Nature Or Nurture
Citizen campaign to label GMO foods puts industry on defense, decades after historic local battle.
Jurassic Tomato? (from the archives circa 09/02/1993) Gene-splicing yields brave new foods--and lots of new questions for the FDA. Peggy Lemaux wants the public to know she’s not being bought off. “I am free to ...
Uncut and Pasted
How conventional plant breeders in Salinas get the traits they want.
Tall spindly lettuce plants in a Salinas greenhouse don’t look remotely appetizing – but they might be the future of salad. Research Horticulturist Jim McCreight coordinates melon and lettuce breeding at the U.S. Department of ...
Issues / 2012 / Nov 01
Danglers in the Dark
Pinnacles National Monument has a Day of the Dead message: Don’t spook the bats.
I’ve mostly known Pinnacles National Monument in the dry-sauna daylight of spring, with the sun glowing fuchsia and tangerine on the spires while I sweat up the High Peaks Trail. I once saw a condor ...
Close Encounter
Unparalleled massive portrait artist Chuck Close sprawls across MMA La Mirada.
Monterey Museum of Art’s La Mirada exhibition of world-famous portrait artist Chuck Close emerged from an exhibit that opened there almost exactly one year ago. That show – prints and lithographs by pop art stars ...
Brezsny's Astrology November 1-7, 2012
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Big opportunities are coming up for you. Even if you cash in on them, though, they aren’t likely to make an immediate practical impact. They are subtle and deep, these prospects. ...
By The Numbers 11.01.12
Real Estate
$795,000 Recent Sale 355 San Benancio Road, Salinas Built: 1980 Size: 3,511 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2-car garage, 3.7 acres Amenities: 2 wood-burning fireplaces, alarm system, washer/dryer, stainless steel appliances, vaulted ceilings ...
Flight
Up in the Air: Denzel Washington gives the finest performance of his career as an addict turned reluctant hero in Flight.
In Flight, a pilot rescues 96 people from certain death as he guides an airborne plane to the ground after it malfunctions. He’s a hero, right? What if he was drunk, had smoked marijuana and ...
Chicken Scrap
Testing out six dozen-plus fried chicken flavors at Restaurant 1833.
When you eat 75 different types of fried chicken in one sitting, there are things that you expect to encounter, like buttermilk baths, cornflake crusts, fried-food fatigue and First-World guilt. Then there are the things ...
Forge in the Forest
Melting Point: Forge in the Forest’s old-school vibe rocks, new menu fails to impress.
The Forge in the Forest’s hand-carved mahogany bar serves up the Sunday usuals: Bloody Marys, mimosas, bellinis and the occasional beer. There’s even an old guy in a Grateful Dead T-shirt who looks like he’s ...
Letters To The Editor 11.01.12
Cheers to Osio The Osio is as much a part of Monterey as the wharf or Cannery Row – it’s an institution (“Local Spin,” Oct. 25-31). I have never been there that the staff hasn’t ...
Wreck-It Ralph
Gaming for Glory: No need for Mr. Fix-It – this animated film fuses gamer cool with kid-friendly story.
That beautiful Toy Story premise of what your favorite toys do when you’re not watching has been recoded for the arcade. In Wreck-It Ralph, we see behind the screen after the gamers go home. It’s ...
Word and Bonds
Hip-hop artist/poet F. Stokes brings constructive messages to CSUMB’s Black Box Cabaret.
When F. Stokes writes music, he shoots for something more than providing fresh songs good to groove to: “Most of my music has a thread of optimism to it,” he says, “and I always hope ...
Outsider Art
Prolific and quirky multi-talent Jeffrey Lewis is always creating.
Jeffrey Lewis has always felt a little disconnected. “I feel like everybody’s experiencing life and I’m perpetually on the outside,” he says. But he’s not complaining. Life on the outside has equipped Lewis with a ...
Liquid Borders
Lawyers tussle over the role of the Peninsula mayors’ authority in the desal mess.
The fledgling Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority further crowded the alphabet soup of water agencies in Monterey County when it signed a joint powers agreement in February. Now, one lawyer is suggesting there are too ...
Occupy Pacific St.
Alan Haffa’s run for Monterey City Council wins broad support, divides occupiers.
The one-year anniversary of Occupy Monterey came and went last week without much fanfare. A group of participants still gather for weekly General Assembly meetings, where they agreed last Saturday not to endorse any candidates ...
As Steve Collins’ criminal case develops, judge raises concerns about who knew what when.
It’s not helping former Monterey County Water Resources Agency director Steve Collins’ case that most witnesses have different recollections of what happened in his $160,000 consulting deal with the project manager of the Regional Water ...
Planting Community
An East Salinas businessman brings a patch of concrete to life with an eye toward building a neighborhood.
In the scrubby backyard of an East Salinas 99-cent store, a movement has taken root. Leafy sprouts of tomato, broccoli and cilantro are starting to peek out from the wooden plant beds built on an ...
Pocket Politics
As election nears, critics of biggest local campaign donor file IRS, FPPC complaints.
In the post-Citizens United era, SuperPACs have been cast as the demons of corrupt national politics. But they’re not to be outdone by 501(c)(4)s. That’s IRS-speak for social welfare organizations, tax-exempt “civic leagues or organizations” ...
Obama ad insults young women voters with creepy, big government paternalism.
Amidst this presidential campaign’s bickering about which candidate is women’s friend or foe, the Obama camp targets young women in an eye-catching web ad intended as feminist. In fact, its main effect is to show ...
Six days left in the longest and craziest election season ever.
I started writing this column at 3pm on Tuesday as the Weekly is in full production mode, with the end goal of getting the paper to the printer by 10:30am Wednesday. And as I started ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen 11.01.12
ONGOING JOBS FOR YOUTH | SALINAS – As they prepare to enter the job market, high school juniors practice interview skills. Workshops run Nov. 27 through Dec. 6. To participate as a mock interviewer, call ...
Street Talk 10.25.12 (asked @ CSUMB World Theater.)
Q: How would you genetically modify yourself?
Follow-up: What would name – and say to – your clone? MELISA ROMERO | Student | Marina A: I’d modify my nose because I think my nose is too big and awkward. New Beginnings: I ...
Squid Fry 11.01.12
168: appx. number of communities in CA that rely on contaminated groundwater. Source: State Water Resources Control Board, Oct. 16 press release
INSTANT GRATIFICATION… A month into Squid’s low-carb diet, Squid is slowly cultivating a thing called patience. It means, for example, passing up Halloween candy to make a Niçoise salad. Squid thinks Seaside Mayor Felix Bachofner ...
Miller Time
The Glenn Miller Orchestra celebrates one of the most renowned big band orchestra leaders of the 1940s.
When Nick Hilscher was 11, he saw The Glenn Miller Story starring Jimmy Stewart and his path in life changed forever. “I just fell in love with that style and period of music,” he says. ...
