UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASES… Monterey County shed 4,000 jobs between September and October, bringing county unemployment up to 7.1 percent, according to labor figures released Nov. 21 by the state Economic Development Department. Nearly all the job losses come from the seasonal farm industry. While the county’s unemployment rate is a percentage point lower than statewide, the local jobless rate is higher than the country and nearly two percentage points up from the year-ago estimate of 5.3 percent. Unemployment rates were highest in the small, unincorporated towns of Chualar and San Ardo, which had 18.6 percent and 15.8 percent unemployment, respectively. Salinas’ unemployment grew to 10. 2 percent. The highest unemployment among Peninsula cities was Marina with a 4.2 percent jobless rate. [ZS]

SANCTUARY GROWS… The 5,322-square-mile Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is set to expand by 775 square miles, a hefty chunk of ocean that includes the biologically rich Davidson Seamount. The addition is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s revised management plan for the sanctuary, which the agency released along with plans for the adjacent Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones sanctuaries Nov. 20. New regulations prohibit harmful discharges, expand white shark protections, restrict activities that damage the sea floor and tighten the guard against invasive species, while leaving four areas open to motorized watercraft, including wintertime tow-in surfing at the famous Mavericks surf spot near Half Moon Bay. But local surfers are bummed that Ghost Tree, the famous Pebble Beach tow-in spot, did not get the same exemption. Details are available at http://sanctuaries.niaa.gov/jointplan. [ka]

POLL IT TOGETHER… Only two Marina voters received an erroneous notice to vote at a Salinas church on Nov. 4, says Linda Tulett, Monterey County’s elections chief. Tulett says the incorrect mailer stemmed from a printing error by a former elections staffer. “Everyone else got the right card except for those two people,” Tulett says. “They both showed up at the correct polling location.” Last week we reported that the Elections Office was investigating the scope of the error after poll observers discovered that Marina voters had received a notice that said their polling place had changed to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Salinas. [ZS]