The Buzz 01.25.18

WHO’S IN TOWN?

With 28 medals, including 23 gold, swimmer Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. He’s now retired from competitive swimming and instead focusing his efforts on getting a new generation of athletes into the water through the Michael Phelps Foundation, launched in 2008. His travels take him to Monterey this week, where he will speak not just about the health and fitness benefits of swimming, but the life-saving value of water safety for kids. He’s the keynote speaker at the annual luncheon for Montage Health, which will also include updates from Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

11:30am Tues, Jan. 20. Monterey Conference Center, 1 Portola Plaza, Monterey. $45; includes lunch. montagehealth.org.

FREE SPEECH

Just when you thought they couldn’t cut any more from the company’s newsrooms, Digital First Media announced on Jan. 12 that a fresh round of layoffs is coming. The San Jose Mercury News had a unionized newsroom staff of 440 at its peak in the 1990s, and today has just 39 – and is bracing for additional layoffs, based on DFM’s latest announcement. Closer to home, the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Monterey Herald are also owned by Digital First. Cuts aside, the Herald also lost a longtime star reporter: Claudia Meléndez Salinas covered education for the Herald for 12 years. Her last day was Jan. 19; she’s going on to work as a spokesperson for the Alisal Union School District.

Facing a similarly precarious future, Los Angeles Times staff voted 288-44 to unionize – for the first time in the paper’s 136-year history – NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America announced Jan. 19. (The Times is owned by Tronc.) “We’ve long been a proud voice for our readers. Finally, we can be a proud voice for ourselves,” pro-union staffers wrote in a letter, according to the Guild.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD:

The bad news is that rates of diabetes in Monterey County are disproportionately high, with 57 percent of the population diabetic or pre-diabetic. The good news is that Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System is trying to reach those patients with more forward-thinking care than ever before, with itsDiabetes and Endocrine Center, which opened in August. It’s designed to give patients more lifestyle-oriented care than just doctor’s appointments and blood tests. Think cooking demos in a custom-built kitchen with tips for healthy food prep, and kiosks that help generate customized healthy recipes and workout ideas. The team behind the new center holds a dedication ceremony on Friday, Feb. 2 for the pediatric clinic, which offers specialized care for kids, including a pediatric endocrinologist, social worker and bilingual nurse practitioner.

BAD:

It’s been a rough week for beekeeper Alfonzo Perez of Perez Generation Honeybee Ranch – Miel Pura. He’s based in Tracy, but was keeping about 150 beehives on Mike Hickenbottom’s Prunedale property for the winter. On Jan. 13, those hives were tipped over and Hickenbottom says they were doused with gasoline, killing an estimated 200,000 pollinators – and wiping out a year’s worth of Perez’s business and causing an estimated $45,000 worth of damage. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is investigating; Cmdr. John Thornburg says deputies believe water, not gasoline, was used. Hickenbottom set up a GoFundMe page for Perez’s family (which includes his pregnant wife and three children). More than 2,300 people responded, donating nearly $72,000 in the first five days, as of the Weekly’s deadline, to help Perez get new bees buzzing again.