The Weekly Tally 03.02.17

WHO’S IN TOWN?

Did you know that bile acids are enjoying a renaissance in the medical research world? We didn’t either, but according to the organizers of the Bile Acid Receptors as Signal Integrators in Liver and Metabolism (C1) conference, they are, thanks to some key discoveries made at the turn of the millennium. Scientists from Europe, Japan and the U.S. will be in Monterey to share the latest research on bile acids and the role they play regulating the liver. They will also explore treating liver diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, which organizers say is on the rise and expected to be the leading cause of liver transplants in the U.S. by 2020.

March 3-7. Hyatt Regency Monterey, 1 Old Golf Course Road, Monterey. $570-$945. (970) 262-1230, www.keystonesymposia.org.

FREE SPEECH

President Donald Trump has made no bones about his disdain for the media, and common journalistic practices. In his remarks Feb. 24 at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he detailed a specific gripe: anonymous sourcing. “A few days ago, I called the fake news ‘the enemy of the people’ – and they are,” Trump said. “Because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none.” Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer met with members of the media – though several media outlets, including the New York Times, Politico and Buzzfeed were denied entry – and elaborated. “There’s a point at which there’s an obligation, if you’re going to make a very serious allegation, and we’re willing to push back on the record… that they’ll put their name attached to it.”

The Society of Professional Journalists publishes a code of ethics with this guidance: “Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability… Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity.” The Weekly’s policy is to identify sources – unless there is a compelling reason not to, in which case we give our readers the reason for anonymity.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD

Engaging in the public process can be a challenge for some residents, especially for parents who have children who can’t be left home alone. To help alleviate this problem, Seaside City Council unanimously approved allocating $2,500 from the city’s 2016-17 budget to provide child care for residents during council meetings, making it a good week for civic participation. Newly-elected Councilmember Kayla Jones, who suggested the idea, says the logistics have yet to be worked out, but that a possible location for the child care would be the Oldemeyer Center, which is about a half-mile from City Hall.

BAD

Two years ago, Monterey-Salinas Transit nearly had to lay off bus drivers due to the U.S. Department of Labor threatening to withhold federal funding over a dispute about California’s Public Employee Pension Reform Act. Now, MST is facing a very different sort of problem: a shortage of drivers, or in the industry lingo, “coach operators.” MST General Manager Carl Sedoryk says MST has about 20 openings, and that the minimum required experience is having a driver’s license for at least five years and a clean driving record for the last two years, as well as a Class B driver’s license. No prior bus driving experience is necessary. The jobs are full-time and start at $15 an hour, plus benefits, and after about five years, pay caps out at around $26 an hour. Sedoryk says MST’s difficulty with filling the positions is in part due to a strong economy, but also, he says, because it’s “not necessarily a career path that millennials naturally think of.”

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