Free Republic

"We have long been aware that complex societies emerged in Llanos de Moxos in southwestern Amazonia, Bolivia, around 2,500 years ago, but our new evidence suggests that humans first settled in the region up to 10,000 years ago during the early Holocene period," said Jose Capriles, assistant professor of anthropology. "These groups of people were hunter gatherers; however, our data show that they were beginning to deplete their local resources and establish territorial behaviors, perhaps driving them to begin domesticating plants such as sweet potatoes, cassava, peanuts and chili peppers as a way to acquire food." The archaeological team conducted...

SAN PABLO - On the fourth night of her front yard hunger strike, Diana Ponce lay delirious under the carport, fighting off the chill under a fuzzy blanket emblazoned with the Mexican flag. Neighbors sat clustered around her on white plastic lawn chairs. Children smacked at a yellow volleyball in the street. Toddlers tricycled past fence-strung banners that read "Tenemos Que Unirnos" -- We have to unite. Outraged by recent news accounts of vigilante Mexican border hawks, the 32-year-old San Pablo woman took to the streets -- really, her driveway -- on two lawn chairs pushed together. Ponce, a diabetic,...

SAN PABLO, Calif. -- A 12-year-old boy has been charged with felony forced oral copulation in the assault of a 14-year-old girl, police said Monday. The boy, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was among four boys who allegedly tackled the girl Thursday on the playground at Helms Middle School, said San Pablo police Sgt. Mark Foisie. The three boys allegedly held the girl down as the 12-year-old assaulted her, Foisie said. The other suspects, two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old, were released pending further investigation. All four are students at the school, police said.

Few pieces of land in California have generated as much controversy lately as 9 acres in San Pablo near Interstate 80. The land beneath Casino San Pablo, a cardroom voters approved in 1994, was placed in trust for the landless Lytton Band of Pomo Indians under a little-noticed amendment that Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, added to a 2000 omnibus Indian bill. But nobody could miss the furor when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a compact in August allowing the Lyttons to build a 5,000-slot casino at Casino San Pablo -- much larger than any Nevada casino and the third-largest in the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - When they organized a $1 million fund-raiser for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February, Sacramento Kings owners Gavin and Joe Maloof's family casino business was negotiating a deal that would net them millions from running what could be one of the world's largest casinos, according to interviews and state records. Six months later, Schwarzenegger announced a deal for a tribal megacasino that will be managed by a company partially owned by the Maloofs. The Maloof fund-raiser means that Schwarzenegger, who campaigned on a refusal to take money from Indian gambling interests, received huge contributions through those connected to...

When it comes to San Pablo's new mega-casino, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently hit the jackpot even before he pulled the lever on the deal. Maloof Sports and Entertainment -- the management team hired to run the new, Costco-size San Pablo Casino for the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians -- hosted a party back in February that raised more than $1 million for Schwarzenegger's political coffers. The governor's office claims Schwarzenegger didn't know the Maloof family was going to manage the casino until after the agreement had been reached. The deal is already hitting a raw nerve with some legislators, but...