Opinion

Being the mayor of a city carries with it a lot of responsibilities and can be quite demanding. It can also be rewarding and gratifying. Many of us get elected with a vision for our community. I was green, but had the fire in my stomach to...

On Aug. 24, four of five Santa Cruz County Supervisors, except Greg Caput, from Pajaro Valley’s District 4, rejected the County Civil Grand Jury’s recommendation that they support an online pilot program to provide the public with advance notice of hazardous pesticides being applied...

City must update general plan to build around airport At the Aug. 24 Watsonville City Council meeting, while discussing the housing project at 547 Airport Blvd., some council members implied that the Watsonville Pilots Association (WPA) had been involved in lawsuits with Target, Home Depot...

WATSONVILLE—About two dozen farmworkers settled in on picnic tables at a Lakeside Organic Gardens field Wednesday for a fresh, healthy lunch featuring the very crops they harvest.  The meal was prepared by Charlie Hong Kong, a Santa Cruz Asian fusion restaurant that was Lakeside’s first...

WATSONVILLE—Starting on Oct. 1, anyone receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known in California as CalFresh, will see a slight increase to the amount they receive each month. The changes to the federal Thrifty Food Plan comes thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture...

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...

Once when I was a youth pastor, a sixth-grade boy came up to me and asked, “Robby, where’s the rules part in the Bible?” Not sure exactly what he meant, I asked if he was looking for the Ten Commandments. “No, the rules part!”...

Sheriff Oversight Commission needed On behalf of Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Santa Cruz County, we submit this letter to draw your attention to urgent needs in our community that have been ignored for too long. We trust you agree that each of us...

25 years ago on Aug. 12, 1996 Thousands of farm workers and their families marched through Watsonville, waving flags and banners to protest the United Farm Workers organizing efforts. In March, the UFW announced plans to organize the 15,000 berry workers in the Pajaro and...

Nearly seven years ago I posted a video to social media that, sadly, is no longer viewable. It was a 20-second clip recorded underneath the Watsonville High School press box at Emmett M. Geiser Field. In the video, I ever so slightly nudged a...