In Japan, earthquake-born tidal waves engulfed backup safety systems at the Fukushima reactor complex. Half a world away in Madera County, local officials were giving their unanimous support for plans [...] Continue Reading
Politics
Obama’s “Shared Sacrifice” Hits the Poor and Middle Class Hardest
Editor’s note: This article is a reprint with permission of an editorial that appeared in the May 2, 2011, issue of The Nation magazine, www.thenation.com. President Obama’s speech unveiling his [...] Continue Reading
Grassroots: Profiles of Local Activist Leaders
Pam Whalen, of all the people I’ve interviewed, has perhaps the clearest vision of what her work as an activist is directed toward: “A workers’ paradise.” For her entire life, she has been propelled [...] Continue Reading
California Redistricting: Open to the Public for the First Time
With the California electorate passing Prop 11 in 2008 and Prop 20 in 2010, the landscape for redistricting is significantly different than was the case in previous decades. Prop 11 shifted the [...] Continue Reading
California Seniors Group Fighting to Save Retirement
The future of retirement is on the line, according to the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), a progressive grassroots advocacy organization. Nan Brasmer, president of the California [...] Continue Reading
Movement for Immigration Reform Struggles On
The May Day Committee as part of the movement for immigrants’ rights is conscious that comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level eludes us at this time. However, there are several bills at [...] Continue Reading
The Pledge of Allegiance Was Really a Marketing Ploy
Fresno State student gadfly Neil O’Brien recently got exercised by Associated Students Vice President for Finance Cesar Sanchez’s comments on video that the Pledge of Allegiance was originally a scam, [...] Continue Reading
National Day of Action “We Are One” March
On April 4, more than 350 Fresno residents, union members and supporters marched to express their opposition to attacks on basic rights such as those occurring in Wisconsin and several other states. [...] Continue Reading
Bank of America: Your Taxes Are Due!
About 100 protestors on Shaw Avenue (across from Fashion Fair) held signs, sang and demanded that Bank of America pay its taxes. Protesters said Bank of America is the largest bank and the fifth [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Fresno Police Chief Accused of Racism A lawsuit, filed in Fresno Superior Court in February, says that Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer’s ringtone for Cynthia Sterling, an African-American former City [...] Continue Reading
Lawsuit Challenges Approval of Friant Ranch Project
Three local organizations have sued Fresno County to challenge the Board of Supervisors’ approval of the Friant Ranch project. The Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters of Fresno and Revive the San [...] Continue Reading
“Got Them… Er, Him”
After several months of investigation, the FBI announced on March 10 that a shadowy group calling itself the American Nationalist Brotherhood was in reality a lone school bus driver from Madera [...] Continue Reading