The Buzz

200: The number of toys the Salinas Police and Firefighters Association donated to Dorothy’s Place Hospitality Center Family Holiday Party. (St. Joseph’s Church also came up big.) Some 300 more toys are needed. Collection bins are in place at Salinas City Hall and Pacific Valley Bank in Monterey and Salinas. Source - Franciscan Workers, Jill Allen, Dorothy’s Place.

The Buzz

Staff

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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 his candidacy after Gov. Schwarzenegger named Sen. Abel Maldonado as his choice for LG. [ZS]

MURDER CAPITAL…Salinas’ body count has grown to 28 this year. On Friday, Dec. 11 Santiago Cardenas Amezcua, 31, was shot and killed on the 1200 block of Rider Avenue. Two days earlier, 26-year-old Jesus DeHaro Gutierrez died from one gunshot to the torso in the area of Sutter Street and Trinity Way. [ZS]

MBAY GETS BLUER…Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit organizers have announced that the annual five-day ocean festival, which draws thousands of attendees and screens more than 50 films, is coming to Monterey Bay next year—edging out last year’s venue, Savannah, Ga. [WR]

LEAD LEGACY… Condor 303, also known as Lucia, died of lead poisoning this month. The 6-year-old breeding female grew up in the Santa Lucia Mountains before pairing with Pinnacles Condor 313 last spring. Though they nested in San Benito County, Lucia regularly visited her home of Big Sur. [KA]

SEA-KINGS FLOUNDER…A Dec. 13 home game against the San Francisco Rumble handed the new ABA basketball team California Sea-Kings its third consecutive loss of the season, final score 109-91. The Weekly’s new photo blog at mcweekly-photoblog.blogspot.com chronicles the bitter defeat. [NC]

D.C. DONATIONS…U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel) helped earmark some $17 million for Central Coast causes—from anti-gang projects to community food banks to ocean health planning—in the fiscal year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which passed the House Dec. 10 and the Senate Dec. 13. [KA]

NEW FILM COMMISSION HEAD…Carmel Valley concert promoter Joe Fletcher says he aims to bring back the glory days when Monterey County played host to major film productions like Basic Instinct and From Here to Eternity in his new post as the Film Commission’s director of operations and development. [RU]