Como se puede curar el odio

How hate is sometimes healed
by Katherine Kam | Posted August 26, 2017
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).

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.

Cuando tenía unos 25 años, Zaal y otros tres skinheads atacaron a una pareja iraní con un niño pequeño con quienes se habían encontrado en un estacionamiento de un supermercado. El crimen llegó a ser titular periodístico en el Sur de California y lo encarcelaron. También hizo que Zaal tuviera fama en los círculos de supremacistas blancos. read more

Caterpillars Make Do With What They’ve Got

by Karen Laslo | Posted August 23, 2017

photo by Karen Laslo
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.

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.

This phase of the Pipevine Swallowtail is the “chrysalis.” Don Miller, professor of entomology at CSU Chico, says, “Many will emerge next spring, although some may wait another year.” read more

Feds: Butte College broke gender law

Alleged rape by football player investigated
by Gabriel Sandoval | Posted August 19, 2017

photo by Gabriel Sandoval
Butte College

The U.S. Department of Education has concluded its years-long investigation into Butte College’s handling of a student rape allegation, determining the community college violated federal law.

The investigation began after a student filed a federal complaint in February 2013, alleging she was raped by an unnamed college football player at an off-campus party in September 2012 and that the college’s response did not comply with the gender-equity law known as Title IX.

Under the law, colleges must investigate and adjudicate allegations of sexual assault, on- and off-campus, in order to maintain safe learning environments free of sex-based discrimination, so as not to deny or limit a student’s participation in activities or programs. Colleges failing to comply risk losing federal aid. read more

State probe of PAC more than year old

Reports vague on spending targeting progressive candidates
by Dave Waddell | Posted August 16, 2017

BCAA flier attacked former Mayor Scott Gruendl.

A Butte County political action committee – under state investigation for more than a year and counting – has become increasingly vague in reporting its spending activities targeting Chico liberals.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) announced on Aug. 15, 2016, that it had opened an investigation into Butte County Awareness and Accountability and its treasurer, Tom Kozik, as a result of information uncovered in this ChicoSol exclusive.

“It’s still an open and ongoing investigation,” Jay Wierenga, the FPPC’s communications director in Sacramento, said last week.

Butte County Awareness and Accountability, while claiming to be a general purpose PAC and filing its required paperwork with the Butte County elections office in Oroville, spent the bulk of its funds in both 2014 and 2016 on attack ads aimed at liberal candidates for Chico City Council. read more

Chico buys guns for cops to own

City’s gun-buying escalated with Down Range
by Dave Waddell | Posted August 6, 2017

photo by Karen Laslo
Down Range Indoor Training Center sign

In the last three years alone, the financially strapped city of Chico has paid out nearly $25,000 to buy at least 40 guns of undisclosed types for the personal ownership of its police officers, according to a search of online records by ChicoSol.

Such gun transactions – made possible by a $900 per year “uniform allowance” afforded to all of the Chico Police Department’s more than 90 “sworn personnel” – skyrocketed with the advent of the Down Range Indoor Training Center three years ago.

Down Range, which is outside city limits along Highway 99 on the northern entrance to Chico, is known for boldly advertising the sale of assault rifles, especially around some holidays. The business is co-owned by Chico police officer Steve Dyke and has been gaining a bigger slice of Chico PD’s gun-buying pie each year. read more