Gail Pellerin, Feb. 17: Election security and safety in Santa Cruz County
As your County Clerk, one of my most important responsibilities is to ensure that the votes cast in Santa Cruz County are secure and accurate. Despite claims that voter fraud is rampant nationally, court challenges have failed to produce evidence that voter fraud is anything more than an occasional clerical error or bad data matching.
Sarah Ringler, Dec. 28: Top down educational reforms endanger public schools
Evidence shows that teachers are stressed. A 2017 survey in British Columbia found that two-thirds of teachers felt “stressed and emotionally exhausted all, or most of the time.”
Supervisor’s Update: Stronger together
The start of the New Year greeted all of us with more water than any of us, including meteorologists, had anticipated. And again, this past week our neighbors in Pajaro were devastatingly flooded. Although Pajaro isn’t technically a part of Watsonville or Santa Cruz...
Memo from Rev. Shinseki: Drop it!
One day as the Buddha was resting between his visits and talks, a young man came to him with a bouquet of flowers. The young man admired the Buddha and wanted to present him with the flowers in thanks for his teachings. Filled with...
Supporting those who put themselves out front
In March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic set in, a large collective of nonprofits, public institutions and individuals serving the Pajaro Valley mobilized weekly meetings. The intent was to become informed and advocate for equitable public health resources and transparency in the County’s Covid-19...
Movie Review: 'The Last Jedi' feels bloated, empty at same time
Truth is, “The Last Jedi” feels more like a filler television episode than the grand galactic opera the series is known for. There is no doubt that this film is beautiful and it definitely has the whimsical DNA that has kept the franchise trucking forward for 40 years. But the eighth installment in this storyline feels a bit empty, has some weird tonal problems and sticks around longer than it should.
This Week in Pajaro Valley’s Past, May 7
25 years ago on May 6, 1996
The Cinco de Mayo festivities in the Plaza keep growing, drawing 8,000 people and diverse entertainers this year. Sunday’s festival featured the Mariachi Eleazor Cortes group, the salsa band Orquestra Sabor Latino, the White Hawk Dancers, Banda Torero...
How Farmworkers Outlawed ‘El Cortito’ 50 Years Ago
For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept...
