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Chico voters rejecting planned community Valley’s Edge

photo by Leslie Layton

The Valley’s Edge houses would be built on lava cap.

Editor’s note: The Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s office released official election results on March 28 that show that almost 63% voted NO on Measure O and 62% opposed Measure P.

Preliminary results in the primary election show Chico voters rejecting the controversial Valley’s Edge project that would produce a planned community east of City limits.

As of March 8, the preliminary count showed the number of “NO” votes on measures O and P at 62% of some 19,000 ballots that had been counted. Those measures would amend the General Plan and the Valley’s Edge Specific Plan to allow the development.

The project on 1,448 acres between Stilson Canyon Road and Honey Run Road has generated considerable pushback for years. Opponents have questioned whether it will create enough homes for people who earn Chico wages and whether it will cause irreparable ecological damage. read more

Local news coverage crisis hits home

Rebuild Local News Founder Steven Waldman

(ChicoSol coverage of the nationwide local news crisis has received support from an Ethnic Media Services fellowship.)

The rapid erosion of local news across the country is nothing short of a five-alarm emergency for democracy — and it will take creativity and commitment to keep democracy’s fourth pillar standing.

Butte County affairs are covered by only a few news outlets that employ a handful of journalists. Research shows reduced local news coverage is linked to less government transparency and reduced civic engagement. Most citizens do not have time to carefully monitor the use of their tax dollars and attend public meetings that reporters once watched closely.

Most of the newsroom positions that fueled news production at the daily Chico Enterprise-Record several decades ago have been gradually eliminated. (The ER is owned by Media NewsGroup.) We’ve also seen the move to digital-only reporting for the weekly Chico News & Review because of advertising revenue losses. read more

Unsheltered, Tom Covington faces hostility and sometimes violence

photo by Leslie Layton

Tom Covington was struck by a flaming bag as he slept in a doorway.

Tom Covington curled up to sleep in a downtown Chico doorway on a January night near another unsheltered man. Both men were awakened around 2 a.m. by a flaming bag that was tossed on them and that burned Covington’s sleeping bag, hand and his right side.

Covington was able to slap the fire out, but the men were disgusted and angry to find that the bag was full of feces. Covington’s wheelchair had been taken by one of the two men who had been lurking around them when they bedded down.

Covington, a congenial man who was recently interviewed on Second Street as he sat on two slabs of cardboard on a cold sidewalk, was treated and released at the emergency room the morning of the attack. He still has four or five small skin wounds healing from the burns. read more

State agencies, psychologists support Chico Unified

Educators and experts have joined California’s leaders in urging an appeals court to uphold a ruling that supports Chico Unified School District’s (CUSD’s) anti-discrimination policy.

California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta filed Jan. 9 in support of the district, along with representatives of 15 other states, arguing that the policy is designed to be flexible on a case-by-case basis to support transgender and gender-nonconforming students, and to withhold parental notice when a student does not consent. The only exception for parental notification, against a student’s wishes, is if the student’s well-being is at risk.

The statements of support came in response to an appeal filed by Chico parent Aurora Regino, who wants to overturn a federal judge’s decision last year rejecting her opposition to nondisclosure that is a product of the district’s broader anti-discrimination policy. read more

California children may first experience hate speech at school

by Natalie Hanson
posted Oct. 31

Schools across California see increasing rates of bullying, hate speech and discrimination, placing children from marginalized communities at risk. (See story on new NorCal Anti-Racism Coalition here.)

In an Oct. 27 Ethnic Media Services panel, several experts and California students said that many children face a “culture of hate” in schools where bullying can be inescapable. They pointed to social media’s role, as bullies can use these platforms to anonymously target and harass peers, perpetuating harmful, false stereotypes about others.

Award-winning journalist Dashka Slater — who has written for The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Salon, and Mother Jones — said that three in four Americans aged 15-25 have seen extremist content online, half of it focusing on race or ethnicity. About 1.3 million students have been bullied on the basis of their identity through the 2019 school year, with half being targeted because of their race. read more

Chico parents form anti-racism coalition

Chico Unified parents who demand that their school district crafts stronger protections for students and faculty against hate speech say they are forming an anti-racism coalition.

Mele Benz is one of numerous parents in Chico who say they want children to have better protection from discrimination and hate speech. She is one of three parents who head the board of what is now the NorCal Anti-Racism Coalition, which represents about 100 family members and allies. It asks that Chico Unified School District (CUSD) demonstrate no tolerance for hate speech or discrimination on its campuses. (See sidebar on increased bullying in California schools here.)

Benz once worked as an administrator at Chico Unified and saw its inner workings. She also has two elementary school-aged kids in the district, and has been attending annual Local Control Accountability Plan meetings for years. The meetings are required by the state for the purpose of hearing concerns and ideas from families, and to consider ways to improve equity in local schools. read more