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Two arrested during Greenpeace protest at Apple headquarters

Two Greenpeace protestors were arrested at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino this morning after sealing themselves in a giant pod to draw attention to claims that the company uses dirty energy to support its cloud services.

Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies responded to trespassing reports from Apple employees around 8 a.m., and arrived to find two women in their early 20s who had barricaded themselves inside the device, which was painted white with an apple logo, according to sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jose Cardoza.

Sheriff's deputies then teamed up with Apple maintenance employees and members of the Santa Clara County Fire Department to get the women out of the pod using electric saws. There were other protestors around who were dressed as iPhones with screens displaying messages of support for the Greenpeace campaign, but they were on the public sidewalk, Cardoza said.

According to David Pomerantz, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, the two protestors are Elizabeth Donahue, 21, of Montana and Brandy Palm of Sacramento.

Donahue and Palm had reportedly attached themselves to each other and the pod using a large metal rod, and did not cooperate with requests by Apple employees or sheriff's deputies to leave the pod and vacate the property, sheriff's officials said.

"Both of them are activists who are really passionate about fighting coal and climate change," Pomerantz said.

According to a statement by Greenpeace, the protest follows the release of their report "How Clean is Your Cloud," which evaluated 14 Internet technology companies' network service clouds. 

Greenpeace says that unlike some companies, such as Google and Yahoo, Apple is using mostly nuclear and coal generated energy to power its cloud.

Specifically, Greenpeace alleges, Apple gets its cloud's power from a company called Duke Energy, which gets their coal by mountain-top mining, a technique that Pomerantz said not only destroyed mountains but also contaminates streams, with significant negative impact on local communities. 

Duke Energy itself seems to acknowledge the dark side of coal, naming "Reducing our reliance on mountaintop coal" as one of its goals in the "Environmental Footprint" section of its 2011/2012 Sustainability Report.

But Apple said in a statement that Greenpeace got the numbers wrong -- that its data center in Maiden, N.C. will use 20 megawatts at full capacity, not the 100 megawatts that Greenpeace reported.

In comparison, the report tallied Facebook's San Jose cloud facility at a capacity of 5 megawatts, 23.8 percent of which is powered by coal.

Apple also said that soon more than 60 percent of its on-site power will come from a new solar farm and fuel cell, which they said would be, "the largest of their kind in the country," adding that the project would, "make Maiden the greenest data center ever built," joined by a 100 percent renewable energy powered facility in Oregon in 2013.

Pomerantz contested that based on Apple documents for facility back-up generators, Greenpeace believes that the company will soon expand to use the full 100 megawatts. 

"We're concerned about a company that brands itself as so innovative ... still using something as anachronistic as coal," said Greenpeace spokesperson Keiller MacDuff.

According to Greenpeace, the dome from which the protestors were pulled was an 8-foot-tall, 10-foot-wide survival device that was used years ago in the Arctic in protests against oil drilling in that region.

In an appropriately tech-related twist, Palm was actually blogging from inside the pod this morning. "I want Apple to use their influence to power the iCloud I use every day with clean energy," she said.

The two protesters were arrested around 10 a.m., about 30 minutes before the survival pod was towed off of the Apple premises.

_{Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:17 -0700}

Richmond debates tax measure for sodas and other sugery drinks

A full house was in attendance at the Richmond City Council meeting Tuesday night as the members considered a ballot measure to levy a tax on the sale of soda and other sugary beverages.

The idea is to tax the drinks one penny per ounce. The tax would make a can soda  cost 12 cents more, while a movie theater coke could cost 44 cents more.

Supporters of the measure said the tax would help Richmond's kids.

Richmond resident Marvin Willis argued that soda may taste good, but its not good for you.

"We do have a lot of overweight and obese children walking our cities and soda is contributing to it," said Willis.

Officials said the tax could generate between two to eight million dollars a year. The money could be used to support sports and nutrition programs for children.

Danny Alemayehu, who manages a market in Richmond, said the tax would be ineffectual.

"They're not going to stop [drinking soda] by raising the penny tax on them," said Alemayehu.

Century Theater manager Ben Suller had much more serious concerns about the measure. He told KTVU sodas are the number one seller at his business.

"It's gonna hit my bottom line big time and the cost of operating the business is probably going to be in question," said Suller.

Councilman Corky Booze is opposed to the tax.

"It's a tax on poor people," said Booze. "Let's just not call it a sugar tax. Let's call it what it is. A tax on poor people."

But resident Liduvina Ochoa said the tax makes sense to her.

"I think if you're poor and you don't have that much money I think it would be better not to buy the sodas and start eating healthy."

With the volume of people slated to speak, no decision on the measure had been announced as of late Tuesday evening.

_{Tue, 15 May 2012 22:52:37 -0700}

12 arrested in multi-agency operation targeting heroin trafficking ring

Twelve people were arrested in the Bay Area Tuesday as part of a multi-agency operation targeting an international heroin trafficking ring.

Federal and state investigators served arrest warrants in East Palo Alto, Hayward and Oakland as part of a long-term operation, named "Operation Middle Man", that aimed to dismantle the Santa Clara County-based Carlos Jose Moreno drug trafficking organization -- a large-scale heroin and methamphetamine distributor, according to the state attorney general's office.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers with the Department of Justice-led South Bay Metro Task Force arrested the 12 suspects and seized nine guns and small quantities of marijuana and methamphetamine, attorney general's officials said.

"By combining our resources, authorities and expertise, we've succeeded in dismantling a drug ring suspected of funneling significant quantities of heroin into the Bay Area and onto our streets," said Clark Settles, special agent in charge for ICE's Homeland Securities Investigations in San Francisco.

Law enforcement officials said undercover agents bought more than 3 pounds of heroin during the operation, which began in December 2009.

The attorney general's office said the Moreno organization imported drugs through national and international trafficking sources to be distributed throughout the state and the U.S.

The organization is comprised of Norteno gang members with connections to Mexico and they distribute drugs around San Jose, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Redwood City, state officials said.

Law enforcement officials said the crystal methamphetamine was manufactured in California's Central Valley and the heroin was imported from Mexico.

Those arrested today were Palo Alto residents Jose Izabel Moreno, 26; Pearl Moreno, 27; Johnny Chavez, 21; Jose Arreguin, 21; Jose Macias, 25; Elizabeth Kovac, 23; Joventino Lopez-Ortiz, 18; Victor Hernandez, 23; Edgar Enrique Bustos, 18, and Pedro Chavez Chavez, 36, and Daniel Macias, 23, both of Mexico.

The suspects were booked into Santa Clara County Jail and are facing charges that include conspiracy, residential burglary, firearm sales, sale of methamphetamine and heroin and gang enhancements.

_{Tue, 15 May 2012 22:34:41 -0700}

News Source: MedleyStory More Local News Stories