Opinion

By Jimmy Dutra, Watsonville Mayor The holidays are typically the happiest time of the year. However, this has not been a typical year. Our businesses have taken a financial hit. Food insecurity is at an all-time high. Stimulus checks are not cutting it. Restless nights...

Trust is not built on words alone—it is forged through action, teamwork, and empathy. This holds true in times of prosperity, but is even more critical during hardship and crisis. Few experiences unite people like the shared journey from loss to pain, to recovery,...

We would like to begin by stating that as Watsonville City Council Members and as citizens of Watsonville, we were extremely concerned when we learned on June 6, 2019, of the intended sale of Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) to yet another for-profit entity. Our concerns, like many other elected officials and community members, were even intensified because of the long history of our hospital under 21 years of outside, corporate and for-profit ownership by first Community Health Systems (CHS), and then their spin-off, Quorum Health Corporation (QHC).

One of my best friends is a university professor of chemistry. Last Saturday, he took his youngest down to Walgreens to receive her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination. Never one to miss the opportunity to pick a scientist’s brain, I asked how he...

America lost a giant on Dec. 29, when our 39th president, Jimmy Carter, passed away at the age of 100. After his wife of 77 years, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, died a year ago, President Carter decided to stop his treatment for  diagnosed metastatic...

Safety nets for California farmworkers Like health care workers on the front lines of coronavirus battle,  California farmworkers are on the front lines of our state’s $54 billion food supply chain, yet have few safety nets and protections. Governor Newsom has rightly designated them as...

A novel idea for the rail A friend and fellow rail advocate came up with the following idea:   Following the terrible and tragic wildfires that have devastated North Santa Cruz County, there will be a need to bring in materials such as lumber as the rebuilding...

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) $9 million Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail project study (ZEPRT) has generated heated debate and confusion.  While the project promises to combine passenger rail and active transit in one sweeping vision, fundamental questions about its feasibility,...