Tag: Butte County

Court orders City to release documents in Tyler Rushing case

City's non-compliance with public records laws will cost taxpayers
by Leslie Layton | Posted July 9, 2024

photo by Leslie Layton
Scott & Paula Rushing after their July 8 hearing at the North Butte County Courthouse.

This story was updated at 2 p.m. today to add comments from both parties’ attorneys.

Shortly after taking under submission a public records dispute, Butte County Superior Court Judge Stephen Benson ruled July 8 that the City of Chico must release a PowerPoint presentation on the 2017 police killing of Tyler Rushing.

The ruling in favor of Tyler’s father, Scott Rushing of Ventura, requires that the City release requested information “without redactions.” Scott Rushing filed his request under the state’s Public Records Act almost 19 months ago on the premise that the PowerPoint appears to have been created for training purposes. 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, 2024

photo by Karen Laslo
Pallet shelters

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.

“The reason I go out to the shelter to talk to people [is] so they have that option to do everything the old-fashioned way,” Reinhard said. “You tend to run into people in that situation who don’t like to go into the county services building. Some of it is just transportation. Some people don’t like doing it online.” read more

Juneteenth celebration draws community members to DeGarmo

by Karen Laslo and Leslie Layton | Posted June 19, 2024

photo by Karen Laslo
Juneteenth at DeGarmo Park in Chico.

A Juneteenth celebration, with food, music and speeches, drew a cross-section of the community to DeGarmo Park today to celebrate the federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery.

“We’re really going for a family-reunion type vibe,” said Christina Archie, an organizer with the group, Building Leaders, Advocates & Community Connections (BLACC) late in the afternoon. “We’re just wanting people to feel the love within the community. We’re working on that connection piece, community connection. It’s been really cool.”

BLACC organized the event because members felt it was important to “bring the community together” to celebrate a day that was “very important in American history, Black history,” Archie added. read more

Affordable housing comes on line in Butte

Demand fierce; homelessness unresolved
by Natalie Hanson | Posted September 18, 2023

photo by Leslie Layton
Butte County Housing Authority Executive Director Ed Mayer at the play area of North Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex.

Affordable housing for low-income renters is growing increasingly available across Butte County -– even as the population of unhoused people grows.

There has been progress on the housing gap as new affordable housing developments come on line, and more expensive homes free up units for those qualifying for low-income units, said Butte County Housing Authority Executive Director Ed Mayer.

However, Mayer’s skeptical that the 3,056 new, affordable homes that are planned, under construction or recently opened can put more than a dent in demand in this county of about 200,000 residents.

The region’s housing crisis has been exacerbated by wildfires, as well as the huge discrepancy between average incomes and rents and home prices. Two years ago, in an interview with ChicoSol, Mayer estimated that 6,000 units were needed. read more

Valley’s Edge opponents worry about environmental impacts

Fight over foothill development has wracked Chico for decades
by Leslie Layton | Posted February 5, 2023

photo courtesy of Steve Evans
From left, Steve Evans, Michael McGinnis and Kelly Meagher announced the No way San Jose campaign in 1988 to stop development next to Upper Bidwell Park.

Part II in a two-part series

Thirty-five years ago, a small, progressive coalition stopped development in the lower foothills adjacent to Upper Bidwell Park with the rallying cry, “No way San Jose.”

That area has been protected under the name of Bidwell Ranch since the 1988 referendum that stopped the project. Voters in favor of stopping the Rancho Arroyo project wanted to protect northwest Chico -– not so much from inevitable population growth -– but from the kind of suburban sprawl that had come to be associated with California cities like San Jose and Fresno.

Rancho Arroyo was first planned for 5,000 houses northwest of Bidwell Park, later trimmed down to 3,000 houses to placate opponents, and then resurrected as Bidwell Ranch before it was stopped altogether. read more

Mike Ramsey’s backward notions on mental illness

Butte County’s forever DA has history of demonizing in-crisis victims
by Dave Waddell | Posted December 18, 2022

photo by Karen Laslo

Butte County DA Mike Ramsey

I know Butte County has an elderly district attorney, but who knew Mike Ramsey’s thinking on mental illness was so prehistoric?

I am referring to a quote from Ramsey, Butte’s 35-year (!) DA, in Leslie Layton’s ChicoSol story about the difficult societal problems presented by Thomas David Bona.

Bona is a serial criminal living with schizophrenia and a multitude of delusions. He thinks he’s a member of the Sureños gang, which he isn’t. He also seems to have violently acted out his perceived ties to “The Sopranos” television crime family.

Most recently, Bona is facing felony charges with hate crime enhancements in connection with two terrorizing graffiti incidents in Chico. He is accused of etching swastikas into the Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women mural at Cedar and Second streets and on a Congregation Beth Israel sign at the local synagogue, among other frightening acts. Bona is also charged with throwing a rock through a restaurant window, apparently because it displayed a San Francisco Giants sign. He is due back in Butte County Superior Court on Dec. 21 after a judge last month suspended criminal proceedings and ordered his psychological examination. read more