Columns

We all enjoy privacy around our homes. Even if you’re best friends with your neighbor, you don’t always want to wave at them each morning. Whether you have a property tucked way back in the forest with a next-door neighbor that looks right down...

Scotts Valley works hard to maintain a full complement of community-oriented police officers. This article introduces recently hired Police Officers Seavana Patzke and Vitani Harrison. It was my great pleasure to recently spend time getting to know these two individuals. Seavana Patzke Officer Seavana Patzke previously...

One of my favorite classes when I attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was Plant Taxonomy. On the surface the subject sounds a little dry, but the professor was all about plant reproduction, which is quite exciting and more varied than you think. So...

The end of daylight savings time signals to me that autumn is really here in our mild California surroundings. Enjoy these crisp mornings and warm days and to make your garden more compelling try mixing in late-flowering perennials as well as trees and shrubs...

Millions of Americans are affected by mental health conditions every year. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 21%—experiences mental illness in a given year; and we know this is increasingly an issue...

On Jan. 14, Scotts Valley joined other local jurisdictions when City Manager Mali LaGoe issued a Proclamation declaring a local emergency, to be ratified by the City Council. This declaration was based on the presence of flooding, downed trees, power outages, retaining wall failures,...

“Concision in style, Precision in thought, Decision in life.” —Victor Hugo We are a nation of consumers and investors, hemming, hawing and hedging with Trump, who flaunts law and principles. Unsure of securities? Avoid panicky flight to historically low-paying interest investments; seek principle. But balance...

“Look out!” grimaced Blue. “There’s the Trump supporter gulping Scotts Valley Coffee!” “Where else?” responded Red. “And you must be the Ben Lomond neighbor who erected the 50-foot lime green ‘Bernie Sanders Soviet Honeymoon’ statue over my yard?” “He jousts your greedy 50-foot gilded paper-mâché ‘Trump...

Like a garden full of spring flowers, tax measures are sprouting up all throughout the county this cycle. And who can blame the cities and county, as the inflation pressures and the unfunded mandates imposed by the state of California are stark reminders that...