Faces and places
A view of 2009 in Monterey County through the lens of staff photographer Nic Coury.
Watch Video It was a year of hope, marked by the election of a new president, and of despair, as crime continued to stalk Salinas and the ravages of the recession took their toll. The ...
The Short of It
This year’s 101 word short story contest winners do more with less in weird and wonderful ways.
They emerge from the cracks of Castroville, the pelican pouches of Pacific Grove and the side streets of Seaside once a year. They spout accounts of cats and love, death and disaster (see sidebar, p. ...
Elevating the Debate
When will medical marijuana get the high sign in Monterey County?
Tall, freckle-faced Daniel Maniscalco swings open the door of his black 1992 BMW and the pungent aroma of fresh Grapefruit Kush and Purple Haze fills the air. Maniscalco, 26, runs a fledgling medicinal marijuana delivery ...
Issues / 2009
Regulate, ban, or delay? Those are the choices facing PG and Monterey as they consider local pot clubs.
Monterey County now has its first medicinal marijuana storefront—on Lighthouse Avenue in the city of Monterey. Its debut surprised city officials. "We just found out it was there yesterday, and we're kinda looking into it," ...
Halfway through its fiscal year, Monterey is $1.7 mllion short of a balanced budget.
The City Council voted Tuesday, Jan. 5 to make up for the shortfall by shifting funds designated for neighborhood improvements to its general operating budget. City officials plan to replace that money in July 2010, ...
Farr secures $700,000 for Central Coast food and shelter program
Rep. Sam Farr announced this morning $700,000 in Central Coast funds for the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program, including $384,153 for Monterey County. "California is suffering badly from the continuing economic crisis, and these ...
Mother Murdered
Victim in Santa Cruz murder was a Monterey Peninsula local.
The victim of a murder-suicide at a Santa Cruz 7-Eleven was a Monterey Peninsula local, Santa Cruz Sentinel reports. Nichole "Nikki" Schrock, 24, was allegedly shot to death by her ex-boyfriend, Illya Cavlan of San ...
Giovane's Closes
Salinas restaurant and live music venue Giovane's doesn't survive the economy.
Last Sunday evening, just three days into the new year, a brief, gracious email was sent by Randy and Sarah Young, proprietors of Giovane's, signaling a sore change in the county's music scene: "Hi, Just ...
Happy New Year: Wise Words from an Elder
The Decade in Review: Daniel Schorr of NPR offers his unique viewpoint.
Few journalists can deliver like NPR's Daniel Schorr, who's been a working reporter for over 60 years, earning his stripes under CBS's famed Edward Murrow. Last week, on December 30, 2009, he offered this commentary ...
Steppin' Up
Step Up 2 Green's eco-home certification picks up steam.
Even if you're a lower-income homeowner, emerald status may be within your grasp. Less than a year after its formal launch, the locally hatched eco-home certification program StepUp2Green is gaining momentum. SU2G is unique because, ...
Salinas' last general bookstore to close
B. Dalton, Salinas' last general, corporate bookstore, will close by the end of the month. Company spokeswoman Carolyn Brown says the closure of the Northridge Mall store is part a national shutdown of 50 B. ...
Amnesty program brings scofflaws back to county libraries.
County Librarian Jayante Addleman says that in November and December,the cash-strapped library system decided to forgo the some $10,000 in fines and fees it takes in every month to help patrons get through tough economic ...
Off the Charts
Seaside's Chartwell School earns top green building honors.
Chartwell School in Seaside has earned more accolades for its cutting-edge green and sustainable building. On Dec. 22, it received the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment 2009 Livable Building Award. Judges ...
Uni-Kool Project advances, dodges backlash
Enviro critics worry about consequences, but city cites economic benefits.
A 257-acre agricultural industrial park that is expected to generate more than 4,000 jobs is quietly making its way through Salinas City Hall. This month the Planning Commission, on a 6-1 vote, recommended the City ...
Tasting Time
Trying to swallow what 2009 served up is no easy feat.
Along with Chocolate Rain, Charlie Murphy and the saturation of sub-prime, iPhones, over-updating and Client No. 9, OMGs, WMDs, and flus avian and swine, something else emerged ’tween Y2K and ’09: Food porn. Chefs rose ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$795,000 Recent Sale 4038 Mora Ln., Pebble Beach Built: 1955 Size: 1,803 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2-car garage Amenities: Peek of the ocean, large fenced yard, wood-burning fireplace Seller: Vavra Trust Buyer: ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): One of my favorite landscape painters makes a livable wage from selling her art. She has had many gallery showings and has garnered much critical acclaim. That’s the good news. The ...
The Young Victoria
Eminent Victoria: Latest bio-pic of Princess Victoria getting busy before ascending to the throne is a little staid, but has its moments.
How young is young Victoria? At the film’s beginning, she’s just 17, with all the sullenness you would expect from a shut-in future queen fending off attack from her mama and prospective suitors cherry-picked by ...
What was your most memorable moment of the decade?
Asked at Coffee Mia in Marina.
Follow-up: What’s the most unrealistic New Year’s resolution you’ve ever made? CHRIS GONZALES | After-school Counselor | Marina A: The war: 9/11 and Afghanistan and Iraq – it was a shock watching it unravel before ...
Squid Fry for Dec 30, 2009
Squid Fry for Dec 30, 2009
BUTTERFLIES AREN’T FREE… Squid knows what it’s like to be misunderestimated, what with being a literate eight-armed cephalopod-about-town who knows what’s what. But maybe it’s nothing that a little $30,000 re-branding campaign couldn’t cure. Squid ...
Danny I's Grill
Midday Destiny: Danny I’s delivers lunch values in a strategic spot.
Lunch is a time for rejuvenation. But in the hustle-bustle of a 10-hour workday, it’s a meal that’s regularly lost in a sea of e-mails, paperwork and business meetings – or given a cursed cubicle ...
Opinion: One man’s take on his culture’s stereotypes
¡Ask a Mexican!
SPECIAL YEAR-END EDICÍON Dear Mexican: Why in the hell does everything have to be in English and Spanish? I ride the bus/train to work and every time someone requests to stop, you hear “Stop Requested,” ...
Art Listing for Dec 30, 2009
Art Listing for Dec 30, 2009
HAPPENING THIS WEEK Alternative Café Photographer Tom G. O’Neal: The music icons of the gallery’s Euterpe show (Latin for “musical muse”), which opened Dec. 18, was a hit, drawing fans of art and music to ...
The Buzz
TRUCE FOR CHIEF…The city of Seaside and Police Chief Steve Cercone have reached a settlement that ends the months-long saga that began in August, when City Manager Ray Corpuz placed Cercone on paid administrative leave. ...
Showing Initiative
A series of new proposals targets an end to the gridlock era in Sacramento.
Agaggle of good-government activists aims to turn California’s ongoing budget crisis into an opportunity for reform in 2010. Fat-cat corporations, political gadflies, grassroots campaigners and the state’s richest foundations are in the mix, with more ...
Silver Bullet
Public concern buries Big Sur cloud seeding plans, for now.
F at Joe and the Monterey County Water Resource Agency have this much in common: They both want to make it rain. But MCWRA’s proposal to “seed” clouds of the Big Sur coast is less ...
Problematic proposals for California’s budgetary woes.
Change – and frustration – are in the air. Some of the outcry about the compromises in the health care bill that’s likely headed to President Barack Obama’s desk has been directed at the ability ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen
ONGOING SALVATION ARMY FOOD DRIVE | MONTEREY COUNTY – The Salvation Army collects non-perishable food items for needy families. Salvation Army, 1491 Contra Costa St., Seaside. 899-4911. 2460 North Main St., Salinas. 443-9655, www.tsamonterey.com. DONATE ...
Renewable energy businesses fret over potential costs of marine spatial planning.
The newest idea in ocean management seems like a no-brainer. Marine spatial planning (MSP) attempts to get the most economic and ecological bang out of the ocean’s buck by mapping out zones in the ocean: ...
Bloom Boom
Behind the scenes at the world’s biggest potted orchid farm – in Salinas.
When this particular prehistoric bumblebee met its fate, trapped by tree resin, it was unaware of the story it would share with a distant future. Its minuscule wings, preserved in fossilized Miocene amber, carried an ...
Letters to the Editor for Dec 30, 2009
POT PROPOSAL As a long time proponent of legalizing marijuana (and other recreational drugs), it’s my belief that society should proceed with the utmost caution given the many pitfalls not mentioned in your article (“A ...
Famine, No Feast
Cali food stamp requirements are onerous, but local agencies try to ease the pain.
Monterey County is making food stamp applications easier for the growing number of people who can no longer afford to feed their families, while tough state eligibility requirements still keep many hungry Californians out of ...
Monning Scores
Central Coast Assemblyman earns a 100 percent green voting record for 2009.
Both the Sierra Club California and the League of Conservation Voters gave Central Coast Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Monterey) A-pluses on his pro-environment votes in 2009. Monning scored 100 percent on both assessments by voting in ...
Traffic cops to swarm Marina
Drivers beware: Traffic cops will be saturating Marina streets, including commute route Imjin Parkway, from 7am to noon tomorrow. As part of the Monterey Regional Strategic Traffic Operations and Prevention Program, (STOPP) officers from various ...
LULAC files sheriff's complaints with feds, grand jury
Local civil rights leaders, including NAACP President Ben Jealous, announced a three-tier probe into excessive force allegations against Monterey County Sheriff's deputies at a Saturday press conference. The North Monterey County chapter of the League ...
Colinas Ranch easement donated to Land Trust
The Stoney family has donated a conservation easement on the 1,107-acre Colinas Ranch in the Gabilan foothills to the Big Sur Land Trust. "This action by the Stoney family will ensure the protection in perpetuity ...
The Yearly Grind
Christmas tree recycling gets underway.
Christmastime brings lots of opportunities to recycle. Plastic product packaging, wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, wine bottles and more can be placed in curbside recycling bins--and Christmas trees can go right beside them in the green ...
Broadband On The Run
Stimulus package may spread Wi-Fi to underserved areas in Salinas Valley, Big Sur.
A $50 million initiative to expand broadband Internet access to the Big Sur coast, Salinas Valley corridor and link to hubs in Santa Cruz and San Benito counties is getting a strong Wi-Fi signal. The ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$775,000 Recent Sale 248 Del Mesa, Carmel Built: 1968 Size: 1,762 square feet Features: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1-car carport Amenities: Deck, vaulted ceilings, fireplace, landscaped yard, community pool and tennis courts Seller: Burt Trust ...
Gifted Artists
Robert Meade and a stacked Surfrider benefit concert keep the holidays humming.
With two stellar shows on Saturday, it may still feel a little like Christmas in Monterey for live music fans. Singer-songwriter Robert Meade – who plays the London Bridge Pub at 9:30pm – received a ...
Art Listing for Dec 23, 2009
Art Listing for Dec 23, 2009
HAPPENING THIS WEEK CAMALDOLI HERMITAGE This monks retreat in the Big Sur mountains offers new attractions – a bookstore and gift shop, and an art exhibit featuring Dan Cronin’s White Series of acrylics and mixed ...
Waiting for Help
Seaside High gets low marks on academics as site conditions suffer.
Seaside High is a sprawling campus on a ridge so close to the bay that you can smell the salt air. But for many students and teachers, the natural beauty is overshadowed by the school’s ...
Public Citizen for Dec 23, 2009
Public Citizen
All Ongoing SALVATION ARMY FOOD DRIVE | MONTEREY COUNTY – The Salvation Army is collecting non-perishable food items to assist needy families. Salvation Army, 1491 Contra Costa St., Seaside. 899-4911. 2460 North Main St., Salinas. ...
It's Complicated
Simple Solutions: Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin find marital reunion, if not bliss, in 'It’s Complicated'.
Nothing too complicated about It’s Complicated – it’s just as much an entertainment formula as the Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, the main difference being that it’s aimed at that audience’s grandparents. Jane (Meryl ...
Squid Fry for Dec 23, 2009
Squid Fry for Dec 23, 2009
GANGSTER CHIC… Sometimes Squid thinks Squid is a gangster. And it goes beyond the Godfatherly sandpaper whisper Squid makes in the mirror every morning (“Make him an offer he can’t refuse”) and Squid’s Scarface strut. ...
What is the thriftiest and/or most creative gift you’ve given?
Asked at Peet’s Coffee in Monterey.
Follow-up: What is your family’s weirdest holiday tradition? AMY SMOOT | Translator | Monterey A: A couple of years ago I used plain clear glass Christmas bulbs and got some glass paint and painted them ...
Big Ten
Counting down top ways to rock away the decade.
Britney and Paris minus-panty moments, Christian Bale’s psychopathic rant, Nick Nolte’s mug shot, David Hasselhoff’s drunken cheeseburger wrestling match – if we’ve learned anything in the decade that ends New Year’s Eve, it’s that there’s ...
Letters to the Editor for Dec 23, 2009
LEFT WING DUDE Hey, left wing dude. I read your blurb in the Weekly (“Local Spin – Finishing the Job,” Dec. 3-9) and it gave me the giggles. You, are a leftist that probably just ...
The Buzz
NUMBER 29…An 18-year-old man was shot and killed behind Hartnell College on Central Avenue on Dec. 16, marking Salinas' 29th gang-related homicide of the year. Salinas Police said Brian Beecher was shot multiple times in ...
Flavor Celebration
Understanding holiday taste – and how to make two original festive treats.
Ritual and celebration at solstice time has been the norm around the world long before the commercial “holiday season” was recognized. Many cultures, including Pagan, Norse, German, Native American and Japanese, have solstice-related symbols and ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Dec 23, 2009
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
SPECIAL NAVIDAD GIFTS EDITION Dear Mexican: Can you recommend a solid, accessible history of California and Arizona so I can learn what really happened when the U.S. gobbled Aztlán? --La Chica Confundida Dear Wabette: The ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): What influences do you really, really need to say goodbye to? The next six months will provide you with ample motivation and opportunity to finally bid those farewells. What long-term cycle ...
Always Greener
Foreclosure and drought spawn a strange local business: lawn painting.
On the corner lot of a once-pleasant, palm-studded neighborhood in East Salinas, an ash-colored tabby steps furtively across a dead and prickly lawn. Crouched low, triggered to pounce, he advances across a minefield of rotten ...
Taking healthy first steps to getting our house in order.
Amidst the generally lousy frame of mind most people are in these days about the state of the economy, and of the planet, it was interesting to note the collective response to major events that ...
First Inning
P.G. Council, developer take a tentative step toward a Holman Building hotel.
Inside the dank and spacious Holman Antique Plaza on Pacific Grove’s Lighthouse Avenue, Nader Agha works his magic: schmoozing with customers, steering employees, and selling five figures’ worth of Chinese relics in the space of ...
Different Spokes
Deals for bicycling diners, sweet gifts and mushroom madness.
Something’s happening to a primo pork sandwich near you (at Curly’s Barbecue). Same for a bomb crab Benedict (Sandbar & Grill) – and the county’s best cashew sauce (Fishwife), kebabs (Amir’s Kabob House) and beignets ...
Ceasing Fire
Salinas cops try offering soft services to gangbangers, as well as more tough talk.
With Salinas surpassing its highest body count on record in 2009 – 29 gang-related homicides – police officials have set pressing New Year’s resolutions: focus on proven peace strategy Ceasefire and target the gangs carrying ...
Sherlock Holmes
Elementary Perfection: Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law rock the house with new interpretations of Sherlock Holmes and his iconic sidekick.
Sherlock Holmes is one of the great characters: impossibly Byronic, with his superior intelligence and (apparent) imperviousness to the fairer sex; impossibly misanthropic, with his disdain for almost everyone in the world but his amanuensis, ...
Truce for Chief and City
City of Seaside, Police Chief Cercone reach settlement.
The city of Seaside and on-leave Police Chief Steve Cercone have reached a settlement agreement that effectively ends the months-long saga that began in August, when City Manager Ray Corpuz placed Cercone on paid administrative ...
Bailey tapped to lead Steinbeck Center
Colleen Bailey is officially leading the National Steinbeck Center into the New Year. The Steinbeck Center's board recently appointed Bailey executive director. She filled in as acting director after former CEO Steven Hoffman resigned in ...
Seaside City Hall closed through New Year.
Seaside residents hoping to get city business done over the holidays will have to wait: Seaside City Hall is closed from Dec. 18 through Jan. 1, to re-open Jan. 4. The extra-long vacation, which includes ...
Gunfire erupts during Salinas peace vigil
A 21-year-old man was shot while riding his bike near Closter Park in Salinas on Saturday at the same time family members of homicide victims were holding a vigil for their lost loved ones. Attendants ...
Stamp of Approval
Judge rejects Carmel's motion to disqualify attorney in Jane Miller case.
An attorney who formerly advised the city of Carmel has the green light to represent Jane Miller, a Carmel employee who is suing the city. On Dec. 18, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Larry Hayes ...
Silver Bullet
Water Resources Agency shelves this year's cloud seeding plans for Big Sur coast.
Bowing to public calls for a robust environmental review, the Monterey County Water Resource Agency canceled plans to disperse silver iodide by plane off the Big Sur coast in an effort to increase precipitation this ...
Castroville LULAC wants Department of Justice investigation
Local civil rights groups announced today a press conference (on the day after Christmas) to discuss the filing of a complaint with the Department of Justice concerning "alleged abuses" by the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. ...
18-year-old slain near Hartnell College
An 18-year-old man was shot and killed behind Hartnell College on Central Avenue last night, marking Salinas' 29th gang-related homicide of the year. Salinas Police said Brian Beecher was shot multiple times in the upper ...
Dan Baldwin to lead Community Foundation
Dan Baldwin, president/CEO of a foundation in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will replace longtime Community Foundation for Monterey County leader Todd Lueders in March 2010, the foundation announced today. Baldwin, who runs the Greater Cedar Rapids ...
Out of the Flames
Seaside Fire Chief announces retirement.
After 26 years of public safety service, the last eight as chief of the Seaside Fire Department, Jerry Wombacher plans to hang up his hard hat Dec. 26. "Chief Wombacher has guided the Seaside Fire ...
Obama Thanks You
Seaside's Martin Park volunteers receive Presidential award.
President Obama has his hands full with the war in Afghanistan, a Nobel Peace Prize and the climate talks in Copenhagen, but still he took the time to recognize the volunteers cleaning up Seaside's parks. ...
Public Citizen
Ongoing “FOOD FOR FINES” | MONTEREY PENINSULA – Until Dec. 31, the Monterey and Pacific Grove public libraries are accepting donations of non-perishable food as an alternative to payment of overdue book fines. Monterey Library, ...
Avatar
Biological Diplomacy: In 'Avatar', director James Cameron takes you on a mindblowing trip through outer, and inner, space.
If there’s one thing science fiction fans might agree on, it’s that we long for another world. That’s what James Cameron has given us in Avatar: a gift to anyone who takes science fiction seriously. ...
Squid Fry for Dec 17, 2009
Squid Fry for Dec 17, 2009
Grinch Alert… Although Squid’s favorite publication detailed the espresso highs and financial hangover lows of Morgan Christopher and the Ol’ Factory Café (“No Ordinary Joe,” Nov. 12-18), Squid still runs into friends befuddled by the ...
Third Time's a Charm For Farm Aid
Stimulus package boosts Salinas Valley’s Clinica de Salud.
Stimulus bucks have come in big for Salinas Valley’s Clinica de Salud this year. The Obama administration recently awarded the health clinic $2.3 million to build a new King City center, the group’s third American ...
Art Listing for Dec 17, 2009
Art Listing for Dec 17, 2009
HAPPENING THIS WEEK Alternative Café Euterpe: Drawing on seven artists’ wildly diverse journeys through popular culture, Euterpe celebrates the colorful, nostalgic and radical art inspired by Rock and Roll icons like Neil Young, Steppenwolf, and ...
Towards a Greener Marina
New venture capital plan aims to grow clean tech jobs.
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Rock Clapper wants to turn green cards into green jobs in Marina. Clapper is applying to make the city a hub for a foreign national investment fund that could grow to ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Dec 17, 2009
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: I’m an Asian female, and for some time now I’ve been fascinated by the Mexican culture. I find Mexican males to be very attractive. Their food, language and music are just amazing! How ...
A Cottage fit for a lyricist
P.G. searches for a poet-in-residence to make the city a literary landmark.
father sits at the kitchen table smiling mother and child are mixing up batter father feels a poem coming on. Thus Robert Lewis, former Pacific Grove Cultural Arts Commissioner, envisions a family enjoying the newly ...
The tangled legacy of the psychedelic movement.
Drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll – it seemed like such a good idea at the time, at least to some of us. But like most slogans (with the possible exception of giving peace a ...
The Restaurant at Ventana
After a disastrous fire, the re-minted Restaurant at Ventana only amplifies its flavor.
The restaurant at Ventana Inn, Cielo, was destined to perish. After triumphing over the Basin Complex Fire, Cielo reopened for just one week when a kitchen fire destroyed the 34-year-old interior. It took a year ...
Abel’s Ready
State politicians aren’t sure about Maldonado’s chances for lieutenant governor.
If the governor has his way, State Sen. Abel Maldonado, who represents coastal Monterey County, will be in the lieutenant governor’s chair in February, leaving Democrats and Republicans to engage in a rare battle for ...
Season’s Psychos
A trio of rowdy bands from across the country rile up Giovane’s.
Longtime promoter Meana Sanchez-Verducci is hoping to serve Monterey County a new platter of music – seasoned with punk, rockabilly, psychobilly and surfabilly. Tonight’s “Rock N Roll X-mas Show” at Giovane’s – featuring La Plebe ...
Letters to the Editor for Dec 17, 2009
SAVE THE HORSES We have a magnificent window of opportunity to save our noble friend, the horse, from slaughter in the U.S. Senate. The Equine Cruelty Prevention Act would prevent horses from being slaughtered in ...
Dance Czars
Two dazzling Russian immigrants lift Monterey Peninsula Dance.
The thing they loved most was no longer fun. “Sometimes you dance five, six hours a day to train yourself,” professional dancer Olga Agafonova says. “And then for a competition, eight to nine hours every ...
The Messenger
Dead on Arrival: 'The Messenger'' examines the ordeals of an Army casualty notification unit.
Like Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which focused on a bomb disposal unit, The Messenger looks at another highly specialized type of soldier working for the American military during the Iraq War. Rather than being ...
Holiday Seasoning
Festive treats fit to eat - from fresh crab to a new farmers market.
Bowls of cioppino bristling with crab legs, mussels, clams, scallops and squid. Plates of expert crab enchiladas too tasty to make it around the table. Heavenly halibut fried ever-so-lightly. Steaming blackened scallops surrendering tenderly to ...
The “Bo-Tax” factor in health care reform puts a new wrinkle on an old problem.
During the Senate’s debates over who should bear the cost of the nearly $900 billion health care bill, there emerged a surprising suggestion: plastic surgery patients. A proposed tax, dubbed the “Bo-Tax” after the wrinkle-reducing ...
Coastal Commission sinks Sand City “ecoresort” proposal – again.
Bright green designs didn’t impress the California Coastal Commission, which has once again denied a coastal development permit for Monterey Bay Shores, a proposed 341-unit hotel/condominium and conference center on the Sand City shoreline. At ...
In the Red
Red Dot Gallery fills empty space in City Center, Sand City-Seaside art scene.
Seasiders knew it as “that little old building next to the car wash.” But this year the Seaside-Sand City Chamber of Commerce building, sandwiched between the self-serve car wash and Jose’s Fine Mexican Food at ...
<b>What’s the best drug out there? </b>
Asked on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey.
Follow-up: What celebrity would you want to get stoned with? NANCY YORK | Shop Manager | Pacific Grove A: A good book. I like murder mysteries because they’re challenging, they keep you reading till the ...
News That Remains News
The Buzz
POLITICAL CHAIRS…Sen. Jeff Denham announced Dec. 11 he’s withdrawing from the lieutenant governor race and running for the state Assembly 25th District seat. Denham, who is termed out in his 12th District Senate seat, switched ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): I don’t understand why the astronomers responsible for naming new-found objects are so devoid of flair. Here’s a prime example: They found a blazar, or blazing quasi-stellar object, in a faraway ...
Carmel Choices
Former EPA official Jason Burnett throws hat in the ring for City Council run.
Carmel Valley native Jason Burnett, the 33-year-old grandson of Hewlettt Packard founder David Packard, has tested the political waters in Carmel-by-the-Sea. He’s pounded the pavement, sipped coffee with locals, and even engaged a pollster friend ...
Southern Comfort
South Carolina native and San Francisco up-and-comer Elliot Randall visits Monterey.
Americana singer-songwriter Elliot Randall says the vibe of his music stems from a single childhood memory: sitting on a wall in the backyard of his grandparents’ Charleston, South Carolina home, watching the Ashley River go ...
COS in Copenhagen
Oceans Day educates in midst of discouraging climate talks.
On Monday, Dec. 14--Oceans Day in Copenhagen--scientists with the Center for Ocean Solutions and Stanford University kept up their effort to educate policy-makers and the public about the impacts of climate change on the sea. ...
New theatre program announced for East Salinas
Hartnell College’s The Western Stage and the Alisal Center for the Fine Arts are joining forces to bring a theatre arts program to East Salinas, the college announced today. "Supported by a lead grant from ...
Burning Man blazes on Monterey beach.
Burning Man's annual Monterey beach burn spun out Del Monte Beach Saturday, Dec. 5. Zee Labega, video producer for the annual Thriller Dance in Salinas, posted the mini-doc on YouTube: Watch Video
ABA Basketball
California Sea Kings play their first home game of the season.
It was a rainy Sunday evening in Salinas, but inside Hartnell College's gym, semi-pro basketball heated up the floor. The California Sea Kings, a team in the American Basketball Association (A.B.A.), played their first home ...
Organizers of the Blue Ocean Film Festival decide to locate future events in Monterey Bay.
After debuting this past June in Savannah, Ga., the organizers of the Blue Ocean Film Festival had been deliberating over which city—Savannah or Monterey—to locate the future home of the sprawling festival of films and ...
Denham announces bid for Assembly, drops out of lieutenant governor race
Sen. Jeff Denham announced today that he is withdrawing from the lieutenant governor race and running for the state Assembly 25th District seat. "Over the course of the last few days I've had countless discussions ...
Stanford scientist sounds off on climate skeptics.
In a dispatch from Copenhagen, Stanford scientist Dr. Stephen Schneider argues for immediate action on climate change. In turn sarcastic and urgent, he slams the foot-dragging advocated by climate skeptics. As posted on the Center ...
