelessness.

As negotiations between the City and Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) came to a crashing halt, the City today issued a press release that says “… with regard to the Warren Settlement Agreement itself, the City expects to file a motion to seek judicial relief” next week. read more

Hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people increase in California

by Natalie Hanson
posted July 24

Community organizations are relying heavily on partnerships with the Golden State’s government to aid LGBTQ people who face an increase in hate crimes across California.

There were 405 reported hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias (an increase of 3.6% from the previous year) in 2023, and 76 hate crime events motivated by anti-transgender bias (an increase of 7.04%). California’s attorney general Rob Bonta called those increased reports “alarming,” according to a report from Ethnic Media Services (EMS). read more

Social workers on the frontline of Medi-Cal campaign Work underway to get expanded services to low-income and homeless people

by Natalie Hanson
posted July 1

Daniel Reinhard, a Butte County social worker, regularly visits unhoused people at Genesis, a pallet shelter village in Chico.

Each week, he talks to people who are either renewing their Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, or need help accessing expanded Medi-Cal services. In January 2024, Medi-Cal, which already served one-third of all Californians, expanded services to all state residents who qualify regardless of immigration status, as well as to people already enrolled. read more

Divided Supreme Court ruling delivers victory to Grants Pass ‘Either stay awake or be arrested’

photo by Karen Laslo

The City-sanctioned campground in north Chico that was opened to meet a court requirement.

by Natalie Hanson
posted June 28

The country’s highest court dropped a landmark decision on the question of civil rights for America’s unhoused people today.

In a decision that many attorneys and activists had predicted, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cities enforcing anti-camping laws are not committing cruel and unusual punishment during evictions of unhoused people. It remanded the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case back to the lower courts with a ruling that could affect policy in cities like Chico. read more

Protect free speech rights for Israel’s critics Legislation likely to produce "dangerous overreach"

by Emily Alma
guest commentary posted June 18

Israel’s cruel and disproportionate response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks has elicited world-wide outcry, public horror at their actions, eclipsing our horror at the cruel Hamas actions against Israelis.

On the home front, popular uprisings continue unabated, spreading from action in the streets to union halls to university campuses to government employees resigning, to elected representatives in Congress – all demanding an end to hostilities, demanding an end to Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war, demanding an end to the flow of U.S. arms to Israel, demanding divestment from companies profiting from Israel’s war, demanding a permanent ceasefire and justice for Palestine. read more