Community

Monterey County recently stepped up to assist their neighbor in San Benito County by donating truckloads of surplus furniture and other supplies after local offices suffered losses of such items in a Sept. 8 fire. "As our regional partner, the County of San Benito has...

Six Grinches sit on the Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital Board; one leads as HHMH CEO. These grinches have sad faces because they are worried, upset and frankly grouchy.  A hospital board member does not have an easy job. That person must read and think a...

State data compiled by SchoolDigger allows educators to compare the “Top 60” California Middle Schools, and Accelerated Achievement Academy’s results are exceptionally telling. Based on 2023 CAASPP and state demographic data, AAA can claim the most unique academic success of any high performing California...

As part of its Building Bridges to Literacy Initiative, the San Benito County Office of Education began a new Early Literacy Certification Program on Feb. 3. The program brings early literacy classes to daycare providers and preschool teachers throughout San Benito County and is...

California is in a budget hole, its depth measured not in feet, but in dollars. How deep? A projected $38 billion deficit, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said Jan. 10 he will declare a fiscal emergency when necessary and unveiled his initial plan to...

Food insecurity in California ticked upward over the past year, bringing the share of hardship back up to levels early in the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data released by the California Association of Food Banks on Dec. 12. “Families are buying less food,” said May...

Reps announce $1M in funding for climate mitigation efforts U.S. Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Anna Eshoo (CA-16), Ro Khanna (CA-17) and Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will distribute $1 million to Santa Clara and San Benito counties to develop...

The Central California Alliance for Health last week announced its collaboration with Serving Communities Health Information Organization (SCHIO), one of the oldest and most advanced multi-stakeholder health information exchanges (HIEs) in the country.  The partnership will help Alliance Medi-Cal members and providers in five counties,...

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital and the San Benito Health Care District this week announced that they have reached a new labor agreement with the Hollister hospital’s largest union.  Hospital administrators said they received approval from the National Union of Healthcare Workers for a new labor...

Re: Board still in talks with potential partners, Free Lance, Oct. 6, 2023 Looks like “Bargain hunting now.” Where were these potential partners before the bankruptcy declaration? Imagine that! Before there were none; now three parties are interested: American Advanced Management, Salinas Valley Memorial and...