Sacramento DA Weighing Whether to Charge Teachers, Protesters Arrested Protesting Education Cuts At Capitol
By David Greenwald
According to attorneys for some of the 71 arrested protesters, many of them teachers, the District Attorney has not decided whether to file charges for trespassing, section 602 of the penal code, subsection Q - failing to leave a public building when closed "without lawful business."
71 teachers and other protesters were arrested May 9 after about 200 of them gathered in the rotunda of the Capitol around 5 pm. The CHP told them the building was closed around 6:15 or so and began arrests a few minutes later.
Legal observers are expressing surprise the District Attorney is even considering pressing charges, especially given the financial woes of the county that makes it difficult to prosecute serious, violent crimes.
They were protesting budget cuts to education, and well as to social services, and most in the crowd were urging higher taxes on the very wealthy in the state, and an oil extraction tax.
The Next Bubble Is About to Burst: College Grads Face Dwindling Jobs and Mounting Loans
By Sarah Jaffe
It's the beginning of summer: warmer weather, longer days, the end of the school year. And that means graduation for thousands of young people across the U.S.; graduation with more student debt than ever before, and into a job market that is anything but promising.
Young people between the ages of 16 and 24 face an unemployment rate nearly twice that of the rest of the population, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. 2010's 18.4 percent rate for youth was the worst in the 60 years that economists have collected such data. ColorLines notes that in 2010, 8.4 percent of white college graduates were unemployed, 13.8 percent of Latino graduates, and a dismal 19 percent of black graduates.