The Buzz 06.22.17

WHO’S IN TOWN?

There are about 4,500 species of parasitic plants known in the world. Mistletoe is one of the more well-known parasites, but here’s one you might not have known: Indian paintbrush, the pretty red-orange flower that grows all over Monterey County, is actually a parasite that colonizes in species of grass. This week the 14th World Congress of Parasitic Plants meets, and scientists from 17 countries are coming to share the latest on their research, including the molecular and genetic structure of parasitic plants, how they interact with host plants, their ecology and evolution, as well as their control and management.

Sunday-Friday June 25-30. Asilomar Conference Grounds, 800 Asilomar Ave., Pacific Grove. $995-$1,495; registration closed. wcpp14@gmail.com, wcpp14.org.

FREE SPEECH

Monterey County’s already-diminished press corps keeps shrinking. Digital First Media, which owns the Monterey Herald, announced its latest round of layoffs June 16. Photographer David Royal, obituary clerk Roberta Little and night/weekend editor Christy Hoffknecht will work through June 28. Royal was at theHerald for 12 years, Little for 27, and Hoffknecht for almost 17 years. “The void they’ll leave will be tremendous,” Claudia Meléndez, co-chair of the Monterey unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild writes by email. “It’s very unfortunate that the Herald’s owner, Digital First Media, and its owners, hedge fund Alden Investments, continue to chip away at an institution that is so important for the civic life of Monterey County.” Publisher Gary Omernick did not return calls requesting comment, specifically on who will run the obituaries section and editing duties on nights and weekends.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

Good:

It’s a good week for the Monterey County chapter of Guitars Not Guns, a nonprofit that’s given out 1,460 guitars to local youth – for free – since the group was founded in 2010. The organization is being recognized as a “nonprofit of the year” by California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 54 and with a ceremony June 28 at the state capitol for the second annual California Nonprofits Day. Volunteers give instruments and lessons to kids ages 8-18. “The way we look at it, all kids are at-risk these days – just providing them something to do is a deterrent to crime,” says chapter co-founder Steve Vagnini. “You want kids learning how to play an instrument.” Their model program is at the Marina Youth Center, where there are classes year-round. On June 13, five incarcerated youth in Salinas graduated from Guitars Not Guns. “We’re working with kids like that, trying to pull them back,” Vagnini says.

Bad:

It’s a bad week for marine mammals and sea turtles after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration withdrew a proposed rule on June 12 that would have set limits on the bycatch of several endangered species for drift gillnets. It was a move that kills years of negotiations and work by fishery regulators, fishermen and environmental groups to create a sustainable fishery. As it is, the drift gillnet fishery, which targets swordfish with nets up to a mile long, has the highest rate of unintentional bycatch of any fishery on the West Coast – above 60-percent in recent years. Under the proposed rule, caps would have been set on the bycatch of endangered species – different types of whales and sea turtles – as well as bottlenose dolphins. If those ceilings were hit, under the scrapped rules, a fishery could have been shut down for up to two years. “It’s indicative of where our federal government is right now,” says Geoff Shester, California campaign director for Oceana, a marine conservation nonprofit.