The Buzz 04.18.19

WHO’S IN TOWN?

You can try to trace your salad from farm to fork, or you can take it one step further – to the seed. Seed professionals, including some locals, converge this week to talk to college students about their own career paths and ways to get into the business in a career fair at Hartnell College. Tamara Holst is Monsanto’s patent science lead for the vegetable division; Steve Wiley is COO and general manager of American Takii in North Salinas, where he oversees breeding of flowers, cabbage, kohlrabi and broccoli;Arturo Manzo is an assistant lettuce breeder for desert southwest varieties for 3 Star Lettuce. Other companies represented include Bayer, Incotec, Radicle Seed Companyand Sakata.

11am-1:30pm Thursday, April 19. Hartnell College, 411 Central Ave., Salinas. Free. klesparza@ucdavis.edu, seedcentral.org.

FREE SPEECH

Congratulations to our neighbors to the north, the Press-Democrat in Santa Rosa, for winning a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage in honor of their reporting on devastating wildfires last year. Journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of the New York Times and Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker won the public service Pulitzer for breaking open the story about Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexually predatory past and extensive cover-up.

While it’s awards season and we have cause to pat ourselves on the back: Congratulations to Weekly senior staff writer David Schmalz, who won a first-place award from theCalifornia News Publishers Association for local government reporting for his coverage of shenanigans at Del Rey Oaks City Hall, including the eventual resignation by – and subsequent criminal charges against – former city manager Daniel Dawson. The Weekly also claimed two second-place spots in the CNPA’s annual California Journalism Awards in our category (weekly newspapers with a circulation of more than 25,000), for a special section for our Best of Monterey Bay Food & Drink magazine, and the big prize: general excellence. (Congrats to Sacramento News & Review, which won first.) “This is a first-rate publication,” the judges wrote. We’re blushing.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD:

Recreation opportunities on the Monterey Peninsula are about to get even better: On April 10, the Trust for Public Land transferred 185 acres of land – formerly the eastern golf course of the Rancho Cañada Golf Club – to the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, which in the coming weeks will make the former clubhouse its new headquarters. The deal was announced two years ago along with Trout Unlimited and Santa Lucia Conservancy, which will provide expertise on water and habitat restoration on the former golf course. The park district will transform the site with ADA-accessible trails and – perhaps most exciting for many outdoor enthusiasts – is that the land will provide a trail and parking to access to 4,300-acre Palo Corona Regional Park, which is now only accessible by limited permits. The property, which will be absorbed into Palo Corona, is expected to open to the public in early June.

BAD:

After only two years, Families of Color Monterey County is shutting down. The group frequently held biking workshops throughout the Monterey Peninsula, events that were meant to foster safe riding habits, and also to diversify the sport with more kids of color. They’ve also led workshops around the topic of race, bringing together diverse families for picnics, conversations, reading groups, park cleanups and bike rides. All programming after June is cancelled, which means all of FoCMC’s gear – including lots of bikes – is now for sale for at least 50-percent off.