Opinion

Last week my wife Sarah and I joined our friends Craig and Norma for dinner at Johnny’s Harborside restaurant in the Santa Cruz Harbor. It was the first time any of us have enjoyed a sit down meal indoors since November due to pandemic...

Memo from Pastor Erickson This week’s Gospel lesson is about the Baptism of our Lord. In it, you may find the geographical references quite interesting. Mark tells us that John the baptizer appears in the wilderness along the Jordan River and that folk from the Judean...

Watsonville Community Hospital is vital to the economic success of the Pajaro Valley. Businesses, their employees and customers all benefit from local access to healthcare.  From employees to medical providers, the hospital provides nearly 1,000 local jobs and medical care for over 100,000 people...

A foundational aspect of our national identity is the widely regarded notion that the United States is a nation of immigrants.  While the country has also seen periods of restrictive immigration policies, our history is deeply intertwined with the movement of people from other nations....

Dutra is the most qualified, hands down The time has come to make the choice for our next District 4 County Supervisor. Jimmy Dutra is the only one with an impeccable track record from his six-plus years as a city councilman and a year serving as...

25 years ago on June 24, 1996 For the first time in its 15 years of existence, the Monterey Bay Strawberry Festival has awarded its title of Strawberry Queen to two contestants: North Monterey County High junior Nikki Gillot and Watsonville High graduate Norma Fabian....

“ called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Mark 8:34) What does that really mean anyway? I can tell you what it...

We are all lifelong learners committed to growing and understanding more about our world. Humanity’s great strength is in its ability to adapt. A little over a year ago, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees decided to end our contracts with...

Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson Composer Meredith Willson once told the story of a band whose music so pleased a king of long ago that he opened his royal treasury to the musicians. He invited them to walk in and to fill their instruments with as...