Opinion

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...

Donations greatly appreciated  On behalf of the Watsonville High School Performing Arts Department, I would like to thank several individuals who have recently donated instruments to our school. The first being the family of Jim and Marion Rector for their recent donation of a beautiful...

Since my last message our clocks have sprung forward and Spring is here. As we move past the storms of the past several months, much-awaited federal help for our neighbors in Pajaro has arrived.  The President approved a major disaster declaration for Santa Cruz and...

Summer is here and just in time. We are coming out of a pandemic that has affected our lives for more than a year. So many of us were confined to our houses as we continued to live our daily lives. In-person engagement was...

City should not be taking Covid-19 funding I was delighted to see that the Watsonville City Council approved “a little more than a half-million dollars of federal funding to bolster the community’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.” I was very disappointed, however, to note that of...

Destruction of the Administrative State Perhaps you remember that the title above was Steve Bannon’s goal.  I wasn’t sure what that meant in the beginning, but it is clear now that Bannon (through Trump and his Republican supporters) is achieving his goal, and weakening our...

One of the healthiest food banks in the country. That’s the claim Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County makes because of the amazing generosity of our local agriculture community, the farmers, packers and farmworkers of the Pajaro Valley and beyond. Second Harvest receives more...

The Pajaro River flood is a world problem. This flood has been written up in the New York Times and the UK Guardian.   The Pajaro River levee was built in 1949. The river begins at San Felipe Lake and travels 30 miles through Watsonville to...

MEMO FROM REV. SHINSEKI In many areas around the state we are beginning to see a loosening of restrictions. Since March many of us have been “hunkered” down in our homes and going out very little. Between the Covid-19 pandemic and the wildfires many have...

The City of Watsonville will have its first public meeting concerning its long-awaited Downtown Specific Plan in the Civic Plaza Community Room B on Wednesday at 5 p.m.