Articles Tagged With ‘Civil Rights’




Homeless protection bill launched

A bill designed to protect “some of society’s most vulnerable members” has been introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). Ammiano calls his prospective legislation AB5 “The Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Fairness Act” and sets out to build... (Continue reading)

Gay marriage gets high court look

California’s current ban on gay marriages will be scrutinized by the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided Friday it will review a legal challenge to the voter mandate. (Sacramento Bee) The high court will consider a prior decision by a federal... (Continue reading)

Attorney Tom McCormick dies

Local attorney Thomas Gerald McCormick, who represented criminal defendants in some of this county’s highest profile cases, died Monday in an Arroyo Grande care facility. He was 55. Details of McCormick’s death were not immediately available although he had been... (Continue reading)

Defense of free speech includes defense of seriously unsavory characters

OPINION By PETER SCHEER Why is it that the First Amendment Coalition, like other organizations that defend freedom of speech, is so often aligned in support of seriously unsavory characters? Just last week FAC filed an amicus brief in the... (Continue reading)

Former engineering dean sues Cal Poly and Karen Velie

A former Cal Poly dean of the College of Engineering has filed a lengthy lawsuit naming the California State University Board of Trustees, Cal Poly, journalist Karen Velie, and others, citing a dozen allegations including racial and religious discrimination, defamation... (Continue reading)

California law seeking to ‘cure’ gays under scrutiny

Legislation to eliminate a 60-year-old law requiring the state to ‘cure” gays and lesbians has been sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. [MercuryNews] The long-ignored provision in the Welfare and Institution Code classifies gays as deviants. It requires the Department of... (Continue reading)

Ashburn remains on “personal leave”

Republican state Senator Roy Ashburn remains on a self-imposed personal leave, at least through Monday, following his high-profile DUI bust last week in Sacramento. [San Francisco Chronicle] Ashburn, 55, was arrested and booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of... (Continue reading)

Anti-gay state senator arrested after leaving gay bar

Controversy continues to dog conservative firebrand and state Senator Roy Ashburn following his DUI arrest earlier this week. California Highway Patrol officers arrested Ashburn for allegedly driving drunk after leaving a Sacramento gay nightclub with another man in his car.... (Continue reading)

Ill man tossed under wheels of county justice

By KAREN VELIE Les Harvey’s nightmare encounter with “the system” started with a hamburger. Outside a McDonald’s in Arroyo Grande, Harvey, 64 and terminally ill, sat in his parked van and started to eat his dinner, the burger he had just purchased... (Continue reading)

Cal Poly-Saudi deal: No women, no problem

A controversial proposal to partner Cal Poly’s engineering department with a fledgling university in Saudi Arabia has spurred a steam of leaked e-mails between Cal Poly officials, who express a desire to push ahead with the pact despite possible gender... (Continue reading)