The Buzz 11.30.23

FREE SPEECH

Mental health challenges for journalists have been well documented in recent years, but the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors and the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media at Kansas State University set out to look at a particular subset: “community journalists, specifically small-town rural U.S. news workers” who live and work in “oft-forgotten communities.” A 2023 research paper analyzes the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on this group of journalists, with a focus on 155 small newspapers, with a circulation of 3,000 or less, in Georgia and South Dakota. Responding publishers gave a range of answers, some reporting that the pandemic – and its accompanying financial insecurity – impacted their and their staff’s mental health greatly. Others said it did not, with some dismissing Covid as a hoax, with one respondent writing that they put their “trust in God and do not let outside influences affect me.” The study findings also note that “seeking professional help in a small town can be a challenge because of a lack of resources and potential stigmas.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We are in the process of safely dismantling the superstructure.” - Vistra spokesperson Jenny Lyon, on the ongoing deconstruction of the Moss Landing power plant. Vistra now operates a lithium-ion battery storage plant on the site; the defunct smoke stacks will remain (see story, mcweekly.com)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

The City of Greenfield will hopefully become a more walkable and bikeable place with the help of a $250,262 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. OTS provided the grant to the County Health Department, which is directing it to Greenfield via the county’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety program. The grant will promote safe practices for walkers and bikers in Greenfield, which has seen an increase in automobile accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists in recent years. There will be an emphasis on promoting walking and biking to and from school by distributing helmets and providing helmet-fitting inspections; conducting presentations at schools and in the community on best biking and walking habits; and promoting the importance of road visibility via reflective armbands/legbands and bicycle headlights/taillights. The grant program will run through September 2024.

GREAT:

As the State of California seeks ways to dig out of a housing crisis, it’s created both a carrot and a stick for cities and counties to add more housing. The stick includes stiff penalties for failing to do so, but there is a carrot known as the Prohousing Designation Program, launched by the Department of Housing and Community Development in 2021. Cities and counties that commit to enacting policies that will make building affordable housing easier will receive big-money grants to further those efforts. Salinas was the first city in Monterey County to earn the designation in June, and received $1.65 million. Sand City is now poised to join the same ranks after the Sand City Council voted 5-0 on Nov. 7 to approve the city’s application. Staff expect the city to earn the designation once its latest housing element is certified by HCD in 2024.