Sywest Development has big plans for the corner of Simas and East Market Streets in Salinas, where Century Park 7 theater now sits. The San Rafael-based company wants to raze the theater and erect a home-improvement store in its place.

About 20 miles up the Carmel River from the sea there is a steep canyon with fragrant walls of chaparral and stout-bearded oak that few have ever laid eyes on. It is one of the most beautiful sections of a very beautiful river.

According to Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne, there is “a deluge of metaphysical paranoia” flowing out of a “hippie, drug culture underground” in America, fueled by the “exaggerated, evil powers of George W. Bush.” But while these quotes from the band’s press kit illustrate an influence…

The Army is hoping to nix an environmental rule that requires it to temporarily relocate families when it burns contaminated lands on the former Fort Ord. That proposal is being met with heated opposition from nearby residents, largely because the last two times the Army attempted to perform…