Beneath the Sea Therapy
Special training, new dive boat opens the ocean to disabled vets.
Joe Rivera spits out water at the CSU Monterey Bay pool. “What’s all the choking and gasping over here?” asks dive instructor Frank Degnan, sidling up to the sputtering student. “Put the regulator in your ...
Monterey examines the serious issue of homelessness.
Somewhere in the middle. There has to be somewhere in the middle. The city of Monterey is on the verge of making serious decisions on how to handle what local businesses and some residents describe ...
Sexy Small
Quail Moto enters its fifth year with new tweaks on classic bikes.
Somebody invited a moped guy to the motorcycle party. But the vehicle he’ll share with audiences is as anticipated as any coming for the fifth annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering, a celebration of motorcycling heritage and ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen 05.02.13
ONGOING PREVENTING GANG VIOLENCE | VARIOUS LOCATIONS – County officials present on new strategic plans for ending gang violence and invite participants to provide feedback. 6pm. Wed May 18 at Japanese School House, 11199 Geil ...
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 ...
Made in Americana
The Easy Leaves’ affinity for the Americana tradition has infectious results.
The Easy Leaves’ version of Americana is more than just a blend of American roots music – it’s a force of nature that can come to life around a campfire with a couple guitars and ...
Mariachi Muchachas
Authentic heritage music and feminine inspiration is what Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles does.
It took more than 100 years, but Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles broke the glass ceiling in 1994 when they became the world’s first all-female mariachi group. The group’s founder and musical director Jóse Hernàndez ...
Doing the Wave
Moss Landing’s Hallway Ballers look to the sea for guidance.
Everything always comes back to surfing for the Hallway Ballers. “Last night we were watching the bay and appreciating how fortunate we are,” says bassist Nate Hydie. “There’s a camaraderie because we surf together every ...
IRON MAN
Man of Action:Iron Man 3 nothing to Marvel at, but delivers good acting, reasonable fun.
Iron Man 3 opens with Tony Stark speaking of demons from his past coming back to haunt him. Let’s draw that out a bit to put the film in context: What we’ve seen in the ...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 04.25.13
Gun Culture First, thank you Phil Nash for being (to quote Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver) the “real rain that came and washed the scum from the streets” (“Getting a concealed weapons permit in Monterey ...
Home Word
A more streamlined festival still offers plenty of entry into the work and life of John Steinbeck.
The opening night barbecue of the Steinbeck Festival will occupy a stunning setting at the Big Sur Land Trust property Mark’s Ranch. It will include food from Oldtown Deli’s Gordon Chin and live music by ...
WINE & FOOD 2013: Seitan Worshipping
The big new thing coming out of Moss Landing, Sweet Earth Natural Foods, will give healthy plant-based eating a big ol’ boost.
~ • ~ Talk about a burrito with everything. The Anasazi burrito from Sweet Earth Natural Foods includes some of the same heirloom Anasazi beans that once sustained the ancient cliff-dwelling Pueblo people of the ...
SQUID FRY 05.02.13 - Bite of the Apple…
$209 Mil: Total cost of the Prunedale Improvement Project, which will eliminate left turns across 9 miles of Highway 101.
BITE OF THE APPLE… Squid’s preference is for deep, dark places far from the sun. But this time of year, even Squid can’t resist the taste of a fresh, garden-grown strawberry. So do policy and ...
Extra Helping of Squid 4.29.13
The loss of a Salinas cupcake shop leaves a bitter taste in Squid's beak.
FEED THE NEED…Squid spent the weekend holed up in the lair, shaken and shaking. The shaken part came because the New York Times food section had not one, but two stories on cooking Squid—“Cooking Squid ...
¡Ask a Mexican! — 4.29.13
Why Mexicans aren't Caucasian.
Dear Mexican: Although I'm familiar with your column, I don't read it regularly. But today, I was struck by something you said in a recent column about how Mexicans can make Americans like Mexicans. So ...
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 ...
