Opinion

Joanne's Got It by Joanne Banuelos

“‘Tis the season! Join my baking group, send Christmas cheer out to the world, be a part of a Secret Santa, Operation Christmas Child or Secret Sister group?” Normally, I wouldn’t go there. I don’t have time to be figuring out how to do...

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is an old adage most of us have heard with full understanding of its meaning. It only makes sense, providing one has any sense, to refrain from damaging that which makes survival possible. Now, after reading the...

Statistics show that nearly 3 in 10 Americans actually make New Year’s resolutions in an effort to hold themselves accountable. Such a practice is not new. Some 4,000 years ago, the ancient Babylonias made annual promises to the gods to pay their debts and...

It is a little after 4 a.m. Monday morning and I don’t have a column written for the noon deadline. In fact, I have only the words you are now reading on paper and no more in my head to follow with. So, I...

The vast majority of American politicians are in the business of kicking the can down the road, with one notable exception: Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. I know “kicking the can down the road” is an old cliché used to reference the arms race, federal budget, childcare,...

This week is a favor from my readers. Today I’m going to tell you about a very good friend, who I now call family, that has become something special to me and to my brood. You may remember that some time ago I mentioned that...

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...

Letters to the Editor | Published Sept. 19, 2018

I was going to finish my traveler tales this week — my account of when we went to pay homage to the Queen of England and then what we did after that — but I got distracted. No, I felt the need to paint...