The Buzz 05.30.24

FREE SPEECH

At least 749 journalists and news media outlets around the world reporting on environmental issues have been attacked, either physically or through legal actions, between 2009 and 2023, according to a report released earlier in May for World Press Freedom Day by UNESCO. Worse, nearly half of those have happened in the past five years, showing that these journalists are increasingly under attack, according to the report, titled “Press and Planet in Danger.” The report also found that 44 journalists reporting on environmental issues have been killed in 15 countries over the 15-year period, with at least 24 surviving murder attempts. About 204 journalists and news outlets have faced legal attacks, with state actors filing charges against 93 of them, while 39 journalists have been imprisoned. “Reporters chronicling the climate crisis often find themselves in remote and isolated locations, far from the reach of immediate help or legal protection,” the authors of the report write. “Whether they are investigating deforestation in the Amazon, pollution in industrial regions, or illegal mining in Africa, the remote nature of these assignments adds a significant layer of risk.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Why would you do that? It seems like a waste of egg to me.” - Adam Alonso, bartender at The Brass Tap, commenting on the long-forgotten phrase, “What do you want, egg in your beer?” (see story, montereycountynow.com).

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

It’s the tail end of California Tourism Month and the industry is celebrating, not just its contribution to the economy (tourism spending in Monterey County was nearly $3 billion in 2023, and $150.4 billion in California) but also the people who serve as its backbone: the hospitality employees who work in hotels, restaurants, attractions and other visitor-serving businesses. The Monterey County Hospitality Association celebrated the more than 26,000 local hospitality workers with Hospitality Night on Wednesday, May 29, at the Monterey Bay Football Club game against the Charleston Battery inside Cardinale Stadium, after the Weekly’s deadline. MCHA members were scheduled to greet employees at the game, with prizes awarded during halftime and the reading of a special resolution from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.

GREAT:

It’s a great week for alternative transportation. On May 29, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County and City of Del Rey Oaks held a groundbreaking for the first segment of the long-dreamt-about Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway (FORTAG), an approximately 28-mile bike and pedestrian trail loop spanning the former Fort Ord from Marina to Del Rey Oaks, and connecting to the Rec Trail on the coast at its northern and southern ends. The brainchild of CSUMB professors Scott Waltz and Fred Watson – with an initial assist from Marina residents Gail Morton and Margaret Davis – the trail seeks to not only make the area more bike-friendly, but to also provide access to beautiful public land in the former Fort Ord that has been closed to the public for decades. Construction of the first funded portion, about 1.5 miles near DRO City Hall, is expected to take 18-24 months.