The bomb squad was out in force on Tuesday morning after District Attorney Bob Lee reported that a suspicious package was left on his car, which was parked in his driveway on Chilverton Street. Eight adjacent homes were evacuated and a number of nearby streets were closed to traffic as investigators from the sheriff’s office investigated the gift-wrapped package, which was left in a plastic bag. It took two hours before the bomb squad could confirm that the object was actually a book.
Changing Of The Guard
Mike Rotkin received a standing ovation at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. After serving the city for six terms (a total of 26 years, including five as mayor), he was termed out of office. His replacement is Councilmember Ryan Coonerty, who was invested at the meeting. Standing before the City Council and an audience of family and well-wishers, Coonerty said, “My goal, our goal, this year is to give you certainty that if you give that precious gift, Santa Cruz will be a better, stronger community.”
Last-Minute Gift Guide: Internet Radio
While streaming video, portable music players and music-enabled tablets and laptops seem to be getting all the love these days, the humble successors to table radios and alarm clocks have quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) taken up residence in homes. With prices for good entry-level units selling for $100 and change, plug-and-play Wi-Fi radio provides value and simplicity that deserves a close look.
Last-Minute Gift Guide: Books
Presenting someone an e-reader satisfies the basic ritual impulse, but how do you give an e-book: a gift card for Amazon, an account at B&N, a login at Google’s new book-retailing project? These immaterial manifestations of books can’t really be wrapped in showy paper and colorful ribbons. They don’t come with the excitement of revelation. (“Oh, look, you got me a $15 credit to download a bestseller of my choice if I ever remember to get around to it.”)
Last-Minute Gift Guide: The Cheat Sheat
For holiday shoppers who are out of time, patience or ideas, we present our handy-dandy, cut-to-the-chase, Very Busy Person’s Last-Minute Gift Guide, a collection of suggested gifts with broad appeal (with the possible exception of the disc golf driver) compiled by actual former and present gift recipients with reasoned opinions, fine instincts and excellent taste.
Last-Minute Gift Guide: Vintage Gifts
Friends don’t let friends do without fine wine during the holidays. Here are a few of our favorite ideas for gift-giving oenophiles who are long on goodwill but short on time.
Landmark Pesticide Drift Case Appealed
In 2008, Jacobs Farm made national headlines when a Santa Cruz County judge awarded the local herb grower a $1 million dollar settlement after its organic dill, sage and rosemary crops were contaminated by organophosphate pesticides. The pesticides were sprayed by Western Farm Services on the Brussels sprout fields at Wilder Ranch State Park, a popular destination for local hikers where Jacobs Farm leases 120 acres. The trace amounts of the pesticides, which drifted from the Brussels sprout fields to the herbs, rendered the entire crop unusable for commercial sale.
Santa Cruz Poets, Santa Cruz Inspiration: Charles Atkinson
From poet Charles Atkinson, a tribute to Santa Cruz writer James Houston.
The Exhibitionist: Ingrid Calame
The balcony overlooking the soaring Dart Gallery of the Monterey Museum of Art La Mirada provides a long leaning-on-the-railing view into the deep space. The facing wall—about 25 feet high and 50 wide with a giant, full-length window—creates a cavernous room that evidently provides an exhausting challenge to curators, as does the low-ceilinged warren under the balcony opening into the expanse.
New Photos Raise Old Questions About Hatchery
Last month, while at the Buena Vista landfill, Kelly Luker saw a white Cal-Cruz Hatcheries truck dumping mounds of fluffy yellowish material. Remembering that Cal-Cruz had been in the news earlier in the year, she pulled out her camera phone and moved closer to take pictures. “I walked up to get a better view, though I had a pretty good idea what it was,” Luker says. “Looking closer, I saw little chick eyes staring out of mangled heads and pieces of feet and beak scattered about. You can’t see something like that and eat chicken again.”
