Emily Balli, May 4: May is CalFresh Awareness Month
CalFresh (formally known as Food Stamps) helps struggling families and individuals in California purchase healthy, nourishing food, including at farmers markets.
Building an equitable future
By Jimmy Dutra, Watsonville Mayor
I stopped using the word equality some years back in graduate school. In my opinion it did not put everyone on an equal playing field. Instead, I am an advocate for equity. With equity I believe we will find true...
Open Farm Tours returns Oct. 8-9
Open Farm Tours (OFT) returns Oct. 8 and 9, offering the community a chance to visit organic farms, meet local farmers and learn about how their food is grown.
The event, which has been held for the past nine years, is more than doubling the...
Karma on the diamond
Congratulations St. Francis baseball! I hardly recognize you now. You are proof that the karmic wheel does turn, sometimes slowly, but it does turn. Just to remind, there’s been an orphanage or school on that hilltop since 1869, longer than most things around here.
During...
Letter: County needs to address river at Murphy Crossing
We went to see the current situation of the Murphy Crossing Bridge area on Jan. 21 after we learned that there was a possibility of flooding in that area the next morning.
We measured the height between the bottom of the river and the bottom...
Letters to the Editor, July 9
Enforce the laws
We have endured another onslaught of pyrotechnics in Watsonville. While I appreciate efforts to discourage their use, such as bilingual ads in the newspaper and electronic message boards placed around the city, I wonder: why enact ordinances and laws if they apparently...
Movie Review: ‘Coco’ is a masterful love letter to Mexican culture
No other movie has quite captured the “family-comes-first” Mexican culture — both the good and the bad that comes with it — that is engrained in who I am. “Coco” is like a love letter to the culture, those who grew up in it and those who appreciate it. There is hardly any pandering here. All references and cameos — there are some great ones that I won’t spoil — range from well-done to perfect.
Guest View: The Republican party may not last
George Washington, our first President, warned against political parties. The English had already seen by the 18th century that there was bad feeling between the Conservative and Liberal parties in Parliament. The two parties survived to serve two factions of the public educated enough...
A “jewel in the community:” Ramsay Park project moves forward
In a little more than a year, Ramsay Park in Watsonville will boast a new dog park, a new multi-use synthetic sports field, a new state-of-the-art nature center and new lights for its pathways, parking lots and athletic fields.
Plans also include an all-inclusive playground,...
This Week in Pajaro Valley’s Past, Jan. 15
Compiled by Steve Bankhead
25 years ago on Jan. 9, 1996
The city Planning Commission voted 5-2 for approval of the Overlook Shopping Center north of Ramsay Park. It will bring a Target store, Staples, and a major supermarket. Shirley Pyle, owner of the Crestview Shopping...
Letters to the Editor Dec. 5-11
Suggestions for PVUSD
My recommendations regarding the Recommended Realignments of PVUSD:
1. Regarding school closure, I have advocated for an idea to sell the District Office...




















