A detour to the Cesar Chavez monument At the southern tip of Highway 99

photo by Lindajoy Fenley
The gravesites of Cesar and Helen Chavez.

Editor’s note: ChicoSol is reviving its Highway 99 series that was popular some 10 years ago to mark this year’s Cesar Chavez Day. State Route 99 cuts through California’s Central Valley, where union organizing had a tremendous impact.

by Lindajoy Fenley
posted March 27

The final resting place of Cesar Chavez, who led strikes to improve the lot of underpaid and disrespected farmworkers nationwide more than 50 years ago, has the peaceful moniker Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz.

It has been headquarters of Chavez’s United Farm Workers union (UFW) since 1972 and a National Monument where the labor leader’s March 31 birthday has been celebrated annually since 2010. A warning sign that entry to the area is “impassable during high water” serves as a metaphor that the struggle for farmworker rights still faces challenges. Indeed, the bucolic spot tucked into the hills 30 miles east of Highway 99, a few miles before it merges into Interstate 5, is not immune from the controversy that marked Chavez’s life. read more

Chico residents again plea for a ceasefire resolution Some students say they're facing harassment

photo by Natalie Hanson
Yahmo Aqhba: “[The war is] affecting people, killing people we know and love.”

by Natalie Hanson
posted March 21

A group of Chico residents again have called on city leaders — in a third effort — to pass a ceasefire resolution that would show support for the Palestinian community amid Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

At the meeting earlier this week (March 19), activist Rain Scher stepped to the podium to present a revised ceasefire resolution to the City Council. Scher, a member of Chico Jews in Solidarity with Palestine, pointed out that the new resolution calls for declaring that all human life is “precious.” Scher told ChicoSol that the resolution “explicity names both the Palestinian and Israeli casualties.” read more

Thank You, Judge Ann: A Remembrance

by Kim Weir
guest commentary posted March 18

Retired Superior Court Judge Ann Rutherford, the first female judge in Butte County, served 40 years on the California bench. She died Feb. 16.

The people who Judge Ann Rutherford left behind are now sharing their verities about her. Groundbreaking, she was, and trailblazing. Remarkable. Highly regarded, sharp-minded, and quick-witted, too. She was all that. But no words capture her depth of commitment to justice, or the fierceness of her intelligence and character. Anyone who mistook her decency and fairness for gullibility would regret it. She took no prisoners. read more

Chico voters rejecting planned community Valley’s Edge Environmental costs and traffic influenced voters

photo by Leslie Layton
The Valley’s Edge houses would be built on lava cap.

by Natalie Hanson
posted March 7

Editor’s note: The Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s office updated the ballot count on March 22 reporting that almost 63% voted NO on Measure O and 62% voted NO on 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. read more

Debajito brings diverse mix of rhythms to Chico dance floors Popular band mixes Latin American musical styles with hip hop and more

photo by Ken Smith
The five-member band Debajito adds diversity to the Chico music scene.

by Ken Smith
posted Feb. 29

If not for some creative thinking on the part of its members, Chico’s Debajito could have been just another creative casualty of the COVID-19 crisis. An early incarnation of the group played just one show at Tender Loving Coffee before the virus – and accompanying shutdowns – struck our area. With the standard venues shuttered and indoor gatherings prohibited, the members of Debajito started their own pandemic-era scene.

“As soon as you could have gatherings outdoors, around the spring of 2021, we started having these ‘Backyard Boogies,’ which were outdoor, family-friendly parties with friends in backyards,” said front-man Pablo “Kee” Cornejo, who describes the band’s hard-to-pin-down sound as “multicultural, multi-instrumental music without borders.” read more

Local news coverage crisis hits home 17-year-old ChicoSol "well-positioned" to thrive

Rebuild Local News Founder Steven Waldman

by Natalie Hanson
commentary posted March 2

(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. read more