Today is April Fool’s Day and yes, living up to the adage: April showers bring May flowers; there are showers in the forecast. First, however, are a string of warm, sunny days predicted by meteorologists at the National Weather Service of Monterey. Showers could start up later on Friday and then visit the area on and off through Monday.
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My wife Sarah and I drove around Watsonville Tuesday to help me get a sense of what is going on. In some ways, it felt like any other day, aside from thinner traffic. A lot of businesses were open. There were about 15 men hanging out in the plaza, some sitting three to a bench. On the other hand, we only saw one man playing with his dog in his front yard as we cruised several neighborhoods. In other words, the neighborhoods we saw were stone quiet. We briefly stopped for a photo along the Struve Slough trail and saw about a dozen people getting fresh air, some with their pets.
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Yesterday was Caesar Chavez Day and, from what I saw around town and in the news, it never registered a blip on the radar other than when I was told by the Sheriff’s Office that it was a holiday.
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A 55-year-old Santa Cruz woman was found dead Tuesday inside of a home on the 800 block of Graham Hill Road, Ashley Kheen of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said. At 11:30 a.m. deputies responded to a report of an unconscious female and found Kimberly Smith deceased, Kheen said. Detectives are investigating the incident as a homicide. Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call (831) 454-7635.
About two hours later, a man with a gunshot wound walked into the emergency room at Watsonville Hospital Tuesday just after 2 p.m. Kheen said the office is investigating the shooting, which occurred near College Road and East Lake Avenue.
“We were alerted after the victim drove himself to the hospital,” Kheen said.
The man suffered suffered moderate injuries and is expected to live.
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I read in the New York Times that the first of 22 airlifts loaded with medical supplies landed in New York Sunday. The massive 80-ton payload included “130,000 N95 masks, 1.8 million face masks and gowns, 10 million gloves, and thousands of thermometers” for distribution in three states.
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Quote of the day: “There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away.” —Winston Churchill
