Health

Transmission of the flu, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus is increasing statewide simultaneously and could lead to overwhelmed hospitals this winter, one of the state's top health officials said Thursday. Covid test positivity and case rates have climbed by roughly 25% over the last two...

Don Smith said the vibe at Hollister schools is different with the return of the after-school sports programs this year.  “The reintroduction of sports has completely changed the energy at our schools,” said Smith, a physical education teacher at Rancho San Justo Middle School and...

San Benito County public safety and health officials are sounding the alarm about the dangers of fentanyl—a powerful opioid—after a recent and ongoing spike in drug overdoses. In the last three months alone, 17 people in San Benito County have suffered opioid overdoses, requiring emergency...

The wild and suspenseful saga that is the winter of 2023 continues, with the latest chapter bringing rare snowfall to South Valley—not just once, but multiple times since last week—blanketing the hills above Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Hollister with accumulated frozen precipitation.  Some locations in...

About 50 Civil War “reenactors” spent this past weekend at San Benito County Historical Park demonstrating what life, work and combat were like in the 1860s during the war between the North and South. The annual Civil War Days events Sept. 16-18 were co-sponsored by...

San Benito County will conduct a full audit of the public library after two former employees were convicted of embezzling more than $360,000 from the county.  Former library staff members Erin Baxter and Mary Alvarez were recently convicted of embezzling about $360,755 of library funds...

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...

Residents of San Benito County who need to dispose of storm debris can do so at a free event Jan. 29 at John Smith Road Landfill.  The free disposal day is sponsored by the county’s Integrated Waste Management Regional Agency. It will take place from...

Local registered nurses and the board of directors of Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital agreed to a new contract that “includes victories for patients and nurses,” according to the medical employees’ union. Nurses represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United ratified the four-year contract on...

Bernice “B” Bode and her great-granddaughter, Jasmin Sauer, have similar personalities and they enjoy spending time together—in much the same way that intergenerational members of many families do.  But Bernice and Jasmin’s relationship is unique because they are 100 years apart in age. Bode, who...