Opinion

This year, the Monterey County Needs Assessment Collaborative, a partnership of Monterey County hospitals, health organizations and community agencies, completed a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to determine the healthcare needs of residents. The 2025 findings identify diabetes as a persistent health issue in Monterey...

The last time at the hotel, there were young Asian girls next to us wearing facemasks in the elevator. We thought they were a bit strange. Little did we know that the world was on the cusp of the largest, strangest pandemic in our...

For today’s column I cite Joe Mathews as main source. Joe writes the California Connected column for Arizona State University’s publication Zocalo Public Square (which is redundant as a zocalo is a public square, but I digress). Instead of taking a dramatic approach where I...

Well, hello! Did you miss me last week? Yeah, I know that you need my column so you can have something to put on the bottom of your birdcage. I could lie to you with some far-fetched excuse about why I missed the deadline, but...

As some of you are aware, I had occasion to be in the Orradre Building down at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds the other eve and one person in attendance at the affair — she had not been in the building in years — commented...

It’s kind of strange to start a column like that, but I have been struck with a book I have been reading and I haven’t even finished the first chapter. It’s called “Hillbilly Elegy,” by J.D. Vance. This is the guy the Republicans have...

I had always been pretty proud of us. From the moment we were able, it was off to the pharmacy we went. Another shot? Yes please. With all the horror stories and truths from 2020 still fresh in everyone’s minds, we did not want...

I spent most of the day on Saturday cleaning out my garage, and I don’t know if I will finish before the weekend is over. Funny how I keep watching the detritus get taller and taller. I keep telling myself that I will be...

I have notes scribbled on scraps of paper scattered about my work area, in pockets and various other places I will no doubt discover after this goes to print. But I have enough here for a short column to cap off another year in...

I was reading about the origins of Christmas and the various ways the day is celebrated around the world. It is a day with a history that originally involved more than a few countries and belief systems. What we know today as Christmas has...