Politics

San Benito County District Attorney Candice Hooper said she will ask a special forensic accountant to investigate possible fraud or theft by county School Board President Mitchell Dabo, in connection with missing funds from a local charitable trust. But there is a catch. Hooper said...

The Hollister Animal Control Bureau euthanized 1,411 animals last year, nearly half of what it impounded, according to a report by the San Benito County Civil Grand Jury. Last week, the Hollister City Council approved the city’s response to the annual report, which also...

San Benito County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jamie De La Cruz announced on Tuesday his opposition to a potential $248 million bond measure for Gavilan College. The Gavilan Joint Community College District Board of Trustees is considering placing a potential bond measure on the November...

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors this week approved $275,000 in additional funding for repairs to the Pacheco Creek levee system, damaged during last winter’s storms. The allocation at a special Tuesday meeting followed previous board action in October that dedicated $350,000 of general...

San Juan Bautista Mayor Chris Martorana this week tried and failed to remove city Planning Commission Chairman John Hopper from the planning body without cause. In its public discussion of the mayor’s proposal at a special meeting of the San Juan Bautista City Council, the...

The lawsuit filed by the Community Foundation for San Benito County against the president of the San Benito County Board of Education, Mitchell Dabo, is finally scheduled for trial on Monday, Nov. 13. At stake is at least $1.8 million that the foundation is seeking...

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...