Daily Archives: September 7, 2022

Heres how midterm elections work and why they're so important

Midterm elections have the ability to shift the power of the presidency. Here's how the midterms work and why they're so important.

Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

Forget waiting for Congress or state legislaturesto act.This years midterm elections are offering voters an opportunity to shape public policy directly in the form of various state ballot initiatives that deal with major national issues.

The country witnessed the power of those referendums when voters in Kansas, which is typically considered a safe red state, rejected an anti-abortion measure on the ballot bya decisive59%-41% margin.

As the fall elections approach, voters in 2022 arebeing asked to weigh-in on how their states should handle ending a pregnancy, the right to contraceptives, legalizing certain narcotics and extending health care coverage. Even slavery is on the ballot.

Stay in the know: Get updates on these top ballot measures in your inbox

News: Classified documents mingled with magazines and clothes at Mar-a-Lago club

In at least five states, voters will have to grapple with whether to officiallyabolishslavery, a questionthat could lead to a national rethinking on U.S. prison policy.

Many of those topics have stalled in Washington, where gridlock has devoured many reform efforts.

But whether through direct ballot initiative grown by grassroots organizations viapetition orindirect referendums first raised by a state legislature, these measures could have major ramifications going forward.

Here are the issues on the ballot to watch:

Kansas voters overwhelmingly chose to uphold the right to an abortion in August, which has emboldened progressives hoping the momentumcan mobilize their base through similar ballot initiatives elsewhere.

At least three other states California, Kentucky and Vermont will have similar questions for voters to consider. While one other, Montana, is asking voters to decide rules around a "born-alive" infant from a failed abortion.

A similar question could appear before voters inMichigan,wherea coalition of reproductive rights groupshave asked thestate Supreme Court this month to allow theirproposed measure that would guarantee the right to an abortion on the ballot this fall.

Poll:Most Americans want chance to support abortion rights on state ballot

Roe v. Wade: Abortion to remain divisive issue in states, courts

The proposed amendments in California and Vermont, which already have liberal state laws ensuring abortion right, encompass reproductive freedom as a wholeincludingother protections such as guaranteeingaccess to contraceptives.

Voters in Kentucky, a more conservative-leaning state,are being asked this November to restrict abortion rights by declaring that the state Constitution doesntrecognize such access or require taxpayerfunding of abortion.

Montana's referendum deals withwhetherinfants born alive atany stage of development will be considered "legal persons." If so, the proposal says, they must be provided medical care. Violatorsfacea$50,000 fine andup to 20 years in prison.

Voters inAlabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont will decide whether to abolish slavery as a part of a larger criminal justice reform movementaimed at prison labor.

The 13thAmendment to the Constitution ended slavery and involuntary servitude when it was ratified in 1865. But a loophole allows it as punishment for someone convicted of a crime and roughly 20 states have a similarexception.

Most referendums are asking voters to declareno form of slavery or involuntary servitudebe permitted.

Others go further, such as Alabama's questionwhichseeks to remove "all racist language" from the state constitution.InOregon,the amendmentwould add provisions allowing the state courts orparole agency to order alternatives to incarceration for a convicted individual.

More:As George Floyd Act's chances dim, Biden stays mum on police reform

Criminal justice reform advocates say the referendums are more than symbolic, and could spark larger changes forpeople who are incarcerated, such as paying them higher wages for prison work orendingforced labor altogether.

In 2018, voters in Colorado, Nebraska and Utahoverwhelminglystruck down slavery and involuntary servitude through ballot initiatives.

Legislation has been introduced in California, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas to put similar ballot questions before voters infuture elections.

Multiple states will give voters a direct say over drug policies with ballot questions on decriminalizing marijuana andcertain psychedelics.

At least five states Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota are looking to legalize marijuana for residents age 21 or older.

But the provisions in some places go further.

In Missourithe proposed amendment would decriminalize marijuana use and alsoallowpeople convicted of non-violent cannabisoffensesa chance to seek an early release from prison and have their criminal records expunged.

News: Marijuana is being legalized in parts of the U.S.That's not helping everyone with convictions

Poll:Marijuana use is outpacing cigarette use for first time ever in U.S.

A legal battle is still ongoing in Oklahoma to determine if voters there will have a chance to tackle the issue with similar reforms this fall.

Colorado has a ballot initiative asking voters whether the state should definecertain psychedelic plants and fungi as natural medicine, including mescaline.

Under the amendment, personal use, possession, transportation and growthwould be legal for those age 21 or older. The changes would also createa regulatory agency that would overseelicensed healing centers to administer natural medicine services.

Nevada voters will be given a chance to give workers a pay raise this fall when they're asked toincreasethe minimum wage to $12 an hour for all employees.

Right now the state'sfloor for how much a person is paid sits between $9.50 to $10.50 per hour, depending on whether they have health insurance.

In 2019, the Nevadalegislature passed a measure raising the minimum wage by increments without address the health insurance discrepancy.The ballot question will establish a flat rate for all regardless of theirinsurance status.

More: Nevada's minimum wage increases but is less of a living wage than a year ago

On Tuesday, Nebraska secretary of state certified aballot measure that if approved wouldincrease the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

Illinois voters are being asked to establish aconstitutional right to collective bargaining,which would guarantee workers the right to organize a union.

On the opposite end of the political spectrum, Tennessee voters will weighapproving a right-to-work amendment to the state constitution, whichwould prohibitworkplaces from requiringlabor union membership as a condition for employment.

One of the major debates about the Affordable Care Act from a decade ago was whetherstates would accept or reject federal incentives to expand Medicaid eligibility.

As of this year,38states and the District of Columbia have done just thatwith many doing so through ballot initiatives. Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah, for example,did it in 2018.

Report: 5 million to 14 million Americans could lose Medicaid coverage when COVID-19 pandemic ends

More: Uninsured rate hit record low of 8%, HHS analysis shows

South Dakota, one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid,will have an opportunity thanks to a coalition of health care groups who joined forces this year to push the idea to the ballot box.

Under the amendment,adults 18 to 65 earningincomes below 133% of the federal poverty level would receive Medicaid.That is roughly $18,000 per person or $37,000 for a family of four.

Other health care related questions are sprinkled around the country.

In Oregon, a ballot initiative would ensureevery resident "has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right."

California voters will considerbanning the sale of flavored tobacco products.

Stay in the know: Get updates on these top ballot measures in your inbox

Excerpt from:

Ballot initiatives to watch in 2022 midterms, from abortion to slavery - USA TODAY

Labor Day in America is a sad and strange thing. While most people in the country use this day off to mark the unofficial end of summer, hang out with friends and family at a barbecue, and take advantage of various online and in-store deals for shit they dont need, the holiday has a more serious meaning.

Formally recognized by Congress in 1894 as a federal holiday, Labor Day was a way for people to remember the workers struggles over the years following the spread of mass industrialization. Back then, workers of all ages even children were forced to work six days a week and for extremely long hours while only earning pennies a day.

Strikes happened. People died. And as a result of even more struggles over the years, unions fought so you can now have a 40-hour work week, kids are able to get an education instead of work, and you get to enjoy a whole list of freedoms.

But the bosses won out in the end it seems, because Labor Day is now more about sales and consumption than workers rights.

To remember the men and women who stood their ground against powerful moneyed interests for better pay and wages (and to remind ourselves of the better conditions we should have today), heres a list of 10 metal songs that hit at the heart of labor and the workers plight.

Meet them in the streetsMeet them in the hollersMeet them in the hills and dont back down, dont back downFight for what is right, for every working man to earn his keepFight for what is right till they meet your demandsin Bloody Harlan

Growing up, Americans are barely taught about the labor movement outside of there were strikes and good things came as a result. The reality, however, is often bloodier than we learn.

In Panopticons fifth album Kentucky, the American black metal band mixes bluegrass, Americana, and US black metal to tell the tale of Bloody Harlan, or the Harlan County War of 1931. In that incident, striking coal miners fought for almost a decade to be able to unionize, let alone get better working conditions and wages.

As a result, employers fired union members and evicted them from company homes before eventually hiring thugs and using local police to meet them with violence. Bombings, executions, and gunfights took place. Ultimately, the miners were able to form a union and fight for better conditions.

Black Soot and Red Blood deals with these skirmishes and the union members willingness to lay down their lives for their cause. It even includes samples of coal workers describing what they remembered from those times.

Sound offTake a look at your life, tell me to what do you aspire?I want to know how far youre willing to goCant stop the force of ruin, this world will run through youIf not now, then when?If not us, then who?

Now, we know this song is based on a quote made by the late civil rights leader and U.S. Representative John Robert Lewis about the struggle for equal rights, but this song by Power Trip off of Nightmare Logic easily fits within most social struggles. The line If not us, then who would fit just as well in an early 1900s coal miners picket line as it would in a civil rights march in the 60s.

Many times, picketers, strikers, and union members would push their fellow workers into action by explaining that inaction only helped the bosses exploit them further. If Not Us Then Who can serve as a rallying cry for many social fights.

Like a workhorse stands for milesWork for you, never get tiredRoll em up, its time to goWell be back before its too long

It doesnt matter how much you love your job, work sucks. This song by Mastodon, off the 2002 album Remission, equates modern wage work to slavery. It acknowledges that without work, you couldnt live in a capitalist society, but it ultimately breeds a living condition where you wake up, go to work, go to sleep, and go back to work hence the well be back before its too long line.

When the band used to play this song live, Brent Hinds has been filmed introducing it by saying this song is about work. Work fucking sucks.

Indeed it does, Brent. Indeed it does.

ColdShackled to The bottom Of the bottle Of the socio-economic slaveryThat rules And runs my life

Colorado doom band Primitive Man effectively nail the damn near nihilistic existence of wage work with their track Commerce. Slow and brooding, this track hits on the desolation that many people face staring down the barrel of a senseless routine that many labor organizers fought to avoid.

The song talks about being overworked, underpaid from a system thats meant to fail us which is something most people can relate to. When youre living paycheck to paycheck, or working two jobs just to stay afloat and keep a roof over your head, youre living a life that the folks behind Labor Day wanted to make sure never happened.

I work my fingers to the bone just to surviveI gotta get money, so I can have a homeSo I can breathe, eat, and live in this societyI dont even like money

Stress builds character is about as close to a talking point as youll hear from some politicians in DC when it comes to things like student debt reform or the minimum wage. Stress Builds Character by Dystopia is all about how were forced to be miserable in a society that traps us with low or stagnant wages and rising costs.

Lines like I cant survive on this pay anymore and I need a raise, man are immediately relatable to anyone thats worked for minimum wage. All so they can just breathe, eat, and live in this society.

Now in the matrix take your place.Theyll tap your labor and your light.Gain euphoria, from your paranoia.

Back in the days before Pepper Keenan or Karl Agell served as Corrosion of Conformitys frontman, the band was known as a punky crossover outfit fronted by bassist Mike Dean. During that time, they talked a lot about social and political problems. Yet when Pepper was off playing in Down, the band reunited under that original lineup and released a self-titled album in 2012.

In a return to their punk/stoner/crossover ways, the band put out The Moneychangers, a fast and to the point song that uses some religious imagery to decry how employers set the bait (aka a job) and when you think youre blessed and say yes to the new gig, thats when you know the trap is set. Youre theirs to exploit because unionization support in the U.S. has been gutted for so long.

When theyve tortured and scared you for 20 odd yearsThen they expect you to pick a careerWhen you cant really function, youre so full of fearA working class hero is something to be

Originally a John Lennon song, Ozzys cover of Working Class Hero is a somber reminder that in its current form, youre born into a society that puts you in your place and forces you to find your own path if you want to break the cycle.

Still, you can always get to the top if youre willing to learn to smile as you kill, meaning step on everyone on your way up. Ruthless career advancement at all costs is not uncommon in todays workplace.

Barren land that once filled a needAre worthless now, dead without a deedSlipping away from an iron gripNatures scales are forced to tip

The heartland cries, loss of all prideTo leave aint believing, so try and be triedInsufficient funds, insanity, and suicide

Megadeth has never been a band to shy away from current events and socio-political topics and in Countdown to Extinction, the whole album was one big middle finger to the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

This song in particular, deals with a situation where the U.S. sanctioned Russia and refused to sell them our grain, creating a surplus that caved the price of farmers goods. Farmland decreased in value and ultimately family farms were foreclosed upon, with banks evicting families and selling those properties to the highest bidder usually massive corporations. Dave Mustaine said as much in 1992.

The government dictates everything to us. What it cant get over on the black and Hispanic man, it gets over on the white. Its about Reaganomics and how it took advantage of the real nucleus of America the farmers.

You got me forced to crack my lids in twoIm still stuck inside the rubber roomI gotta punch the clock that leads the blindIm just another gear in the assembly line-oh no

The noose gets tighter around my throatBut I aint at the end of my rope

A rager of a song from New Jerseys own Skid Row, Slave to the Grind is an anthem standing up against the doldrums and unfairness that comes out of working a wage slave job. Its about how people like your Jeff Bezoses and Elon Musks of the world dont actually give a shit about you or your fellow employees.

Yet youre never truly at the end of your rope in this track. Be your own person, find your own way in life, and you can get out of that rat race is the name of the game in this classic song.

Well, I get up at seven, yeahAnd Ill go to work at nineI got no time for livinYes, Im workin all the time

It seems to meI could live my lifeA lot better than I think I amI guess thats why they call meThey call me the workin man

Technically this isnt metal, but if you have a problem with Rush then youve got a problem with me, eh.

Rushs Working Man is the perfect workers anthem, talking about how our lives of constantly working to make someone else richer while you trade away your days can be soul sucking. Youre a laborer and because you dont have a way to earn the profits made for the things you make, you can always feel that I could live my life a lot better than I think I am.

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10 Songs That Deal with Labor Rights and Hating Your Job - MetalSucks

The Ukraine war reminds us of the devasting consequences of war beyond the direct death toll, displacing populations and upending livelihoods. Since the Russian invasion began on 24 February, Ukraine has witnessed one of the fastest exoduses of people in recent history. To date, nearly 6.7 million refugees have been recorded in Europe (source: UNHCR).

Although there is now evidence of Ukrainians returning to their home country, the extreme relocation triggered by the conflict requires the integration of substantial numbers of refugees into receiving European populations.

Sadly, the headlines from Ukraine are the tip of an iceberg; the UN estimates that some 100 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes, in most cases as a result of violence (source: UNHCR).

Modern slavery and human trafficking have been a consequence of 90% of modern wars (source: Contemporary Slavery in Armed Conflict). This is due to a mixture of factors, including refugees being picked up by traffickers when crossing borders, or accepting offers of accommodation or work without validation of legitimacy and safety.

The vulnerability of refugees is often compounded by demographic factors, with women and children being over-represented among displaced populations.

As a result, businesses operating in regions that are receiving refugees must be aware of the risks of labour exploitation in their operations and supply chains.

Following the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey experienced an influx of refugees. Today the country holds the largest population of refugees globally 3.6 million of which are Syrians. A significant proportion of these refugees were integrated into the garment manufacturing sector an important part of the Turkish economy.

Even before the Syrian refugee crisis, the garment industry relied heavily on a cheap and flexible workforce made up of migrant labour. Now there are reports of widespread labour exploitation of refugees, with evidence of 60+ hour weeks and the majority of Syrian workers earning below minimum wage (source: World Bank).

Specifically within Istanbul, it is thought that 85% of Syrians are informally employed. As a result, global apparel brands came under scrutiny for their lack of adequate action, with only a few brands gaining praise for good practice (source: BHRRC).

As a wave of mandatory due diligence laws come into effect across Europe, the focus and scrutiny on human rights abuses such as modern slavery is rising. With tangible civil liability and monetary fines on the horizon, as well as basic business responsibility, the importance of examining and managing potential human rights risks has never been higher, both for management teams, and as investors in those companies.

In Schroders Engagement Blueprint we set out our request for companies to establish and implement a human rights policy in line with the UNGPs, International Labor Organisation and other international frameworks, and commit to respect human rights. We also ask companies to introduce robust due diligence processes and effective remedy.

However, due to the heightened risk associated with human rights in and around conflict-affected areas, we expect companies to go beyond this. That entails adapting existing policies to the specific needs of conflict-affected areas, and performing enhanced due diligence in these contexts. Such action comprises:

As a starting point, there are two simple questions investors seeking to engage on this issue should ask companies:

Case study Turkish garment manufacturer:

Recognising the heightened human rights risks in the country, particularly associated with an influx of migrants from Syria, in 2020 we began engaging with a Turkish garment manufacturer on its human rights policies and practices.

The company was at a relatively early stage on this topic so we started by encouraging it to increase disclosure and demonstrate adherence with responsible sourcing practices, as well as participating in industry initiatives to improve standards and collaborate with relevant NGOs and stakeholder groups.

We are pleased that since our engagement, the company has set compliance and monitoring targets for its supply chain, and has begun reporting basic audit data.

Case study Taiwanese company:

In 2022 we engaged with a Taiwanese company with exposure to Myanmar. The company had begun to make progress to include human rights, among other ESG factors, in its supplier management practices. We sought to understand what actions the company will be taking to increase suppliers signing onto the code of conduct. We also encouraged the company to work to increase the scope of its audit practices.

We will continue to engage with the company on these topics in the coming years, and may consider escalating our concerns if it is deemed necessary.

Case study European recruitment companies:

We have recently, in mid-2022, initiated engagements with two companies operating within Europe that fall within the human resources and employment services industry.

We identified this industry as higher risk because employment and temporary agencies are likely to interact with individuals who are rapidly looking to find work, having been displaced from their homes and original employment.

The engagement seeks to understand how the companies are acting to anticipate and address these risks ensuring that due diligence is being undertaken on employee applicants and end employers.

Over the coming months we will continue to monitor the responses by these companies in line with our engagement process.

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Conflict and modern slavery: the investment perspective - Schroders

Labor Day honors the unsung workers who built this nation, manufactured its goods, and sometimes risked their lives for low wages.

The 1848 Gold Rush put California on the fast track for statehood. But some wanted a Northern California free state, and a Southern California slave state. Abolitionists hated slavery for its injustice, while some labor groups felt slave labor unfairly devalued wage labor throughout the South. Leaders decided to bypassed being a territory, and simply declare California an undivided free state in 1850.

Yet the Gold Rush was bringing slave holders to the state, who used slave labor in gold mining. As a Free State, the enslaved population either freed themselves (like Watsonvilles Jim Brodis), negotiated liberties from their enslavers, or bought their freedom and stayed (like London Nelson of Santa Cruz, Dave Boffman of Happy Valley, and Dan Rodgers of Watsonville). James Gadsdens 1851 petition to make Southern California a slave state failed, but the state passed a ban on black testimony in court. In 1852 South Carolina and Florida slave-holders petitioned for a slave-owners colony in California. The issue was tabled, but Californias Fugitive Slave Law of 1852 suspended its anti-slavery clause, and while some refused to enforce it, others used it to re-enslave free Blacks. Yet the states fugitive slave law was dropped in 1855.

Then the Andres Pico Act of 1859 was introduced to make California a slave state from San Luis Obispo south. But the April 12, 1861 attack on Fort Sumpter starting the Civil War, ended any thought of splitting the state over slavery. It also stopped shipments to California of black powder, used for blasting and gunpowder, yet with no alternative sources west of the Mississippi. East Coast manufacturers couldnt risk these shipments being captured by Confederate pirates, nor deplete what supplies the Union needed to fight secession.

California feared the loss of black powder limited the states ability to defend itself against invasion, or defend the gold and silver shipments being sent east supporting the Union cause. Without blasting powder for mining, the amount of gold and silver being processed could be reduced. Blasting powder was also crucial for construction of buildings, forts, roads and railways.Confederate members of the secret society Knights of the Golden Circle, conspired to seize Pacific Mail Steamerships transporting gold, and turn the captured ships into a pirate navy. Their ultimate goal was to make California a slave state, and redirect gold shipments to the Confederacy. But their plot was foiled, and the insurrectionists were sent to prison at Fort Alcatraz.

To fill the need, a group of investors got together and incorporated Dec.28, 1861, as the California Powder Works. Sites were studied statewide in a four month selection process, needing access to a shipping port, yet isolated, midst a population loyal to the United States. Los Angeles was ruled out for having two Confederate militias. At last Rincon Gorge a mile north of Santa Cruz was chosen, because the gorge was a narrow canyon that would confine any accidental blast, was little populated, had plenty of timber to make charcoal, had just been wiped clean by a megaflood, and had a wharf for sale for supplies and exports, in a town of mostly pro-Union abolitionists.

Construction commenced in November 1862. A dam was built north of the site in 1863, and water would pass through a 4-foot by 6-foot tunnel 1,200-feet long, to power the water wheels that ran the machinery. The 20-acre site was laid out with 15 industrial buildings arranged around the grounds in a circle. A ways below the plant was the office, boarding house, dormitory and homes.Safety precautions were abundant. Each industrial structure was spaced 100 to 500 feet apart. The powder magazine warehouse and manufacturing structures were constructed with 2-foot thick masonry walls, but only on three sides, then finished with a wooden fourth wall and ceiling. In this way, any accidental explosion could be directed into the hillside, or away from populated areas to minimize destruction. In addition, these buildings had thick groves of resilient eucalyptus trees around their perimeter to catch flying debris.

Black powder was made by importing saltpeter from India and Chile, to refine and combine with Sulphur and charcoal, plus graphite to keep it from clumping.

The Powder Works began production in May, 1864, with a crew of 30 men making 200 25-pound kegs of powder a day. By wars end in 1865, production had doubled to 400 kegs a day, or a total output that year of 150,000 kegs. The mill employed from 150 to 275 men. These were mostly white, a number were teenagers. But there was also a Chinese population that started with a dozen in 1864, then reaching 35 by the mid-1870s, with their own boarding house and Joss Temple. Paid a third of white workers, they were often cooks, coopers, or construction crews, endangered by the prejudices of the white workers, whose growing outrage became the Anti-Chinese Movement in 1878, when management bowed to pressure and fired them all. But a decade later, the Chinese were back at work.

The Powder Works was a community, with its own Social Hall, Post Office in the Superintendents Building, and School House. Superintendent Col. Bernard Peyton built his 1870s Italianate Villa on top of the hill overlooking the gorge. The assistant superintendent was his son, William, who built his bride an 1890s Eastlake castle beside his fathers house.

After the war, the Powder Works supplied blasting powder for railroads across the west, with the 1874 Felton-to-Santa Cruz line running past the plant, completed in 1880 as the South Pacific Coast Railroad over the mountains. Yet the iron horse didnt enter the grounds, for fear of flinting off sparks. When a railroad of sorts was built in the grounds, it was composed of wooden ties, and pulled slowly by horses with sacks over their iron horse shoes. Yet shipping by rail was a safer method, and the Powder Works Wharf was demolished in 1882.

By the 1880s, the powder works extended a mile up the river, hosting 21 powder mills, 10 shops, six magazines, and numerous support structures. Black powder was the chief local product, along with military grade gunpowder. Soon, Santa Cruz was the first smokeless powder producer in the west, one of two nationally. But Santa Cruz led the industry as the only producer of hydro-cellulose gun cotton, for perfect nitration of the fiber.

William Peyton invented a press to manufacture brown prismatic smokeless powder for high-power breach loading cannons. It created uniform consistency, so gunmen could precisely calculate each shot. The U.S. government was so impressed, it used Santa Cruz powder exclusively for its Pacific and Asiatic fleets, providing a 4-inch and 8-inch Navy deck cannons to test the powder. When the U.S. Army began using Krag-Jorgensen .30 caliber rifles, it determined Santa Cruz Peyton Powder was the best.

In spite of great precautions, explosions at the Powder Works were regular events. One blew out all the windows on a passing train. So a steam whistle was sounded to notify the public of a test firing, with a second whistle to give the all-clear. When no whistle was heard connected with an explosion, people would come running to find out the fate of loved ones.

The worst explosion happened April 1898, across the covered bridge on Eagle Creek. It left a crater and a cloud of smoke, and buildings a distance away tilted by the force of the blast. Phyllis Patten was a student at Holy Cross School, gazing out the window at 5:15 that April evening, when the explosion shook the whole town, rattling or breaking windows. Then lightning-like streams of sparks shot past the windows. People ran outside, uncertain what it was, and wondered if Spanish saboteurs (during the Spanish-American War) were taking revenge on Admiral Deweys only source of smokeless powder.

Shortly, a man on a galloping horse said a fire was about to blow-up the main powder magazine. Townsfolk evacuated to the beach, huddled around campfires until 9:30 that evening, when they learned the magazine had been spared. The blast injured 15, while killing 13 Chinese workers. But thanks to Smokeless Powder, the Powder Works could rebuild using corrugated metal buildings.

William Peyton married into the DuPont family, who were buying up explosives companies. In the 1890s, DuPont had a controlling interest in the California Powder Works, gained full control in 1903, but was declared a monopoly, and closed the Powder Works in 1914. It is today the site of Paradise Park Masonic Campgrounds.

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The Santa Cruz County boom town that went BOOM - The Mercury News