Opinion

By Jimmy Dutra, Watsonville Mayor This week my grandmother, Epi Tavarez, turned 100. Just seeing that number is surreal. She was born one year after the 19th Amendment was ratified and women got the right to vote. My grandma has been a lifelong voter who...

By Frank Anderson Most everyone agrees that Santa Cruz County needs to improve its transportation. We’ve all observed large, virtually empty buses, the lack of a safe bike network, and a rail corridor that has sat unused for decades. All the while, thousands of cars...

The long-awaited return to in-person instruction for all Pajaro Valley Unified School District students begins on April 5. As we build our “new normal,” our commitment is to make the most of our instructional time. For this reason, at our Feb. 24 Board meeting,...

Thanks to the staff at the fairgrounds  My husband and I received our second Covid-19 vaccination at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. As with our first vaccination, the entire staff, from those giving directions to the nurses injecting the vaccine, was very polite, friendly and...

Last month we observed the one-year anniversary of when Covid-19 brought all of our lives to a sudden halt.  Personally, this year has been a challenge not only health wise and financially, but emotionally and creatively as well. Like many of you, I lost so...

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic entered our lives we have had to change the way we do things quite a bit. We are careful about who we encounter, we wear our masks, we practice social distancing, we wash our hands more often, and we...

Questioning God’s character and promises? Welcome to the Bible! Most readers of the Bible spend little time in the book of Lamentations, a short book of five poems composed by an anonymous Hebrew poet, reflecting on the fall of Jerusalem in the 6th century BCE....

One of my best friends is a university professor of chemistry. Last Saturday, he took his youngest down to Walgreens to receive her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination. Never one to miss the opportunity to pick a scientist’s brain, I asked how he...

What sort of news would make you celebrate wildly? A clean bill of health? Escaping financial worries? Newfound safety? The true end of the pandemic? How might you respond? Would you run? Would you dance? Would you sing? Would you write a new song...

The gospel of John (one of four gospels in the New Testament) proclaims, “God so loved the world…” (John 3:16). It is the proclamation of the mystery of Incarnation. Lutheran Bishop Stephen Bouman tells of standing behind an altar in a small crypt chapel of...