Channel Change

CHANNEL CHANGE… In Squid’s screen time, Squid has been watching season 1 of The Paper on Peacock, a mockumentary about a newsroom suffering from disinvestment by its corporate owner – a paper company for which the fictional Toledo Truth Teller newspaper is incidental and the more valuable asset is toilet paper. For a nonfictional corollary, Squid has been watching Channel 46, where until last week, KION included a lineup of local news anchors and meteorologists talking about local news and weather. That changed on Sept. 23 when owner News-Press & Gazette Company announced the Salinas newsroom was shutting down and all 13 employees were losing their jobs, and instead they would run content from KPIX, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The news was announced to viewers by KPIX anchor Juliette Goodrich, who said: “I’m so excited to announce that we’re expanding our coverage,” with a focus on “delivering hyper-local stories.”

Squid so far has seen a story about a San Mateo woman who has started a highway billboard campaign looking for a husband; stalking suspects arrested in Morgan Hill; an Oakland Police policy update on high-speed chases; the list goes on. Curious about those “hyper-local stories,” Squid visited the KION website, where until last week Squid could select local news by county – Monterey, San Benito or Santa Cruz – and instead just found options for “U.S./World,” “Entertainment” or “Money.” For a primer on the latter, Squid needs to look no further than the empty Salinas newsroom of KION/Telemundo.

RAIN CHECK… Out of all the under-the-sea snacks to choose from, Squid’s go-to is shrimp-flavored popcorn. But Squid recognizes that’s not everyone’s favorite, too fishy perhaps. For some sweet-toothed humans on land, it’s strawberries, which besides being healthy and delicious, are a major economic driver in Monterey County. They maintain the top revenue-generating spot year over year, with a gross production value of more than $1 billion in 2024, a 15-percent increase from 2023, according to the annual crop report prepared by the County Ag Commissioner’s Office.

However, the beloved crop is also kind of messy. Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo acknowledged this not-so-sweet news ahead of the rainy season, sending out an announcement on Sept. 22 warning farmers to protect their neighbors’ property from erosion and runoff. “The risk is much higher in sloping fields and those planted with strawberries,” Hidalgo wrote. “The plastic mulch that covers strawberry beds reduces rainwater infiltration, and increases runoff.”

Squid, all too familiar with dusting off shrimp popcorn crumbs from Squid’s tentacles, wonders what sort of mess this has created for humans on land.