Opinion

When the 2022 Monterey County Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) was released, behavioral health was identified as one of the region’s top priorities—underscoring a critical shortage of mental health providers and support systems across the County. In response, Mee Memorial Healthcare System (MMHS) launched a...

“It was not my intention to end the column as it ended. But a call minutes ago informs me my life-long friend Stephen Carl Clark has passed away down in Mexico. For many years there were three of us who kept close since kindergarten;...

A few weeks ago I wrote about my thoughts concerning the actions of our government. I mentioned that I have a hard time believing just about anything they do that doesn’t make sense. This feeling I have is that our government is full of...

I won’t ask you about how your New Year is or will be. Shoot, I don’t think anyone is enjoying our holidays when you think about how many of our loved ones have been lost to the pandemic. I have told you that I came...

“Ride the train, ride the train, anywhere I’m going I ride trains; sleepin’ in a boxcar in the rain, ride the train, ride the train.” That is the refrain of a song by southern rock group Alabama, just one of many American songs where...

Local column by Joanne Banuelos

Wow! Things are sure happening fast. By things I mean politics and the folks that claim that they are politicians. I just sat down to write my column this week and started getting a little concerned. I might point out that if you aren’t...

Local column by Joanne Banuelos

As the garage door lifted, a glossy red flash came into view, like a shock from the heavens on a cloudy day. She was shiny and new, fresh from the showroom floor. A Ferrari. Or maybe a Lamborghini? No, definitely a Ferrari with her...

They say that the “Good Die Young.” I don’t know about all of the young, but I do know that there is one young man who left this mortal coil way too soon. He left us with memories that will last forever. This particular young...