FREE SPEECH
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump pledged retribution against those he feels wronged him, including the media. He appears to be making good on that promise. On Dec. 16, Trump sued the Des Moines Register, its owner Gannett and pollster Ann Selzer for an unspecified amount in damages, with a campaign spokesperson claiming a poll the newspaper released days before the election was a “collusive attempt to interfere in the election.” The poll showed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the lead in Iowa, a historically Republican-leading state, although Trump ended up winning by 13 points. “We stand by our reporting on the matter and believe a lawsuit would be without merit,” said a spokesperson for the Register. In an interview with PBS before the lawsuit was filed, Selzer said “it’s not my ethic” to create a poll to generate a planned response. “To suggest without a single shred of evidence that I was in cahoots with somebody, I was being paid by somebody, it’s all just kind of, it’s hard to pay too much attention to it except that they are accusing me of a crime,” she said. Gannett filed a petition to move the case to federal court.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Why are we in a rush? Because businesses are hurting right now.” - Pacific Grove Mayor Nick Smith, after the City Council agreed to create a business liaison position on Dec. 18 (see story, montereycountynow.com)
GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK
GOOD:
Good news for commuters Beginning Jan. 2, residents from Gonzales and Soledad will be able to connect via bus with other parts of their cities. Monterey-Salinas Transit will launch two circulator routes, 31 and 32, for Gonzales and Soledad, respectively. These routes will replace on-call services in both cities, making public transportation more reliable. “It’ll provide more service with the resources that we have,” says Carl Sedoryk, MST’s general manager and CEO. The new routes will have designated bus stops at different locations including shopping areas and schools. The routes will operate every 30 minutes and will connect users with other routes. MST is also adding a new line on Jan. 6 from the Salinas Transit Center to Rancho Cielo during weekdays to provide a reliable route for students and staff. Sedoryk says it will benefit low-income students who don’t have access to cars.
GREAT:
On Dec. 16, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland designated Robinson Jeffers’ Tor House in Carmel as a National Historic Landmark. The stone house was built in 1918-19 for poet Robinson Jeffers and his wife, Una Jeffers, and he followed up by building Hawk Tower. Tor House Foundation President Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts thanked many for helping with the nine-year process: “It has been a long, challenging road which many helped travel.” In 2015, then-president Vince Huth and then-administrative assistant Erin Carey began the nomination process. Trustee Gere diZerega took the lead in pursuing the nomination, enlisting the aid of trustees Jim Karman and Ruchowitz-Roberts, who were responsible for preparing the application. The foundation team is looking forward to a public celebration, perhaps at the already-scheduled May 5 garden party at the Tor House.