Opinion

The worst wildfires in California’s history have burned more than 3 million acres, about 3 percent of the state’s total acreage, and included Santa Cruz County vineyards, orchards and tree farms. The fires scorched fields, destroyed barns, melted irrigation lines and disrupted power, water...

By Rebecca J. Garcia, Watsonville Mayor Soon after I was elected to the Watsonville City Council I had the opportunity to visit several farmworkers’ housing conditions. What I found was five adults and four children living in a 2-bedroom duplex, eight adults living in a...

First Lady was sincere, dazzling  I felt that First Lady Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention was completely sincere and her words were bursting with dazzling light. She strikes me as being a person who truly and deeply cares about the wellbeing of...

Memo from Pastor Rene: There they were, side by side, helping to feed evacuees in our church parking lot last week: A true red-state conservative and a deep blue Democrat. I knew this about the two men from previous conversations, but as I watched them...

By Felipe Hernandez, Watsonville City Councilman We face a sobering reality.  For those of us who came of age in the 20th century, the existential threat of climate change that we debated theoretically and at great length will be lived by the children being born...

Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.” (Psalm 62: 1-2, NRSV.)  The question is whether we really believe it.  A priest and...

MEMO FROM REV. SHINSEKI “There are causes for all human suffering, and  there is a way by which they may be ended, because everything in the world is the result of a vast concurrence of causes and conditions, and  everything disappears as these causes and...

By Steve Trujillo  In consideration of a badly-needed name change for Cabrillo Community College, there are three considerations that should be paramount:  1. If it is to be an individual, what personal characteristics and accomplishments make the individual worthy of putting that name to a community...

By Denise Elerick, of the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County Substance use disorder is now widely recognized in the medical community as a chronic illness which responds to treatment. Similar to other chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease, remission and recurrence...

Last week my wife Sarah and I took our first short vacation since the pandemic and lockdown took over. We drove north to Lassen National Volcanic Park and stayed in an old logger’s cabin at the Mill Creek Resort. The night before we left...