Holiday hopes, gratitude from Mayor Jimmy Dutra
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...
Letter: Care for the wetlands, support the community
As so many of us are continuing to be affected by the recent storms, whatever comes our way, our community is in this together. The wetlands, creeks, and Pajaro River and the history of flooding in this valley have been fundamental to shaping the...
Organization aims to integrate beneficial songbirds on farms
WATSONVILLE—For more than 20 years, Watsonville-based organization Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) has aimed to find a sustainable balance between conservation and agriculture.
Established by a like-minded group of wildland proponents and ecological farming advocates, WFA’s primary goal is to bring nature back into the industry.
“As...
Lasting impressions
I feel fortunate to have the upbringing I had. Growing up in Washington D.C. with a bunch of wonderful kids in my neighborhood – kids from Greek and Jewish families, Catholics, Russians, Italians, Yugoslavians — how lucky was I to have been thrown into su
Templeton Wine Festival returns
The fifth annual Templeton Wine Festival, hosted by the Templeton Chamber of Commerce, is set to return Saturday, May 6. Held at Templeton Park, located at 550 Crocker St., from 1-5 p.m., the festival is one of the area’s biggest celebrations and has beco
Paso Robles Lavender Festival returns
Far more than just a pretty face, lavender — with its tiny purple blooms and distinctive perfume — has become one of the most popular plants all across the county. To celebrate its many purposes, the Central Coast Lavender Growers Association and Paso Rob
Bonsai enthusiast bids farewell
My long-time friend Don White has died. If the name escapes you, he was the friendly man whose photo I ran in the R-P each year for the past 10-plus years tending his vast collection of bonsai trees in the back yard of his Carmel Street home.
Maria T. Cadenas: Including undocumented families in safety nets is the only way forward
Thousands of Monterey and Santa Cruz County families were forced to evacuate March 11 after the Pajaro and Soledad rivers flooded this rural agricultural area. The storms arrived at the beginning of the growing season, just as farmworkers were going back to work and...
Community comes together to repaint Black Lives Matter mural
More than 40 volunteers spent hours Saturday refreshing the massive Black Lives Matter street mural that is sprawled along Center Street in front of...
