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Fishy Finances
Local salmon fishermen report record prices, disappointing harvest in the early season.
Boots planted on the floor of his boat in Monterey Harbor, Bryan Lucas hoists his only catch of the day: a sparkling 17-pound Chinook salmon caught May 17 off Pebble Beach. “The fish have been ...
A Plant of its Own
Santa Cruz moves forward with desal, eliminating Moss Landing options.
Santa Cruz is facing many of the same water problems as the Monterey Peninsula: seawater intrusion, the need for a drought-proof water supply and state-mandated cutbacks on river pumping. Officials from both regions say desalination ...
Forward March
After losing on Prop. 37 and a major patent battle in court, anti-GMO activists regroup.
By the time this paper comes out, there will likely be a giant message to passersby written on the Highway 1-facing dune in Seaside known as Scribble Hill: March Against Monsanto. The concern protesters were ...
Hate the Koch Brothers or Monsanto? There’s an app for that.
Proposition 37, a failed 2012 ballot measure, would’ve required labeling of packaged food products containing genetically modified ingredients. As Prop. 37 supporters work on a revised ballot measure for 2014, there’s a new tool for ...
Booze Control
Salinas considers lifting liquor-license cap; prevention and recovery groups protest.
Booze is a social stimulant – could it be an economic one as well? It’s a debate that’s poised to hit the Salinas City Council soon. But while some Salinas policymakers think making alcohol regulations ...
Hard Labor
Hartnell College sides with unions, could face fight in construction negotiations.
“Which side are you on?” the old labor song asks. It was a choice Hartnell College trustees had to make in early May, when the board decided to require a project labor agreement, or PLA, ...
Fish Out of Water
Cal Am admits it’ll miss the state’s deadline on Carmel River cutbacks.
We’re not gonna make it. That’s the message of a January letter from the president of California American Water Co. to the chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. Even in the rosiest of ...
Oldest Profession
Authorities say a lack of resources allows prostitution to flourish in Salinas.
Outside one Oldtown Salinas boutique, it isn’t uncommon to hear screams: “You need to pay me! You need to pay me!” Prostitutes in the city – even within the relatively well-populated bounds of the business ...
All Fizzed Up
Bill Monning breathes new life into soda tax effort; industry fights back.
The debate over taxing sugar-added beverages is even more divisive than the age-old Coke-versus-Pepsi question. Some studies demonize soda for the rise in obesity; others defend it, blaming snack food and other treats. State Sen. ...
Language Arts
DLI Foundation launches plan to foster multi-lingual learning, keeping DLI at arm’s length.
In 1995, California Gov. Pete Wilson made Monterey Bay’s claim as the “language capital of the world” official. Monterey Language Capital Advocates, a coalition of organizations, was formed in the early 1990s to support Monterey ...
Hot Spot
Sex offenders cluster at Salinas motel; Supreme Court considers housing restrictions.
A concentration of sex offenders in an East Salinas motel has raised some eyebrows, and plays into a statewide debate about whether it’s constitutional to restrict where some sex offenders live. Seventeen registered sex offender ...
Real Property
Salinas plans to buy tax-burdened Chinatown building for homeless services.
During a 2008 property auction, Monterey County offered a dirt-cheap price for a Salinas building. But there were no takers. A property in Chinatown, a haven for the homeless and drug dealers, can be a ...
Study of P.G.’s CalPERS initiative returns to the council this week.
Pacific Grove officials are hoping for a legal escape hatch from a citizens’ ballot initiative they fear could cost the city millions. The initiative seeks to void a 2002 City Council decision approving “3-percent-at-50” pension ...
Huffing and Puffing
Steam injection oil wells raise enviro eyebrows; group appeals project near Pinnacles.
Forget about fracking for a minute. That’s the controversial practice oil and gas operators use to create small fissures in rock formations, freeing up the reserves they contain and, for some, introducing legitimate concerns about ...
House Republicans plan to whittle away at food-assistance programs to the poor.
Lost in the shuffle of last year’s big fiscal cliff deal was the deal that didn’t happen on a new farm bill. One of the major points of contention was funding for food stamps through ...
Roundabout Revolution
Monterey County, Marina look to traffic-calming devices to tame wild intersections
It’s something of an American pastime to distrust European traditions. We look skeptically upon Old-World contrivances like the metric system and bidets; for most hearty Americans, inches and toilet paper will suffice. But least one ...
Charged Up
Local jurisdictions take steps in forming new authority to buy and sell green power.
Patrick Mathews, general manager of Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, envisions landfills going the way of soda cans. What was once treated as a useless trash heap could be a resource. SVSWA partnered with Mass.-based ...
Boiling Point
With homelessness in Monterey at an all-time high, businesses ask the city for action.
JC Romero never stays in a place for more than two or three days. The 38-year-old started traveling (his word of choice to describe his voluntary homelessness) 25 years ago in Detroit. He made a ...
Tunnel Vision
Proposed pipeline between two South County reservoirs could supply the Peninsula.
Lake Nacimiento, nicknamed “the dragon” because of its shape, isn’t deep enough to hold all the water that flows into it. Water officials are now beginning to see that as an opportunity. Nacimiento fills up ...
Stormwater Blues
Marina officials seek new stormwater program under threat of rising costs.
The city of Marina is hoping to break away from the region’s stormwater program as regulations tighten and costs rise. All cities in Monterey County are part of the Monterey Regional Stormwater Management Program, which ...
San Clemente Dam removal keeps to schedule, despite route change.
Construction traffic for the San Clemente Dam removal is now re-routed to completely avoid Cachagua roads. Despite earlier concerns that the change would delay the long-planned project, officials say it’s still on schedule to begin ...
Bluntly Forceful
Natividad, Memorial hospitals invest big in competition for trauma center designation.
For a time last year, Natividad Medical Center was courting Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System with a proposal to merge. Now the two hospitals are locked in a multimillion-dollar battle, each seeking the county’s blessing ...
Make It Rain
Water district offers DeepWater Desal $1 million to move forward.
Public gifts to private seawater desalination proposals seem to be a spring trend. Even as it backs the Peninsula mayors’ proposal to give $100 million to California American Water’s desal proposal, the Monterey Peninsula Water ...
Off Season
Before Congress votes on immigration, labor groups prep ag workers for pending reforms.
Two weeks before Gonzalo Picazo went back to work on April 22 when the rapini harvesting season started, the 73-year-old took his first trip to Washington, D.C. Picazo, who’s been harvesting vegetables for D’Arrigo Brothers ...
Starting Gun
Enviro petition challenges Fort Ord’s biggest proposed development
Carlos Ramos kicked off public comment at the Aug. 4 Seaside City Council meeting with a jolt. “I have in my hands a declaration of war,” he said. “And it’s entitled, ‘Petition to Protect Fort ...
Former employee sues ag-supply company, alleges helicopter doused him with pesticides.
One April morning in 2011, Jesus Aguirre was driving to a job in Soledad. He pulled off Highway 101 along a lettuce field when he smelled and tasted chemicals; he put his windshield wipers on ...
Problem Child
Parent-training program aimed at helping ‘worst of the worst’ launches in Salinas.
Salinas Police Officer Richard Lopez deals with a lot of troubled teens: runaways, truants, gang members. He sees a common thread: “There’s something lacking in the household.” But a program for parents whose children are ...
Price of Justice
Elderly woman’s petty theft trial racks up enormous court fees.
The two-day trial of an elderly woman convicted of stealing $68 worth of jewelry cost the Monterey County Superior Courts more than $2,000 – just to pay for a translator. Lilia Estoesta, 75, was found ...
Under Pressure
Regulators propose fracking rules that lawmakers, critics say aren’t tough enough.
The ancient layers of rock below Central and Southern California that might contain up to 15 billion barrels of oil have little resemblance to the Monterey Bay coastline, with its barking sea lions and somersaulting ...
Barn Raising
The NPS Foundation also took some heat from the federal investigation; what’s next?
Retired Adm. Hank Mauz managed the Naval Postgraduate Foundation through significant growth years from 1997-2006, but it still hasn’t amounted to all that much. The foundation has just $4.4 million in assets, according to IRS ...
Unpaving Paradise
Monterey traffic plan would end one-ways, transform Custom House Plaza, relocate MST hub.
One recent weekday morning in Monterey, Custom House Plaza is empty, save for a dog walker with two golden retrievers and a woman pushing a stroller through the brick-paved hub of Monterey State Historic Park. ...
Reef Madness
Elkhorn Slough researchers experiment with oyster condos to restore native species.
The gaper and butter clam shells discarded by feasting sea otters could be considered raw material for boho jewelry. But the clam-shell necklaces strung up around the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve aren’t for ...
Restoring Glory
Chinatown proposal could enliven blighted area, provide shelter and services.
Wellington Lee remembers when Chinatown was the place to be. In those days, soldiers sauntered along Salinas’ Soledad Street listening to Elvis and Fats Domino blaring from the jukeboxes of popular bars. The pool hall ...
Free Drinks
Peninsula mayors offer $100 million toward desal project; Cal Am resists.
Before posting videos of his toddler son, Sebastian, at the Giants game, Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett tweeted about the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) hearing in San Francisco last week. “CalAm tying itself in knots ...
Big House Quota
Report smacks Monterey County for sending more than its share of felons to prison.
By sending more non-violent felons to prison than the state average, Monterey County isn’t doing as much as it could to help efforts for prison realignment, according to a new report. In 2012, Monterey County ...
Supply and Demand
Low real-estate inventory, booming demand push Monterey County home prices up.
Meghan Springer put her Seaside home on the market just to see what it would fetch. She and her husband had owned the Vallejo Street house for only two years, and in that time they’d ...
Putting Marine Debris on the Map
Citizen scientists tap GIS technology for cleaner oceans.
Drew Stephens first saw the Derek M. Baylis eight years ago, at a sailboat show in San Francisco. The sleek research vessel caught his eye, but so did the map displayed aboard. Stephens, then-president of ...
Pharm Runoff
Carmel River Watershed Conservancy revives drug take-back program.
Michael Waxer was literally left holding the bag: dozens of pharmaceuticals left behind after his mother passed away last year. “The amount of medications a person is on – it was just a realization,” he ...
Understaffed Salinas Fire Department could take another hit via expiring grant.
Salinas could cut 12 firefighters this year, a significant loss for an already understaffed fire department. A two-year federal grant that secured those dozen firefighters is set to expire in October, and competition to renew ...
Degrees Better
Proposed state budget could boost CSUMB graduation and enrollment rates.
A plumper California State University budget could help CSU Monterey Bay graduate more students and expand enrollment. Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget would give the university system $125 million extra to work with, offering a ...
Judgment Day
After sex-abuse settlement, priest to leave ministry with payout from diocese.
A Catholic priest removed from leading the Old Mission San Juan following allegations of sexual abuse is preparing to leave the priesthood for good. But he may walk away with enough money to live on ...
Tough Crowd
Pacific Grove leaders face crotchety reception to public-safety reform.
It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t when it comes to the city of Pacific Grove’s efforts at pension reform. In the latest chapter, officials are looking to outsource police services while brokering ...
Big Sur nonprofit looks to cut big chunks of change from fallen redwood.
Mike Scutari was making breakfast on Dec. 2 when he heard a loud crack. He discovered the old leaning redwood tree on Henry Miller Memorial Library’s front lawn – the one they call “Henry’s Erection” ...
More Than Hot Air
After Plasco leaves Gonzales, another gasification startup eyes Fort Hunter Liggett for pilot project.
The Humvees at Fort Hunter Liggett are just a few cogs in the U.S. Department of Defense’s massive network of power hogs, making the DOD the country’s single largest energy consumer – to the tune ...
Lasting Damages
Teen at the center of Salinas High sex abuse case prepares to sue district, ex-counselor.
A 15-year-old alleged victim in a sex-abuse case involving a former Salinas High School counselor has started the process to sue the school district, the counselor and the organization that placed the counselor at the ...
Roller Patrol
National Park Service scrutinizes Marina properties, including popular roller rink.
Marina’s failure to meet requirements set by the National Park Service has brought federal scrutiny to some of the city’s properties. The city’s contract with Water City Roller Hockey, a skating rink on the former ...
Monterey Hotel Tensions Mount
City works out financing for conference center remodel; small hotels push back.
As General Manager Bob Cowdrey enumerates the flaws of the Monterey Conference Center, a startling rumble interrupts his talk. “That’s a cart going across the third floor,” he tells a group from the Old Monterey ...
Running on Faith
Immigration activists seek support of religious groups with mixed results.
Monterey County activists are tapping local religious institutions to back immigration reform, aligning with recent efforts by President Barack Obama to win the support of faith leaders. Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA), ...
Natividad sues former pharmacy manager over failure to comply with federal rules.
When Natividad Medical Center decided in 2002 to outsource its pharmacy management to a $120 billion company, hospital officials expected to gain leading industry expertise. But according a lawsuit filed March 1 in Monterey County ...
Taking the Fort
A decade after local military housing went private, contractor alleges fraud scheme.
The crumbling barracks on Fort Ord offer a haunting window into the deterioration of once-proud military bases. In 1996, the U.S. Army faced an estimated $7 billion in major renovations or replacements on nearly two-thirds ...
Out of Line
Supreme Court may overturn Voting Rights Act, meaning changes for Monterey County.
Simon Salinas became the city of Salinas’ first Latino councilmember in 1989, the city’s first year electing representatives in geographic districts rather than at-large. Salinas, now a county supervisor, says he won thanks in part ...
Nuclear Tuna
Traces of Fukushima radiation help scientists track Pacific bluefin migration.
Pacific bluefin tuna that swam off the Japanese coast after the 2011 nuclear meltdown carry radioactive memorabilia of the Fukushima disaster. That’s the splashy news out of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. ...
Sun Harvest
Major solar farm proposed for southeast county ag land.
The eastern rim of the Chalome Valley may be more familiar to cattle than to humans. The flat expanse of dry grassland – right at the desolate nexus of Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Kings and ...
Pajaro park funding survives demise of redevelopment, county prepares to break ground.
Before Gov. Jerry Brown set redevelopment agencies in his budget crosshairs, the Monterey County Redevelopment Agency had pledged $1.2 million to an effort to build a 5-acre park in Pajaro. That money survived the state ...
Under Covered
County launches temporary bridge to Obamacare, but covers fewer than hoped.
When Vivienne Moore was passing painful gallstones, doctors at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula advised her to spend the night for observation. But Moore declined because she couldn’t afford an overnight hospital stay. “I ...
Roving Toward the Future
MPC students build robots – and business experience – with new nonprofit.
College students leave school equipped in academia, but in this tough economy, can they prove they’re ready to work? It’s one issue the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center at Monterey Peninsula College wants to ...
Library Lesson
Months after the grand reopening, empty shelves highlight Cesar Chavez library.
The Cesar Chavez Library is packed with resources: laptops, a homework room, even afternoon Zumba classes. But one key element seems to be missing. “The library is new, and you can see we have plenty ...
Rolling On
City of Monterey’s bike/pedestrian plan heads to City Council with fierce support – and opposition.
Nine bike enthusiasts pedaled miles of Monterey’s hilly and flat neighborhoods, and took six long walks around the city over the past year, with particular attention to the areas most pedestrians and cyclists avoid – ...
Reusable Law
Pacific Grove prepares to follow Monterey and Carmel with plastic-bag ban.
The city of Monterey’s plastic-bag ban kicked in last July, and Carmel-by-the-Sea’s followed Feb. 3. Now the city of Pacific Grove is considering a move away from single-use plastic grocery bags, too. An introduction of ...
Going the Distance
Local schools prep for the future with expanded online-degree programs.
It could be a nightmare: showing up to class and discovering you’re wearing nothing but underwear. But these days the situation is more conceivable and less terrifying. With Internet-based learning, the classroom can be the ...
Parking Motion
After eight years in limbo, Palo Corona Regional Park may finally get its parking lot.
Palo Corona Regional Park contains 4,526 of the most scenic public acres in coastal Monterey County. But they’re also among the least visited. A group making the 2.6-mile round trip from Highway 1 to Inspiration ...
The Movement
Monterey County becomes focus for huge effort aimed at immigration reform.
Community organizing is on a roll in Monterey County as advocates harness momentum created by the immigration debate. From the union halls of Salinas to the church halls of Greenfield, volunteers are banding together to ...
Home to Roost
Sand City pigeon poisoning may have had unintended consequences.
Last September, in an industrial corner of Sand City, Seaside resident Rob Perkins went to check on a woodworking shop owned by some friends who were out of town. When he got there, he saw ...
Homeward Bound
Arts Habitat is again derailed in their search for a permanent home.
Nonprofit artist organization Arts Habitat is on the move again, but not in a good way. The 23-year-old organization has been working towards its singular mission – to build a permanent artist community of live/work ...
Dune Buggin’
Developer’s request for no-trespassing signs raises question of public beach access.
Ed Ghandour’s 39-acre, beachfront Sand City property consists mostly of the pitted remnants of an old sand mine. It also includes the dune known to locals as “Scribble Hill” – a de facto billboard facing ...
Plans Derailed
Competition grinds on as Monterey Council wrestles with the future of old train depot.
S ome railroad tracks are still visible along the rec trail in Monterey, but it’s an unassuming stucco building at the base of Wharf II on Del Monte Boulevard that still clearly marks Monterey Railroad ...
Class Differences
Monterey County counts half the migrant students it had a decade ago.
F or nearly as long as she can remember, Abigail Romero had two homes: Salinas and Imperial Valley, in Southern California. She and her two siblings were migrant students, hitting the road twice a year ...
Hartnell looks to dump its electric bill by constructing solar parking canopies.
Hartnell College is going green—and saving some green in return. A plan for solar-covered parking canopies in the school’s Alisal campus is expected to save the school $6 million over 25 years. “The goal is ...
Cinematic Drama
Developers hold Marina projects hostage to obscure Fort Ord fee language.
B reak out the popcorn, but don’t expect Oscar-worthy entertainment. This drama won’t play out at the planned 10-screen movie theater in The Dunes shopping center in Marina, but rather before the Fort Ord Reuse ...
Fly by Night
Hospitality operators threaten suit over failure to enforce short-term rental ban.
Sweeping Carmel Valley views as seen from a palatial six-bedroom perch can be yours for $1,500 a night if you stay at least three nights, according to a listing on the Vacation Rentals By Owner ...
Junk Sale
Debt buyers sue thousands of Monterey County residents over credit-card debt.
Kim McRae doesn’t remember exactly what she bought with a credit card in the early 2000s. It was probably Christmas gifts for her grandchildren, and groceries at Nob Hill and Trader Joe’s, the 78-year-old surmises. ...
Stop and Go
With federal funding in limbo, Monterey-Salinas Transit remaps its route into a bumpy future.
A lit-up arrow directs traffic around a trench in the concrete in front of Turtle Bay Taqueria on Seaside’s Fremont Boulevard. The construction is for Monterey-Salinas Transit’s “Jazz” line to Cannery Row, but it was ...
Completing the Test
Guv’s proposals drive funding shifts for community colleges.
There’s good news and questionable news for community colleges following California Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal last month. First the good news: nearly $200 million in increased funding. But the governor’s proposal also introduces policy ...
Zero Tolerance
Salinas police chief decries the acceptance of gun violence.
A 17-year-old shot and killed in Salinas late last month marked the city’s third gun fatality of 2013. That follows 19 gun murders in 2012 – a spike from 11 the previous year. “Aurora or ...
Less Than $2 a Meal
Report suggests changes to CalFresh allotments are based on geography, other factors
Debbie Rohr worked as a clerk for Monterey County for 25 years before losing her job to budget cuts. Since 2005 she hasn’t been able to find regular work, so she keeps her family afloat ...
Otter Project lawsuit against state regulators takes question of ag pollution to the courts.
The years-long controversy over how to regulate agricultural runoff on the Central Coast has taken more twists and turns than the Salinas River. Next month, the courts will begin deciding which elements of the rules, ...
Labor Picking
Ag tries to secure seasonal workers as Obama makes immigration reform priority.
When a bipartisan team of U.S. senators published their proposed framework for comprehensive immigration reform on Monday, there was a loud chorus of voices weighing in optimistically – agriculture industry reps and immigrants’ rights advocates ...
Law-Enforcement Boundaries Blur
Seaside, Pacific Grove consider more shared police services.
They’ve got to hop across Monterey to reach one another, but the cities of Pacific Grove and Seaside are looking to further merge their public safety departments. The cities already share a police chief, and ...
Hole in the Bucket
Cal Am doesn’t squeeze all it could out of aquifer storage and recovery.
De-salting seawater is one of the most expensive ways to supply the Monterey Peninsula. According to California American Water estimates, its proposed regional desal plant would produce water at more than $5,000 per acre-foot. The ...
Monterey County tallies homeless numbers as economy rebounds.
Scores of volunteers were set to hit the streets to count the county’s homeless population, a number that’s been on the rise. From 2007 to 2011, the number of Monterey County’s homeless grew from about ...
Winning Wager
Monterey Downs developer had a hand in approving new Salinas off-track betting bar.
Horse gamblers may soon have a new hang in Salinas. The Triple Crown OTB & Sports Bar – short for off-track betting – is poised to open in a former card room at the Bankers ...
GMO 2.0
Failed campaign to label GMOs regroups with EcoFarm Conference springboard.
On Election Day, Californians rejected a rule that would’ve required labeling genetically modified food. Now pro-labeling activists are at work on plan B. Locally, that likely means an effort to get a county resolution supporting ...
Funding Fiasco
Failure to pass Violence Against Women Act could slam a key D.A. unit.
Congress’ inaction on a women’s protection law could result in less services for local victims of rape and domestic violence, advocates say. The Violence Against Women Act expired in late 2011, and a divided U.S. ...
Fair Pay
Cities ask Monterey County for $2 million in overcharged property tax fees.
The accounting tricks used to calculate how property taxes are divvied up between state and local governments sound more like gymnastics moves, with the Triple Flip and the VLF Swap. After the California Supreme Court ...
Off Track
Salinas-to-San-Jose rail project gets stuck in red tape, pisses off property owners.
AMonterey County rail service could mean speedy transit for long-distance commuters, but the process to get the project rolling has been anything but quick. There’s been talk for more than a decade of creating a ...
California Dreamin’
Undocumented students band together to share information at CSUMB.
Like to party? Join a frat. Policy wonk? Check out a political organization. Undocumented student? Now, at CSU Monterey Bay, there’s a campus club for that, too. The Otter DREAM Association—TODA for short (toda means ...
Field to Teeth
Scientists find a new way to trace manganese contamination in Salinas Valley.
Public health researchers are looking in a surprising place for traces of banned fungicides: the baby teeth of farmworkers’ children. In July 2011, environmental toxicologist Don Smith of UC Santa Cruz stepped into a lettuce ...
As county braces for thousands of soon-to-be insured, illegal immigrants remain uncovered.
With about 55,000 low-to-moderate income Monterey County residents expected to qualify for expanded insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the safety net is stretching thin. If all of those who become eligible for coverage ...
Busting Out
Anticipating inmate surge, county considers regional approach to housing them.
When Sheriff Scott Miller went on a field trip in December to tour a shuttered juvenile correctional facility near Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County, he was mostly struck by how big the place ...
Monumental Asset
Activists push Seaside to start marketing Fort Ord National Monument to tourists.
The most likely access point from the city of Seaside to the newly minted Fort Ord National Monument is a dead-end road. There’s no visitor center, no parking, no bathrooms – not even any signs, ...
Monterey County Gives! raises more than $750,000 for local nonprofits.
Ninety-six local nonprofits planted the seeds of their charitable projects, and Monterey County residents dug deep to help them grow. The 2012 Monterey County Gives! campaign raised $750,669, according to the latest available count. (More ...
Potty Break
Chinatown seeks to clean up its act with one new program, another in the works.
Plans to bring a portable toilet to Salinas’ Chinatown could be a major relief, in more ways than one. For the homeless living on Soledad Street, finding a bathroom is a challenge. When nearby service ...
The Culture Cure
Nonprofit 2nd Chance takes aim at getting kids to talk about, reshape self-image.
Hard work, respect, honesty: values some community members say are rooted in Latino culture, but discarded by some of today’s youth. A Salinas nonprofit is trying to re-instill those values through a program called La ...
Land Locked
Yacht Club, Sapporo tussle with Monterey over leases; planning commish cries foul.
It’s easy to pass the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club on Wharf 2 without noticing the boxy structure, which looks more fitting for a utility building than a private club. But it’s rustic and cozy inside, ...
Plastic Loopholes
Even after citywide ban, plastic bags are trashed at the Monterey mall.
At the Del Monte Center mall in Monterey, reusable bags seem to be the latest fashion trend. A look around during the height of holiday season reveals more cloth and woven totes, and far fewer ...
Stable Shelter
Salinas homeless build a rules-driven tent community on Soledad Street.
It’s Christmas on Soledad Street. “Festive” isn’t a word normally associated with this part of Salinas, where crates and tarps substitute for homes, and worn buildings hover stonily over drug deals and fights. And yet, ...
Water Wars
State poised to revoke Salinas River water rights; county preps for fight.
There’s something quaint about the typewritten 1949 water rights application the Monterey County Water Resources Agency’s predecessor agency made to the State Water Resources Control board, requesting rights to almost 169,000 acre-feet of water per ...
Off the Clock
Dole workers file class-action suit, alleging wage violations.
The simplicity of opening a pre-washed, bagged salad in your kitchen belies complex systems of conveyors, belts and tumblers that make up vegetable processing plants. The Willy Wonka-style rooms are usually chilly caverns with damp ...
Cannery Row Repeat?
Regulators consider forage-fish catch limits; enviros warn of sardine collapse.
Kathy Fosmark isn’t old enough to remember the collapse of Cannery Row in the 1940s. But after more than 25 years in the fishing industry, she’s sure there are plenty of fish in the sea. ...
Nader Nah-gua
P.G. developer nails eight-figure payout for stake in desal proposal, commercial park.
At the Dec. 19 P.G. City Council meeting, Don Lew announced his private-equity investment firm, Concord-based JDL Development, is taking immediate control of Agha’s desalination plant proposal and other assets at Agha’s Moss Landing Commercial ...
Congressman Sam Farr's Photos From the 2013 Presidential Inauguration
A look at the inauguration of President Barack Obama through the lens of Congressman Sam ...
