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Brent Adams On Sentinel Reporter Jessica York
BY BRENT ADAMS
PHOTO FROM BENITO & AZZARO PACIFIC GARDENS CHAPEL
I was stunned to learn of the passing of longtime Sentinel reporter Jessica York (article). For more than a decade, Jessica played an important role in the success of Warming Center Program and Footbridge Homeless Services. While modern-era newspaper reporting often lacks the investigative depth of the past, Jessica stood out — always in the right place, doing the legwork, and understanding the deeper, more nuanced contexts of the stories she covered.
In 2013, when I began the effort to establish a sanctuary homeless camp in Santa Cruz, the political climate was particularly hostile. The voices of groups like Take Back Santa Cruz dominated local government, while Smart Solutions to Homelessness controlled the prevailing narratives. Jessica’s reporting, however, brought balance. She sought out our perspective, helping ensure that the needs-oriented services we were advocating for were part of the public conversation. Over the years, she called me dozens of times — often off the record — to get insights on government homelessness funding, camp raids, and political maneuvering.
At times, she allowed me to take strong stands against the dominant paradigm. Other times, she distilled my long and winding thoughts into sharp, concise articles. Her ability to translate chaotic, multi-hour city council meetings into clear, digestible reporting was nothing short of remarkable.
I was just about to reach out to her when I heard the news of her passing. I had taken for granted that she would always be there. She had, after all, survived the relentless changes of the online subscription-based news era. Now she is gone. I wish I had said “thank you” more often.
In this moment, I can only hope she suffered little. And I will always be grateful for her dedication, integrity, and impact on our work and community.
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Cal/OSHA Still Fails Workers
BY GARRETT BROWN FORMER - TOP OFFICIAL AT CAL-OSHA
The latest available staffing data for Cal/OSHA released by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) documents 116 compliance inspector vacancies for an enforcement vacancy rate of 43%. There have been no net gains in hiring Cal/OSHA enforcement inspectors through October of 2024, in fact the vacancy rate has steadily grown during the year.
The agency remains riddled with years-long, crippling vacancies at a time when Los Angeles area workers face toxic exposures while cleaning up massive fire zones, workers at the Martinez Refining oil refinery have almost no one to investigate the Feb. 1 fire, and new regulations coming on line to protect California workers from construction falls, airborne lead, and indoor heat have few compliance officers available to enforce them.
This week DIR released Cal/OSHA’s staffing “organization chart” as of Oct. 1, 2024. DIR routinely withholds release of staffing data for 3-4 months, making it impossible to confirm claims of additional hiring. The only verifiable staffing data are the “org charts” which list every authorized, fully funded inspector position in Cal/OSHA, and the name of the compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) in the position or documenting the position is vacant, as of Sept. 30, 2024.
As thousands of workers in the Los Angeles basin will be employed clearing toxic debris and constructing housing following the fires, Cal/OSHA has a greatly diminished capacity to protect them. The Monrovia District Office —closest to the Altadena fire — has a field inspector vacancy rate of 40%. The Van Nuys District Office — closest to the Hughes fire — has a field inspector vacancy rate of 36%. Region IV covering the Los Angeles basin has an overall inspector vacancy rate of 33%.
Cal/OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) unit which covers workers in the state’s 15 operating oil refineries has a grand total of two field inspectors – one in southern California and one in northern California — and a CSHO vacancy rate of 80%. Fortunately, no workers at the Martinez Refining Company refinery were injured in the major Feb. 1 blaze that prompted a community shelter-in-place order. But the PSM unit has minimal capacity to investigate the fire and hold the company accountable for hazards to the workforce and nearby residents.
California’s 19 million workers in other industries are likewise barely covered given the inspector vacancies. Fourteen of Cal/OSHA’s 30 enforcement offices have inspector vacancy rates above 40% -- ranging from 45% to 80%. New district offices are largely empty in Santa Barbara (80% vacancy rate) and Riverside (67%). But longstanding enforcement offices are riddled with empty desks – San Francisco (67%), San Bernardino (64%), Bakersfield (63%), Fremont and Santa Ana (both 55%). There are six enforcement District Offices without a manager, and two offices have zero clerical staff.
California has only one inspector for every 121,000 workers compared to the Washington state ratio of 1 inspector to 26,000 workers and Oregon’s ratio of 1 inspector to 24,000 workers. In 1980, Federal OSHA had 14.8 CSHOs per every million workers, while 45 years later California has only 8.2 inspectors per million workers.
At the same time in October, there were only 10 CSHOs certified fluent in languages other than English, despite more than 5 million workers in California who speak other languages. Cal/OSHA also has only four industrial hygienists among enforcement field inspectors, who are critical for effective enforcement of health-related regulations of hazards like heat and airborne silica and lead.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has presided over an increase every year in CSHO vacancies since he took office in January 2019 (see linked chart above). A weakened, in-name-only workplace safety agency cannot meet its mandate or mission to protect workers against jobsite hazards that result in hundreds of injuries, illnesses and fatalities each year in California.
Nor will a hobbled Cal/OSHA be a deterrent to irresponsible employers who will seek to take advantage of the Trump Administration’s plans to gut regulatory safety and health regulations.
California’s working people and their families should not be forced to pay the price in blood and tears for Governor Newsom’s Trump-like lack of concern about serious workplace health and safety threats.
Contact Governor Newsom
Contact Robert Rivas
Contact John Laird
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Editor's Note: At the announcement of the Oct. 15 meeting below, it was made clear that the presentation was not to be reported on. As an inveterate note taker I was so moved by the testimony that I couldn't stop writing things down. On Nov. 25, 2024 I finally put those notes together. I still hesitated to publish it. Finally, two and a half months later I felt that the community needed to know what happened that grim night of May 30, 2024.
Demonstrating at UCSC for Palestinian Rights – The Night of May 30
BY SARAH RINGLER
Tuesday evening, Oct. 15, 2024, at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, around 25 students from UC Santa Cruz Students for Justice in Palestine presented to around 80 members of the community, a description of what occurred on campus in the evening of May 30, 2024. RCNV was the appropriate venue given their long-time support for Palestinian rights and the two-state solution sought by Palestinians. RCNV cofounder, Scott Kennedy, as well as others led delegations to Israel and the West Bank, organized conferences and brought Israeli and Palestinian leaders to Santa Cruz. In 2008, RCNV organized a forum with Temple Beth El and Congressmember Sam Farr, looking for his support for a Palestinian state and also publicizing the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).
Written testimonies of two students were read to the group. May 30, around 200 police in riot gear from 17 police departments around the state — some coming from as far away at Riverside — formed a three-mile-wide perimeter that stretched from Westlake Elementary School to the Arboretum. Around 11:50pm, they descended from Stevenson College destroying the protest camp, food and water along the way. Students were told to leave the area but they were encircled by police.
Commanding officers pinpointed students who were deemed to be leaders and were grabbed by the neck or hair. Police would then take a photo of them. Protesters’ wrists were tied behind their backs with plastic zip ties. In the process students were injured and one person who was targeted suffered a severe concussion and ended up in the hospital. They still have no feeling in their fingertips today. Over all, there were 12 students with concussions and one had lacerations that needed stitches.
Students were then loaded onto campus busses. On the busses for nine hours, they had no access to food, water or bathrooms wearing wrist ties the entire time. One woman, who was concerned about toxic shock, had to remove her tampon on the bus with no privacy and wearing zip tie hand cuffs. Others just decided to pee on the bus, later calling it the Pee Bus. Other buses were nicknamed the Baddy Bus and the Auditory Bus. At one point some students saw police eating some of the food they had confiscated from them earlier.
There were 120 arrests in all. The entire raid lasted 16 hours. Students want the community to recognized the trauma they went through and many thought they could have died that night. They also want it known that they are doing ok and are still organizing.
The raid was initiated by Chancellor Cynthia Larive who reported that evening to police that an ambulance was blocked from entering Family Student Housing to help a toddler. Family Student Housing released a letter stating that it wasn’t the protesters but the police who blocked access.
Since that night, arrested students were due to show up at Santa Cruz Superior Court on Nov. 19. They are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. I'm not up to date with what is currently going on. I do know they wanted people to know what happened to them and that they would appreciate any support the public can give them.
According to Christine Hong, founding collective member of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and a professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at UCSC, out of the entire University of California system, only students at UCLA were as badly treated.
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No Sanctions or Suspensions for UCSC Students Protesting Genocide
SUBMITTED BY STUDENTS WHO OUT OF FEAR OF RETALIATION WANT TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS
Two UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students, Luke Jenny and Izabella (Iz) Campos Layne, have been suspended for one quarter based on bogus charges related to their human rights advocacy for Palestinians enduring the genocide in Gaza, during the protests last school year.
UCSC has attempted to stifle Palestine organizing and advocacy through the arbitrary punishment of individual students and implementing measures that criminalize freedom of speech, such as Time, Place, Manner (TPM) policies. Both Luke and Iz have been given four sanctions: suspension for one quarter, 20 hours community service, apology essay, and stayed/deferred suspension. Deferred suspension essentially means that any actions that violate any student conduct measure can result in further suspension. With the current TPM policies, this means that using a megaphone or putting up a folding chair can result in suspension.
The persecution of Iz and Luke, just two out of the more than 120 UCSC students, faculty, workers, and community members arrested last May 31, 2024, sends a repressive message, aimed at chilling campus free speech and quashing Palestine solidarity organizing. At a time when our fundamental rights to protest and free assembly are under threat and many in our university community are under attack, UCSC has placed itself firmly on the side of fear and repression. These two suspensions have been wholly discretionary, arbitrary, tyrannical, and unjust throughout the hearing proceedings. Whereas the standard in criminal proceedings is “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the standard used in student conduct processes is typically “a preponderance of evidence.” By contrast, the standard used in these cases was “a preponderance of information.” Characterized by a lack of evidence, these biased proceedings were tilted, from the start, in favor of the university in order to mete out punishment.
The case against Iz, a deeply respected campus organizer, bears the hallmarks of a selective prosecution for crudely political purposes. Iz was suspended for allegedly adding gravel to an existing barricade. Administrators were able to prosecute Iz only because they picked her out of a large crowd as a prominent campus activist while video-surveilling the encampment. Those people whom they did not immediately recognize were not brought up on charges. Iz, moreover, was prevented from presenting testimony in her favor whereas the university’s witness was allowed to counterfactually speculate on theoretical harms.
In Luke’s case, the conduct process was transformed into an absurd, labyrinthine ordeal. He is accused of kicking a police officer, based solely on the testimony of a single officer. Yet, despite the presence in the area of over 100 police officers from multiple jurisdictions, many with body cameras, his accusers failed to offer any video evidence to support their charge, even after previously claiming such evidence exists. Instead, they withheld access to bodycam footage that may have definitively shown the allegation to be fabricated. Nowhere, moreover, has the process addressed what is verifiably true: namely, the police injured Luke, slicing his hand, necessitating a hospital visit and stitches. (See photo in support letter link below.)
We, the undersigned, condemn the suspensions of Iz and Luke as an assault on all our constitutional rights to engage in free assembly and free speech. We see this action in the context of increased surveillance of students, excessive spending on policing, and the development of new policies to prevent students and workers from effectively voicing their concerns. In lockstep with the tyrannical policies of the new presidential administration, the UCSC administration’s attempt to suffocate activism is part of a larger, concerted effort to reverse the recent victories of student and worker organizing and prevent further mobilization.
And to that, we say, "No!" We the students, workers, and faculty of this university, parents of UCSC students, and members of the community demand no academic repercussions for Izabella Campos-Layne or Luke Jenny. The university should immediately withdraw the suspensions, and other sanctions (apology essays, community service, and criminal deferred suspension), and cease all attempts to further injure either of these students. Further, in light of the danger this selective persecution poses, we demand that the university fundamentally rework its judicial process so as to guarantee due process, a jury of one’s peers, and protection against double jeopardy.
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the movement for Palestinian liberation locally, the students targeted, and against unconstitutional repression of the freedom of speech. We demand that the University of California, Santa Cruz administrators drop all sanctions imposed upon Luke Jenny and Izabella Campos Layne.
Please sign this letter of support by clicking HERE. Add your name in the form after bottom of the letter and the 847 signatures.
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The Film Boycott Shown Feb. 19
BY JEFFREY SMEDBERG
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Support the Reel Work Labor Film Festival in its ongoing refusal to accept modern-day colonialism In their understanding Gaza Film Series with the film Boycott, by Julie Bacha. Boycotts were once considered the moral high ground of political action. This documentary traces the impact of state legislation supported by Christian fundamentalists designed to penalize individuals and companies that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. An inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect our rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech. Also a short will be shown, Is Israel Losing the Social Media War?
Boycott will be shown Feb. 19, 7pm at the SEIU Local 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St., Santa Cruz. Discussion about the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement led by members of Palestine Justice Coalition will follow.
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Winter in the Valley of the Birds
BY KATHLEEN KILLPATRICK
Here, in this fertile valley,
Demeter does not put on
her snowy cloak, although,
often times for days on end,
she dons a silver shawls,
and sometimes weeps.
Still, she keeps the colors,
trees and bushes wear
bold green, red berries,
gold and scarlet, purple,
even bare trees hang with orange
persimmons, pomegranates
the magenta of dark blood.
Her fields, a patchwork:
deep, adobe brown
awaiting rain, and then
too wet too plow and shape,
pale white expanses, arched
and spread, waiting to renew,
for berries to begin again,
green hills and leafy rows,
a promise: cows and people
will not go hungry.
And yet, sometimes
she walks beside
the dark and stormy sea,
wondering, where is
that other world,
the underground one
where her daughter sleeps?
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It's Cold and Wet Outside
BY BRENT ADAMS
Warming Center Program's robust Hypothermia Protection Project is going strong, but we need your help to sustain it through this winter season. Our programs are 100% community supported and this work receives no sustaining funds from city, county, state or federal government. We are a community of caring individuals who take responsibility for each other and ensure that not one person must suffer extreme cold outside.
Warming Wednesday is 12-3pm at 150 Felker St. At the river side gate, anyone who sleeps outside can obtain a tent, blankets, jackets, shoes, clothing, hygiene items, first aid supplies, etc. Many items are purchased new including: tents, blankets, men's pants, underwear, beanies and gloves, umbrellas, rain ponchos, handwarmers and hygiene stuff. You might imagine how expensive this project can be, given that most people will need to revisit this program multiple times this season.
Donated items can go to the Donation Barrel at REI Sports, Commercial Way and 150 Felker St. where there is a Donation Portal through the fence. Donate funding support to warmingcenterprogram.com or write a check and send to: Warming Center Program, PO Box 462 Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Contact:
Emergency Homeless Hotline: (831) 246-1234. Office: (831) 588-9892
warmingcenterprogram@gmail.com IG: @warmingcenterprogram
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Time to Plan for a General Strike?
BY SARAH RINGLER
Lately this website has been circulating through our community. It appears to me that right now the site is polling the public to see if there is interest in participating in a General Strike. If you are interested, check it out.
From the homepage: "We’ve voted, we’ve protested, and this country still does not work on behalf of us working people. The General Strike is a network of regular people who know our greatest power is our labor and our right to refuse it. If we all strike together, we can make real change.
"What are your demands? Our broad list of demands includes, but is not limited to: Climate action. Universal healthcare. Racial justice. Reproductive rights. LGBTQIA+ rights. Living wage/raise the minimum wage. Immigration reform. Education reform. Gun safety. Tax the rich. Affordable housing. Disability rights. Welfare and child support reform. Voters rights. Constitutional convention. Paid family and medical leave. Criminal justice system reform. Workers’ rights. Permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
"Specific demands will come from leaders and experts of existing fights for racial, economic, gender and environmental justice.
"When the The General Strike has reached 6M Strike Cards, we will reach out to our partners to draft these demands. Sign your Strike Card now to get us closer to the 11M cards we need to Strike!"
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Coffee Drinkers Bring Their Own Cups
BY SARAH RINGLER
From Jan. 18 - April 18, Waste Free Santa Cruz is launching a campaign to try and reduce the environmental impact of single-use coffee cups. They estimate that more than 10,000 cups go to the landfill daily. Through this 3 month campaign, they hope to reduce that amount by 20%. Click HERE for participating coffee shops. For information click HERE. Shop Local.
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CARTOON BY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS | |
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Oracle
BY WOODY REHANEK
An iPhone is our oracle:
We live on a freeway
waiting for a miracle
hoping it will come someday.
Omicron has come & gone;
Russian soldiers on the move.
Johnny shreds it on guitar;
Ukraine has so much to lose.
Flame skimmers torch hot springs
zigging & zagging in time:
erratic orange dragonflies,
humming their rhythms & rhymes.
Respected in Asia, reviled in Sweden,
dragonflies equipped with compound lenses,
90% kill rate, doing what they're doing
for 300 million years. Deadly. Resilient.
Relentless. Exquisite.
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PHOTO TARMO HANNULA
A double-crested cormorant takes a stand in Soquel Creek.
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Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - Cases Currently Waning
By SARAH RINGLER
The California Department of Public Health and Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly release data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county as well as information on influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Mpox. Since cases of Covid are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.
The three graphs below were updated on Feb. 12. The first graph is the Effective Reproductive Number. When the line rises above one, it shows that the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. The second graph below shows data that the Health Department collects for Covid from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county. The third graph below shows hospitalizations.
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PHOTO BY TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street - A woman sports a UC Santa Cruz SLUGS jacket while on a stroll in Santa Cruz.
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Labor History Calendar - Feb. 14-20, 2025
a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget
Feb. 14, 1903: Western Federation of Miners strike for 8-hour day.
Feb. 14, 2011: Egypt military takes charge, orders end to strike and protests.
Feb. 15, 1839: Labor journalist Dyer Lum born in New York.
Feb. 16, 1916: Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control in New York City.
Feb. 16, 2011: Sick-out closes Wisconsin schools as teacher protest union-busting legislation.
Feb. 17, 1906: WFM leaders Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone framed on murder
charges.
Feb. 17, 1936: Goodyear sit-down strike.
Feb. 17, 1992: Yale University unions strike in solidarity with Teaching Assistants.
Feb. 17, 2020: Thousands strike JY Ha Nam Co over Covid fears in Vietnam.
Feb. 18, 1916: Magon brothers arrested near Los Angeles and charged with treason for publishing Renereración.
Feb. 19, 1942: FDR sends 120,000 West Coast Japanese, including US citizens to concentration camps.
Feb. 19, 1948: Death of Joe Ettor, IWW organizer.
Feb. 20, 1908: Rally for unemployed becomes riot. 18 arrested for demanding jobs in Philadelphia.
Feb. 20, 1990: UMW settles 10-month Pittston strike.
Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.
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PHOTO BY TARMO HANNULA
Out of This World - Saving electricity or just taking advantage of the natural power of the sun, a woman in Greece dries her laundry on a line on the balcony.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
All Day Brazilian Black Bean Soup
By SARAH RINGLER
This is a popular soup. It was, and probably will be served again, at the Bagelry in Santa Cruz. Judith Mattoon, when she was the head cook there in the 1980s, made a particularly great version. She used high quality orange juice and before serving, puréed half of the soup to make it smooth. She was responsible for many of the soups, salads, spreads and sweets that are still part of the menu. The original recipe came from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook.
This recipe will keep you busy all day. If you start with uncooked beans, you will need to start this recipe early the day or two before. The beans need to soak four hours, then cook about two hours. Once the vegetables are all added and the soup is cooked, it takes all together about seven hours. During that time, you could also make cornbread.
Sectioning oranges takes a sharp knife and patience. Be prepared to be frustrated by how little actual meat there is. I recommend using Valencia oranges. They have thin skin, as opposed to Navel oranges, and the sections are easier to separate. They do have seeds though which should be removed.
Soups are relaxing to make and a good way to use up vegetables. You can clean up as you go along and there is no big flurry of activity just before serving.
Brazilian Black Bean Soup
Beans:
2 cups dry black beans
3 ½ cups water or stock
2 teaspoons salt
Vegetables:
I cup chopped onions
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 large chopped carrot
1 cup chopped vegetables like celery, bell peppers, zucchini
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
¼ teaspoon red pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil
10 minutes before serving:
3-4 Valencia oranges, peeled and sectioned
½ cup good quality fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon dry sherry
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
Optional toppings:
Sour cream or whole milk yogurt, tortilla chips, grated cheese and/or avocados
First prepare the dried black beans by picking through them looking for rocks and imperfect beans. Wash and rinse in a strainer under cold water to remove dirt. Then, place in a bowl or pot, cover with water, and set aside for about 4 hours.
Next, to cook the beans, pour off the soaking water and put the beans in a saucepan. Add 3 ½ cups stock or water, salt and set on a burner at medium high heat. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over very low heat for 1 ½ hours. Beans should be cooked but not mushy.
Prepare the vegetables by washing, peeling and chopping. Add cooking oil to a medium sized frying pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add onions and garlic and cook until the onions start to become transparent. Add the coriander, dried red pepper, cumin and carrots. Saute´and stir for a few minutes and then add the other chopped vegetables. When the vegetables are about done, add to pot with the beans and simmer over the lowest possible heat for about 1 hour.
With a sharp knife, remove all the skin from the outside of the oranges. Carefully cut into the sections and scoop out the meat and the seeds with your fingers.
About 15 minutes before serving, add the final ingredients except for the topping. Stir, cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the flavors. Add more water or stock if it is too dry. Purée half of the soup with a stand blender or in the blender. Serve with toppings.
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Copyright © 2025 Sarah Ringler
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