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Public schools take center stage in battles over civil rights

Civil rights advocates say that battles over student rights have become polarized by far-right “special interests,” and they foresee a fight ahead to protect childrens’ rights.

Those fights may involve issues ranging from protection against discrimination to materials students are allowed to access and read. And at a Jan. 18 Board of Trustees meeting for Chico Unified School District (CUSD), officials responded to concerns raised by a lawsuit filed by an organization that supports many of the political right’s causes with court fights.

At a Jan. 18 news briefing sponsored by Ethnic Media Services (EMS), experts said the battle over students’ rights starts in K-12 schools, including whether children can be protected from discriminatory bullying. read more

Health care providers struggle to reach essential workers

The COVID pandemic continues to impact California’s farmworkers and their access to health care -– particularly in more isolated rural zones like the Northern Sacramento Valley, doctors say.

The “tripledemic” — as flu and RSV add to the surging respiratory illnesses sweeping the nation -– may worsen existing barriers to health care access that marginalized communities face. In Butte County, health providers say it is hard to know which communities have been hit hardest by the virus, but they believe it is harder to reach essential worker communities like California’s farmworkers.

Nonprofit organizations have been working with local public health agencies to reach these communities, including “Promotores,” a program under Northern Valley Catholic Social Service. But there are ongoing struggles. read more

Bill Mash always had a project going

photo by Karen Laslo

Mash at KZFR radio station where he produced programs.

Eric Mash remembers how his father, Bill “Guillermo” Mash, always had projects underway. So when his father told the family that he had decided to move to Chico and write about homelessness, no one was surprised.

“He fell in love with Chico,” Eric said. “He just had this passion and fire within him to help others, and to always love and care about everybody. He did everything on a bicycle … helping the homeless, helping all the causes.”

Chico writer, radio personality and tireless advocate Bill Mash is being remembered by the Chico community as many friends and loved ones mourn his sudden death last week after a heart attack on Nov. 19.

Many who knew and loved him held a vigil for Mash on Nov. 20. Now they are sharing memories and offering support for his family who say they removed him from life support so he could die peacefully. read more

Covid data collection slows in Butte County and elsewhere

photo courtesy of Christian Hammond, who used Butte County Public Health data for his Covid-tracking database.

During the past few months, Butte County -– like many California counties — has scaled down its local COVID data collection process.

The change comes after two years of maintaining a database displayed on the Public Health Department website that was based on data gathered daily from local medical service providers.

Now the county is relying on state data that is updated only once per week -– and that worries data wizards like Christian Hammond. Hammond, who runs the Unofficial Butte County COVID-19 Dashboard -– separate from the dashboard managed by public health –- said only getting updated data weekly will further impede what is already a slow, flawed way to study the novel coronavirus. read more

Chico’s Stonewall responds to parent complaint, media report

Stonewall Alliance Chico’s Executive Director Andrea Mox was worried last month when a parent at Blue Oak Charter complained to school staff that their child came home asking about terms for LGBTQ+ people after attending a suicide prevention workshop.

Mox said the parent complained to the school and local media that they did not know their child would be attending a “sex education” workshop. The parent, quoted by a local news station without giving a name, was angry that their 12-year-old child was learning about terms like “pansexual.”

Stonewall Alliance Chico -– an advocacy organization that prides itself on supporting and empowering the LGBTQ+ community -– says the complaint, while a relatively rare occurrence, reflects the increasing number of such accusations across the country as Republican pressure to mobilize legislation opposing LGBTQ+ rights mounts. read more

Shootings at Teichert Ponds encampment alarm activists

Shootings at Chico’s Teichert Ponds has some residents worried that unhoused people are facing increasing violence -– perhaps linked to rising levels of “dehumanizing” speech targeting them.

A shooting at the Ponds killed an unhoused man and left another seriously injured last year, and a shooting last month in the same preserve nearly killed another unhoused man. Both shootings involved people entering the Teichert Ponds encampment with the likely intent to “start a fight,” in District Attorney Mike Ramsey’s opinion.

In September 2021, around 2:30 in the morning, a teenage boy shot two unhoused men in Teichert Ponds after entering the site with a group of friends heading home from a nearby party, according to the district attorney’s office. The teen, whose name has not been disclosed because he is a minor, was accused of killing 53-year-old Guy Vanzant. read more