Heal the Bay of Santa Monica released its annual Report Card for the state’s beaches yesterday. It was bad news for Cowell Beach. Not only did it receive an F. It was deemed the worst beach in the state, or rather, the “monitoring location with the worst dry weather water quality.”
News
Watsonville Lays off Police, Firefighters
“Gang members recruit while Watsonville lays off police officers,” wrote Watsonville City Councilmember Emilio Martinez on his blog.
Bryan Stow’s Family Sues The Dodgers
The family of paramedic Bryan Stow filed suit against the Los Angeles Dodgers and team owner Frank McCourt on Tuesday. The suit claims that the team was negligent in providing security to fans. It is therefore responsible for Stow’s beating on March 31 in Dodger Stadium’s parking lot. The suit further claimed that Dodger Stadium is the most violent stadium in all of Major League Baseball, with more crimes committed there than in any other stadium.
PLATED: Local Salmon is King
After a year off, local king salmon is back! Prowling around our top food places looking for the freshest catch at a good price, I (naturally) headed to Staff of Life, where the fish counter ice fields were laden with exceptional, caught-that-morning king salmon. Yes, for $20 a pound, it is headed into filet mignon price territory. But it’s worth it.
Summer Classical Music Preview
Is tango toxic? Take a chance at Primo Congo (May 28) when Cadenza ODs on the “pessimistic, fatalistic…deeply dramatic…particularly dark vision of life and death” (as critic Juan Arturo Brennan describes the musical soul of Argentina). Alchemist and conductor Maya Barsacq cooks up Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, featuring violinist Cynthia Baehr plus Mesut Ozgen in a guitar concerto by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, along with other works, whetting an appetite for this summer’s music festivals. (www.scmusic.org).
Summer Theater Preview
Cabrillo Stage gets into the swing of things this summer with The Full Monty (June 24–July 17), the hilarious story of six out-of-work steelworkers who decide to bare it all for some quick cash. The musical The Last Five Years (July 8–Aug. 14) follows a five-year marriage between a writer and an actress, from first date to breakup, juxtaposing early hopes with late disappointments. The Tony Award–winning musical Hairspray (July 22–Aug.14) dives into 1962 Baltimore, where teenaged Tracy Turnblad goes from misfit to celebrity overnight. www.cabrillostage.com.
Summer Festival Preview
Here’s how I know summer has really begun: meat on a stick. When kabobs start making regular appearances on my weekends, I know I’ve got myself a festival season. From now until Labor Day, almost every single weekend offers a chance to mill about with other locals appreciating something or other: music, cars, men with muskets. It’s a good time to be alive and wearing one of those little bracelets for wine.
Ten Questions for Lynn Hummer
The founder of Pregnant Mare Rescue in Aptos answers our questions.
Job Opening: Dog Cop
This is an exciting, fulfilling position for the right person. Applicants must love to stick their nose in other peoples’ business in the following ways: If an owner doesn’t pick up his dog’s poop, rush over and point out this etiquette breach to him in no uncertain terms. If a pickup is spotted with a dog in the back, follow it to the ends of the earth, if need be, and point out the dangers as well as illegality of this. Be prepared to eat crow after discovering the dog was safely restrained, after all.
Roughing It On Skyline-to-The-Sea
We’re hoofing it through a shady oak grove when suddenly—I see it as if in slow motion—my friend whips around, his face stricken like he’s just tripped the wire on an IED. “RUN!” he yells, but I can’t, because he has already practically lifted me off my feet and is pushing me back up the trail like a linebacker driving a tackling dummy across the field. We’re 50 feet away before I hear him say, “I saw it raise its tail!” Mystery solved. Matt has just seen a skunk. (With slide show.)
