Back on March 23, President Obama signed the much-debated law that mandates universal health insurance coverage. Aspects of the new law continue to emerge, but what we know is that while the 10 percent tax on tanning salons might take a significant bite out of the ever-bronzed George Hamilton’s wallet (ditto for our friends at Scotts Valley’s Tanners Cove), it doesn’t exactly cover all the new costs of this bill. A slew of tax modifications and penalties will follow.

Summer is here, and many of us are exposed to an abundance of sunshine. I’d like to explain how we can best avoid the harmful effects of the sun.

Layla Nevaeh Nichole Rodrigues was born at 9:47 p.m. May 25, 2010, to Chantel A. Bex and Anthony M. Rodrigues of Scotts Valley. She weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, at Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center in Santa Cruz.

**Zoe Omaha Chaillou Boyd was born at 12:46 a.m. June 6, 2010, to Anne-Laure Marie Christine and Nathaniel Stewart Boyd of Boulder Creek. She weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

Every time I drive past the signs at Santa Cruz’s borders declaring the city to be a “nuclear-free zone,” I think about the mistakes we’ve made regarding energy and wonder if we’ll do better in the future.