Movie Review: All flash, no substance: 'Kong: Skull Island' underwhelming
If you are looking for destructive beast-vs-beast action you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for story, character development or good pacing and dialogue, you will be left wanting your money back.
Woody Rehanek: Science proves pesticide’s destructive nature
For the last 18 years, I taught a special education class in the Pajaro Valley. Many of my students were farmworker children with learning disabilities: problems paying attention, reading difficulties, hyperactivity, autism, lower IQ and struggles with self-control. I was shocked to discover that one of the most widely used pesticides in the world — chlorpyrifos — has, after over 20 years of solid research at UC Davis, Berkeley, Columbia University and elsewhere, been linked to these difficulties in learning and behavior.
The drive-through discussion is disappointing for many reasons
In the days leading up to Tuesday’s Watsonville Planning Commission meeting I did several hours of background research on the proposed project at 975-1075 Main St.
The more research I did, the more disappointed I became.
The project is straightforward: 20,000 square feet over three commercial...
Letters to the Editor, Sept. 4
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...
Understanding housing | Mayor’s Update
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...
True & real community
Question: “When you look at humanity what surprises you most?”
Answer: “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the...
Luis Alejo, March 20: The voting rights gladiator who changed California politics forever
California’s Latino community has lost its greatest voting rights gladiator. Last Friday, the legendary civil rights lawyer Joaquin G. Avila lost his battle to cancer after previously suffering from a stroke. No one was more accomplished than him when it came to fighting for Latino political empowerment and representation.
Luis Alejo | A 25-year movement for peace and unity
Exactly 25 years ago this Sunday, the Watsonville community was shocked after the tragic shootings of 9-year old Jessica Cortez and her 16-year old brother, Jorge Cortez at El Nopal Bakery in Pajaro.
Letters to the Editor, Dec. 13
Politics is keeping Watsonville stuck
I was quite bemused when I read that the Watsonville Planning Commission denied issuing a use permit to the developers of the drive-thru establishments on N. Main Street
because of air pollution from idling cars! This is such shortsighted thinking! Sure,...
Sandy Lydon: The false myth that Watsonville drove its Chinese community across the river in 1888
I first heard the story in the 1970s when beginning my research on the history of the Chinese in the region. I read it in community histories, newspaper history columns, and both Chinese and non-Chinese old-timers told me the story with conviction.
It was true...
Demolishing the past for a new Starbucks
A piece of Watsonville’s history was torn to the ground Monday as a wrecking crew demolished the Taqueria Mi Tierra restaurant on Freedom Boulevard.
The...