The Buzz 03.09.23

FREE SPEECH

Every year, the George Polk Awards recognize some of the best journalism. The awards were established in 1949 by Long Island University to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war. The awards recognized winners in 15 categories this year, from 515 submissions. “We were deluged with so many worthwhile entries it was difficult to choose,” awards curator John Darnton said in a statement. “Interestingly, a lot of reporters went after large, thematic stories. And the war in Ukraine produced superb war reporting, done at great peril.” Winners include a team from the Associated Press for war reporting on Russia’s siege of Mariupol, and for foreign reporting, the New York Times for coverage of the war in Ukraine. The award for national reporting went to a team at Politico for revealing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. A team at The Miami Herald won for political reporting for exposing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political stunt of flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. That team of four reporters includes Monterey County Weekly alum Ana Ceballos – congrats!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I don’t know what it tastes like. I don’t want to know.” -Bartender Marcos Zemponcteca at Monterey Cookhouse after customers ordered dirty martinis with grenadine (see story, posted at mcweekly.com).

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

The Seaside Fire Department is boasting a freshly painted mural on a 35-by-9-foot wall at 1635 Broadway Ave. The project was initiated by the city of Seaside’s public art program, which announced a call for artists in 2022. Proposals came from artists in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida, Colorado, South Carolina and more. La Neta Murals, a crew of five from the Monterey Bay area, was selected from a pool of 13 applicants. La Neta set to work on Feb. 19, and an official unveiling took place on March 2. A depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen because he exemplifies change and hope. The scope of the project included celebrating the culture and history of Seaside, history and connection to Fort Ord, its residents and, of course, the fire department. The mural also features the American flag, a fire department logo, a firefighter’s face with a mask reflecting flames, a fire truck and the motto: “Service Above Self.”

GREAT:

Star Wars is arriving at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula – at least its loveable droid-like technology – in the first robot hospital assistants of their kind in Northern and Central California. Two Moxi robots, designed by Diligent Robotics, based in Austin, Texas, are being deployed at CHOMP to complete tasks like fetching supplies, delivering lab samples, picking up medicines from the pharmacy and more. Diligent’s co-founder, Dr. Andrea Thomaz, said in a press release that nurses “can spend an astonishing 30 percent of their time fetching and gathering supplies. That’s a lot of time spent away from patients, so we designed Moxi to be the perfect teammate for nurses and healthcare workers.” The four-foot-high robots, with heart eyes on their faces, have an array of sensors that map the hospital and a mechanized arm to open doors. The robots’ first official day on the job at CHOMP is Wednesday, March 15.