On Tuesday, September 2nd, Palestinian professor and activist Sami Al-Arian was released from prison after more than five-and-a-half years behind bars. Immigration authorities released him on bail after they failed to explain his continued detention pending a trial for refusing to testify before a grand jury about a cluster of Muslim organizations in northern Virginia. But while he is out of prison, Sami Al-Arian is not free. He must remain under house detention at his daughter Laila's residence in Virginia, pending trial.

On August 29th, more than two-hundred Bay Area residents demonstrated outside of developer Lennar Corp.'s Headquarters in San Francisco and then headed to Oakland to rally in front of the Oakland Police Department (OPD). The local chapter of the Right to the City Alliance, a national coalition of more than 35 social justice organizations, along with allies and supporters, aimed to bring attention to rogue developers, gentrification and criminalization of communities of color from the Bay Area to New Orleans.

Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is under attack. This article is about the reasons behind the attack and how it will affect workers in Fresno.

On On August 25th, Sahar Vardi was sentenced to seven days in jail for refusing to join the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Vardi is the first women among a group of Israeli high school seniors who are refusing to join the occupying Israeli military. The group has published and sent a letter to Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, saying, "Our refusal comes first and foremost as a protest on the separation, control, oppression and killing policy held by the state of Israel in the occupied territories, as we understand that this oppression, killing and routing of hatred will never lead us to peace, and they are all contradictory to the basic values a society that pretends to be democratic should have."

The 2008 Republican National Convention is being held in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 1st through September 4th. In the Twin Cities, the RNC Welcoming Committee and a number of ad hoc regional activist groups made plans to demonstrate on the first day of the convention, September 1st. Twin Cities and Federal authorities have moved hard against the activists by pre-emptively raiding a convergence space and numerous houses, confiscating equipment, and making arrests. Since the convention began, police have used tear gas, pepper spray, beanbag projectiles, and other weapons against demonstrators throughout St. Paul. Click "Read More" and check the right-hand Global newswire for the latest Indybay coverage on actions. Tune in to live radio coverage. -->

On August 29th at approximately 2:00pm, an FBI agent posing as a neighbor knocked at the door of a home in Oceanside, CA, lured Nathan Pope/Knoerl from his mother's house, and arrested him. The only known charge at this point is felony perjury. He is being held on $100,000 bond. Nathan is a resident of the house on Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz that has been raided twice in the past six months.

On August 27th, an Alameda County judge made another ruling in favor of tenants at the California Hotel in Oakland, keeping in place a temporary restraining order preventing Oakland Community Housing Inc. (OCHI) from evicting residents or shutting off utilities at the historic hotel. The non-profit had abandoned the tenants, many of whom are elderly and disabled, and on July 15th threatened to turn off the utilities, but residents fought back, refusing to move and taking over management of the hotel.

In the early morning of August 25th, three windows were broken and a surveillance camera knocked off the roof of the Ocean Street McDonald's in Santa Cruz. In a post on Santa Cruz Indymedia, not lovin' it writes, "The Beijing Olympics have ended, but the repressive apparatus set up for the Games remains in place: some 300,000 surveillance cameras, 400,000 informants, and a general tightening of government control. McDonald's, one of the major sponsors of the Olympics, also remains omnipresent and continues to reaps its profits with four new restaurants and a large share of the advertising spectacle."

On August 27th at around 10:30am, 5-6 police officers from three agencies made their way into the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, broke down every door, and confiscated all computers on the property. Computers taken included those used by the Slingshot Collective and East Bay Prisoner Support. The police stated that the computer equipment "may have been used to commit a felony." This is the first time there has been a raid since the infoshop opened 15 years ago.

Activists, in coordination with the group In Defense of Animals, protested Ringling Bros. Circus August 20th - 24th. In a tradition of greeting circus-goers with information about Ringling's operation every year when Ringling brings their animal acts to the Bay Area, a group of about 15 activists wore signs and leafleted outside of the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

On August 23rd, two small boats carrying 42 human rights activists broke the siege of Gaza. They sailed from Cyprus in defiance of Israeli threats to intercept the boats to enforce its blockade of Gaza. The arriving boats were greeted by thousands of jubilant Gazans and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Intense international support was crucial in persuading Israel to allow the boats through.

Protests around the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, August 25th through August 28th, brought thousands of people to the Mile High City. Although numbers were far lower than expected, Recreate 68 had originally anticipated 25,000 to 50,000 would descend on Denver for the demonstrations. The largest demo took place on Wednesday, where more than 10,000 people marched through the streets of Denver behind 70 Iraq Veterans Against the War following a free Rage Against the Machine concert.

On Thursday August 21st, the University of California cut off branches from trees used by tree-sitters. Limbs were cut off of two or more oak trees in the middle of the grove. The extractors then used a large crane with four people in a basket and cut down two five gallon jugs of water, several bags of food, other gear. They almost succeeded in cutting down one of the platforms but were prevented from doing so by those in the trees.

Family and friends of Anita Gay, the 51-year-old grandmother gunned down by the Berkeley Police on February 16, held a two-hour street rally at the corner of Ashby and Martin Luther King Drive in Berkeley to draw attention to the large number of murders by police in the East Bay.

On August 24th, the ACLU of Santa Cruz County held their 2008 Summer Awards Celebration and Fundraiser at the Long Marine Lab's Seymour Center. The local ACLU presented Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty with the 'Hammer of Justice' award. Meanwhile, homeless rights advocates tried to educate ACLU members about what they say is the true nature of Mayor Coonerty.

The 2008 Watsonville Gay Pride Parade Committee, a group of diverse volunteers, organized the first ever pride parade in Watsonville on August 24th. The celebration was a huge success, with 325 people marching through the streets and over 500 enjoying a party in the plaza.

The Lawyers' Committee filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Latino voters against the Madera Unified School District (MUSD), charging that the school district's at-large method of election is racially polarized and violates the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA). The suit challenges the school district's discriminatory voting system and seeks to protect the Latino community against vote dilution.

At their meeting on September 9th, the Santa Cruz City Council will decide whether to fund the initial design for a 5-story garage at Cedar/Cathcart. The garage will displace the Downtown Farmer's Market. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation is proposing that the City implement less costly and greener alternatives to building the garage. On September 3rd, City Council candidates will face the garage issue at a Candidate Night on Sustainable Transportation, at Louden Nelson Center, 7-8:30pm.

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a second report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. Professor Chase's first report revealed the falsehoods the CDFA delivered after June 19 when courts and public pressure stopped the CDFA from aerial spraying synthetic pheromone based pesticides directly on cities. This second report reveals the fraud and misinformation delivered by the CDFA from the fall of 2007 until June 19, 2008.

Union laborers, community representatives, and neighbors of La Bahia Hotel in Santa Cruz want to upgrade the distressed beachfront site with a hotel. But they all demand something better--and smaller--than the plan currently being proposed by Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company. The public is invited to Main Beach, right across from La Bahia, on Thursday, August 21st at 5:30pm for a rally.