NAMED NATIONAL FOUR-YEAR DAILY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR FOR 2020-21 IN THE COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION’S PINNACLE AWARDS
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022
Volume 159 No. 39 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
Students call for county reform Group says police policies must incorporate mental health resources By Shruthi Lakshmanan STAFF WRITER
San Jose State community members gathered in front of the Olympic Black Power Statue on Thursday to listen to Students Against Mass Incarceration members speak on the issues of Santa Clara County’s new 988 mental health crisis line. In 2020, Congress established the 988 dialing code as the mental health crisis hotline via the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, according to the U.S. government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration webpage. Members of Students Against Mass Incarceration, a student advocacy group, said the 988 service line collaborates with the police department, which would possibly lead to a police response rather than one from a mental health provider. “This is dangerous because not all police officers are trained in crisis intervention and are not properly prepared to de-escalate high-stress situations CAROLYN BROWN | SPARTAN DAILY
A letter from Laurie Valdez’s son, Josiah Antonio Lopez, to UPD officers could be seen in front of the Olympic Black Power Statue.
POLICE | Page 2
SJSU wildfire center advances research By Rainier de Fort-Menares STAFF WRITER
San Jose State’s Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center conducted a prescribed-burn wildfire experiment on Oct. 24 to study extreme fire behavior and fire spread in steep canyons. Meteorology graduate student Maritza Arreola Amaya said she was spearheading the experiment for her masters thesis. Arreola Amaya said fires on canyons are the most dangerous kinds of wildfires because of their unpredictability. She said her motivation for that experiment was the significant amount of firefighter deaths that occurred on canyon slopes. “It feels surreal just being a part of this. It feels like we’re doing something really special,” Arreola Amaya said. “I didn’t actually know that this was the first time this kind of experiment was going to take place – that got me pretty excited that it was my thesis.” In 1994, 14 firefighters died in the South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, according to a July 6, 2018 article by Denver7. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CAL FIRE, conducted the prescribed burn on a 100-acres canyon while researchers collected weather and fire data using on-site technology, according to an Oct. 26 SJSU NewsCenter article. The experiment was created by PHOTO COURTESY OF SJSU MEDIA RELATIONS
WILDFIRE | Page 2
SJSU Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center members evaluate data of a prescribed-burn wildfire experiment on Oct. 24.