Columns

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, and are enjoying this holiday season. Last week, Superintendent Krause and your full board attended the CSBA Annual Education Conference in Sacramento, where we spent a few busy days learning alongside peers and connecting with board members...

Every year as I get down the Christmas decorations I think about past holidays with friends and family. Who was that well-fed baby in my Dad’s 35mm films? And then there was Aunt Ruth’s aluminum Christmas tree with the rotating color wheel. I remember...

“Why such a huge turkey?” I was asked by my butcher. “For ‘leftovers,’” I replied. My family loves leftovers as much as they love the original dinner. After our dinner, the kitchen becomes a busy place with Ziplock bags being filled with leftovers from each...

As we reach the end of the year, I’ve found myself thinking about what an extraordinary place Scotts Valley is and how much we have achieved together. Serving as your Mayor has been one of the great honors of my life, and closing out...

To kick off this year’s holiday season, I plan to add some color to cheer up my houseplant selection. Sometimes I give friends and neighbors a holiday plant, but I need to keep in mind if they have small children or pets as some...

“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” —B.F. Skinner Oxford’s 2013 study estimated that “47% of U.S. occupations were at high risk of automation.” Techno-Marxists fret that AI will wipe out jobs of all but geek aristocrats. “AI will be...

The weekend after Thanksgiving I like to get my Christmas tree and put it outside in a bucket of water until I’m ready to bring it inside to decorate. One of my friends has the solution for the longest lasting tree with the most...

Have you ever been to one of your Chambers of Commerce ribbon-cutting events? We go as businesspeople to support our local businesses, network and learn what they do. We anticipate some snacks, since most ribbon-cutting events start at 5:30pm. We hope for good food...

As the year winds down, life naturally slows just enough for us to catch our breath. It’s a moment to look at the routine, the relationships and the everyday choices that shaped our year. At TherapyWorks, we see reflection not as a heavy process...

Before 2000, I entered financial planning with yahoo recruiters from Primerica Financial Services who shouted “Buy Term and Invest the Difference” because whole life insurers drained family savings. Still appalled by fees in 2025, two elderly tax clients paid over $20,000 in assets under...