Senior citizens worry about losing democracy, Constitutional rights & benefits
By Leslie Layton | Posted May 1, 2025
photo by Leslie Layton
Kathy Hume
About a month ago, Kathy Hume was one of only three people standing outside the Social Security offices in Chico protesting the Trump Administration. But today she was one of several hundred protesting cuts to Social Security infrastructure, as well as the expansion of executive power.
“He’s just a tyrant,” Hume said. “We got rid of mad King George and now it’s mad King Donald. There’s nothing he does that’s not ludicrous.” Adding that she thinks Trump is a poor speaker, Hume said, “Bigly wasn’t a word before he became president.”
Some 350 protesters lined up with anti-Trump signs today on Lassen Avenue and Cohasset Road near the north Chico offices of Social Security as thousands of people poured into the streets nationwide for anti-Trump demonstrations that had been planned for May Day, also celebrated as International Workers Day.read more
Changemaker: Under Sue Barlow's leadership, the nonprofit grows
By Yucheng Tang | Posted April 28, 2025
photo by Yucheng Tang
Butte County Special Olympics Area Director Sue Barlow
This is ChicoSol’s fourth monthly profile in our Changemaker series.
Reneé Anchordoguy was just 10 when her older sister, Sue Barlow, took her to the state-level Special Olympics at University of California, Los Angeles.
During a race, Anchordoguy was running alongside a friend who began to slow and fall behind. Instead of pushing ahead, Anchordoguy also slowed down, reached out, took her friend’s hand — and together, they crossed the finish line.
“That’s my biggest memory of that one thing,” Barlow said, “about all the friendship they have.” Barlow remembered that after attending the Special Olympics, her introverted little sister with Down syndrome became more outgoing and confident.read more
At City Plaza, information on everything environmental
By Yucheng Tang | Posted April 26, 2025
The 46th annual Endangered Species Faire was celebrated today with a downtown parade that featured axolotls, giraffes, owls and salmon puppets — and served as a call to action on climate change and species preservation.
“Animals cannot speak up for themselves, so we speak up for them,” a host on the plaza stage told about 250 attendees after the parade. The fair was organized by the Butte Environmental Council (BEC) and began at 10 a.m., with around 20 booths representing a wide range of organizations, including nonprofits, for-profits and government agencies.
A parade participant who identified herself as Amanda — she asked that her last name not be used for personal reasons — joined the event with her daughter. With a few other participants, she carried a puppet that represented the river ecosystem, and her daughter carried a Monarch butterfly puppet they had constructed. Amanda said she was from Santa Cruz, where there used to be many Monarchs, but their numbers have declined significantly.read more
Historian Michele Shover’s effort to tell a more nuanced story of John Bidwell, considered the founder of Chico, began in 1989 when a footnote in a book caught her by surprise.
“I found it diametrically opposed to what people thought about Bidwell,” Shover said of the passage containing the footnote.
Shover, now 83, is retired from Chico State where she served as chair of the Department of Political Science. Her research on John Bidwell and Northern California Indian-settler conflicts of the 1850s has often been cited; she published articles based on primary research on Butte County history during more than four decades.read more
Charles Barnes of Forest Ranch said he showed up today because “it’s an emergency.”
About 850 protesters turned out for the “Signs of Resistance – No Kings!” protest today in Chico, lining the Esplanade with anti-Trump Administration signage almost as far north as Chico Nut Company. The Esplanade sometimes became raucous with passing vehicles honking their support.
Some demonstrators hoisted signs encouraging supportive honking, and in general signs protested the administration’s radical approach to government reform and its movement to concentrate power in the executive branch. Signs were waved in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was shipped to an El Salvador prison because of an administrative error, and in opposition to cuts to Social Security and Medicare.read more
Would a functioning alarm system have saved the building?
By Leslie Layton | Posted April 18, 2025
photo courtesy of district attorney
Kevin Alexander Carlson
This is the second story in a three-part series on the fire that destroyed Bidwell Mansion and the role the Mansion played in our community. Read the first story here.
The report issued by Butte County Probation in the Bidwell Mansion arson case begins to answer this troubling question: Why did a 30-year-old man with no criminal record set fire to the iconic Victorian?
But though it begins, it doesn’t entirely answer the big “why”: Why Kevin Alexander Carlson shattered a window with a hammer and doused the interior with a gallon of gasoline in a series of maneuvers that began the day before the early Dec. 11 fire. Or how the building became engulfed in flames before Chico Fire Department had a chance to respond.read more
