Chico, CA

At Tuesday’s council meeting, over a dozen residents spoke against the Chico Police Department buying up to $1.3 million in military equipment. Despite council giving the go ahead, many in attendance want more oversight in police spending.

Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge will be asking City Council to approve $1.3 million in military equipment purchases at Tuesday’s meeting.

Residents voiced concerns about the gear being used against protesters. Some mentioned President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, where federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in January.

Chico Unified will keep its nearly $2 million school surveillance system, but district leaders are backing away from its artificial intelligence features, including facial recognition.

A $2 million contract for AI-powered cameras in Chico schools is back up for debate after parents and teachers raised privacy concerns.

At the State of the University Address on Tuesday, President Steve Perez said enrollment numbers are up for a third year in a row. He said the budget is looking up, too. That’s as the entire CSU system weathers a fiscal crisis.

Political differences can make it difficult to have certain conversations. Here are some tips for making dialogue possible.

The Chico Police Department will hold a public meeting next week about the use of surplus military equipment. Also, a new alert system is a sophisticated hi-tech tool giving disaster managers the information they need when bad things happen, and Butte County Humane Society is at capacity and asking residents to foster a dog.

The organization is at max capacity and has been pushing to inform the public that fostering one of their pups for a brief time is also an option.

Chico State will host a two-day symposium dedicated to making communities more resilient and better adapted to wildfires.