Politics

Cannabis was on the Hollister City Council agenda yet again this week, and council members sprinted through the pot-related items faster than in previous marathon cannabis discussions. Seven medical cannabis facilities were approved on the council’s consent agenda, but council members failed to set an...

San Benito County supervisors changed their minds this week, and voted unanimously against giving themselves a 56-percent pay raise. The Board of Supervisors last month had given preliminary approval, on a 4-1 vote, to increase their salaries from $48,000 to $75,000, prompting a public outcry....

San Benito County officials approached the Hollister City Council Monday night to ask for $200,000 annually to help maintain the new HOME (Homeless Opportunities Meals and Empowerment) Resource Center. The following day at the San Benito County Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors approved a one-year...

Congressman Jimmy Panetta fielded questions Monday from students at Hollister’s Seventh-Day Adventist Christian School on topics that included education, the death penalty, the legislative process and local agriculture. “I believe that your teachers are fundamental to your education,” Panetta told students. “To me, they are...

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors voted this week to tentatively increase their own salaries from $48,000 to $75,000, after approving numerous labor contracts. “I don’t necessarily agree with the numbers, per se, but that’s part of my research that I’m doing,” said Suzy...

Drama on the dais caused the San Juan Bautista City Council meeting on Tuesday to adjourn early as as one council member repeatedly asked for clarification on the same point to the consternation and bewilderment of those in the room. The issue stemmed from...

Hollister Councilman Jim Gillio last weekend announced his candidacy for San Benito County District 4 Supervisor, challenging Supervisor Jerry Muenzer. Muenzer said Monday that he intends to seek re-election to a third four-year term on the board of supervisors. “I am running for supervisor because I...

Between June 2016—when the Hollister City Council entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement to sell the 400 block of San Benito Street—and its vote a year later to sell the property, the price jumped by 77 percent. Council members may have been unaware that...

The time of unrestricted shopping cart usage in Hollister is coming to an end as city leaders move to adopt an ordinance that regulates the grocery store staple as a way to counter blight. The council conducted a first reading of the ordinance at its...

Residents impacted by flooding near Lovers Lane last winter will get their levees repaired. The San Benito County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to repair the Pacheco Creek levee system damaged by last winter’s storms. Supervisor Anthony Botelho recused himself from the...