Opinion

Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson: Doors. We use them every day. We open them. We close them. We lock them. We knock on them. We stand outside them. We stand inside them. They lock us in. They lock us out. They keep us safe. They keep...

George Washington in our City Plaza I found it interesting to read Greg Caput’s recent column about the current debate that our community is having about whether to remove the sculpture of George Washington from our City Plaza. This debate of removal appears to be...

By Greg Caput, County Supervisor To what standards are we held or judged by? If the standard is perfection, then everyone fails. A symbol of George Washington is under scrutiny at the Watsonville City Plaza. He was a victorious hero of the revolution 245 years...

CALIFORNIA—Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) has been named Chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee by Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood). Raised in farmworker housing, Rivas represents the 30th Assembly District, which includes the agriculture-rich Salinas and Pajaro valleys on the Central Coast.  “My district is known as...

The California Certified Organic Farmers Foundation is poised to help organic farmers recover from the unprecedented wildfires burning across the West Coast, including CCOF’s hometown of Santa Cruz.  The Bricmont Hardship Assistance Fund gives grants to organic business owners affected by hardships of all kinds,...

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...