High school baseball adds ‘double first base’ rule
Hollister’s baseball program captured the school’s first Central Coast Section championship in late May. The Balers won the CCS Division II title with a 3-0 victory over Wilcox, paced by pitcher Trent Roach’s seven-inning complete-game two-hit shutout and Jake Esparza’s two-RBI third-inning double.
When Hollister...
Higher temps and more precipitation in long-term forecast
The San Francisco Bay Area is likely to be warmer and wetter than normal for the next three months, forecasters said Nov. 18.
A winter season outlook update shows a higher probability of above-normal temperature and precipitation for December, January and February, the National Weather...
Gavilan College dedicates new bridge to longtime faculty member
Susan Dodd cemented her legacy in Gavilan College lore long ago, but now, it can be seen in the most literal sense.
A new concrete-and-steel pedestrian bridge that spans over the college’s main road, connecting the central Gilroy campus to its athletics facilities, was celebrated...
Local Scene: NROTC scholarships available
Planning and Saving for College
The Community Foundation for San Benito County will host a financial education workshop on “Planning and Saving for College” on Sept. 27 at the Epicenter conference room, 440 San Benito Street in Hollister. Two sessions will take place, 11:30am-1pm and...
Earthbound Farm sold to Taylor Farms
Salinas-based Taylor Farms announced April 11 that it purchased organic grower Earthbound Farm of San Juan Bautista..
Privately held Earthbound Farm, billed as the largest producer of organic salads in the United States, has been owned by Paris, France-based Danone since 2017. The operation netted...
Hollister council postpones affordable housing ordinance approval
The City of Hollister is working on an inclusionary housing ordinance that could require future residential developers to make up to 20% of their projects affordable under state guidelines.
A draft ordinance, produced under the council’s previous direction, was presented at the May 1 council...
Bay Area Panthers football team wins again
The Morgan Hill-based Bay Area Panthers of the Indoor Football League closed the regular season with a 45-30 win over the Massachusetts Pirates on July 25. The victory improved the team’s record to 13-3—best in the IFL—and enhanced their standing heading into the post-season.
The...
Reflections of service
Ray Friend was 30 feet away from one of the explosions that went off on the U.S.S. Enterprise on Jan. 14, 1969. Twenty-eight people died and 314 were injured in the blasts, and Friend—who was a designated shipboard firefighter/damage control man in the Navy—saw...
School meals to go
The San Benito High School District closed down its school site as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in the tri county area. But that’s not stopping the District Nutrition Services program from feeding the local youth population.
Letter: Bombs on the Middle East are not a clowning matter
Reading your piece (Sept. 5 Free Lance), “Clowns stage theatrical protest at bomb component facility” got my attention. I could visualize the glittery jackets and red noses and plungers but the point of the antics was no laughing matter.
Seriously, the point of the plungers...


















