Issue: August 09, 2012
Good morning, readers:
This week, through our cover story, yours truly will introduce you to Becky Barnes-Boers. She's a local disabled woman who is on a mission to open the eyes of people when it comes to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal civil-rights law protecting the disabled from discrimination. Barnes-Boers is a single mom who has successfully taken on government agencies who have ignored the law and ignored her requests to follow it. She's currently asking the city of Chico to get up to speed with the ADA. In fact, she's been doing so for the past five years. Barnes-Boers' record keeping reveals a city vastly out of compliance, and since she feels like city officials haven't taken her complaints seriously, she's decided to take the issue up with the ultimate authority under the law, the federal government.
In Newslines, Editor Robert Speer takes one for the team, covering a long Chico City Council meeting with the Noise Ordinance on the agenda (also, see Downstroke, for an update on redevelopment news). News Editor Tom Gascoyne talks to a couple of young New York rabbis about their stay in Chico. Staff writer Ken Smith hears from a Chico attorney who helped overturn the Board of Supervisors' restrictive medi-pot ordinance about the board's new further-restrictive plan. And Gascoyne, pulling double duty, also reports on the local doctor and his wife who are accused of killing their 2-year-old adopted son.
In Healthlines, Christine LaPado-Breglia talks to Tory Zellick about the book she penned following the death of her mother. She wrote The Medical Day Planner to help guide others who are in the position of being the primary caretaker of a terminally ill person.
In Greenways, Claire Hutkins-Seda has a nice feature on Max Kee's program of using food scraps donated from local restaurants to make compost, and then using that compost to grow food for the very same establishments.
Back in the Arts and Culture section, check out Ken Smith's run-down of Chico's summer-theater fest, including the now-running Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh. The incomparable Juan-Carlos Selznick gives us his take on the Total Recall redux. And, of course, Arts DEVO, Arts Editor Jason Cassidy, gives us the scoop on the local music, arts and events scenes.
Enjoy!
-Melissa Daugherty, managing editor
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Advocating for access
Becky Barnes-Boers, a local disabled woman, says Chico is failing to comply with disability laws.
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The roving rabbis
Rabbis-in-training come to Chico to learn and share.
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Getting a handle on noisy neighbors
Compromise calls for keeping first warning in noise ordinance but extending its range.
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Wahl of defiance
Attorney questions legality of county’s proposed new, tougher medical-marijuana-cultivation ordinance.
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Murder charges
Enloe doctor defends colleagues charged with murder of their son.
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City not off the hook on payment
For a while the city of Chico was looking at an $11.2 million redevelopment “true-up” payment to the state, enough to bankrupt it, but now the state has backed off a bit.
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More gun news
Arrest in Chico for possession of a high-capacity gun clips.
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Enloe nurses approve contract
New agreement ends months of difficult negotiations.
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Obama better on global warming
President Obama has a comfortable lead in California, but even more voters believe he’d be stronger than Gov. Romney on global warming.
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Full circle
Max Kee’s composting program turns donated food scraps into valuable animal feed, compost and, consequently, fresh fruits and vegetables.
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Mining water-pollution guidelines tossed
EPA’s effort to regulate mountaintop removal defeated in courtroom.
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Climate change, ozone linked?
Study finds strong summer storms deplete ozone layer over U.S.
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Keystone XL’s southern leg gets approval
Army Corps grants TransCanada permit for 485-mile stretch of pipeline.
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Saving the fruits of summer
Sign up for GRUB’s free, in-depth fruit- and veggie-drying workshop on Aug. 28.
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From pain, a gift to others
After taking care of her dying mother, Tory Zellick penned The Medical Day Planner, a thorough guide to being primary caretaker of a terminally ill person.
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Huge prison medical facility in works
California Health Care Facility to house 1,700 chronically ill prisoners.
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Chemicals in plastic linked to diabetes
Phthalates double the risk of diabetes in women with the highest exposure levels.
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Prenatal preventative care covered
Affordable Care Act covers preventative care for pregnant women.
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Break up the big banks
If Sandy Weill, the godfather of “too big to fail,” knows it’s necessary, why doesn’t Congress?
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A powerful voice silenced
Remembering Alexander Cockburn and his visit to Chico.
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‘Volunteer junkie’ makes good
Katy Deaton asks readers to help Caring Choices win a new SUV.
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Gore Vidal in Chico
Thirty years ago Gore Vidal spent two full days in Chico, charming and challenging its good burghers with his caustic wit and immense knowledge.
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Preserving place
Artists focus on Chico’s “Endangered Icons” for annual exhibit.
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Start with a song
Chico Summer Theatre Festival kicks off with an old-time radio show.
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Miss Gladys and the Pit Bull Barracuda
Dave Kilbourne, it turns out, is one funny writer.
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Smartest Man in the Room
A smokin’ stick of “roots-rock dynamite.”
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Aimer et Perdre: To Love and To Lose, Songs, 1917-1934
Long-gone music sees the light.
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Cool breeze in a bowl
Henri fights the summer heat with his homemade gazpacho.
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Deja vu all over again
Recall remake still misses poing of Philip K. Dick source material.
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