Politics

Allowing religious organizations to use a downtown public signpost for event advertisements—like a church men’s conference promotion currently displayed—means the City of Hollister must provide the same access for other types of groups “that could be quite controversial,” argued the co-founder of the national Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Thirteen years after an attorney and an anonymous group calling itself Los Valientes filed a lawsuit against then-Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, outside legal fees in the case have reached $585,121, according to records obtained by the Free Lance.

Assemblyman Luis Alejo's bill aiming to ban the use of "Redskins" as a public school mascot name in California is headed to the governor's desk for a possible signature.

Hollister School District trustees voted this week to make a provisional appointment instead of calling a special election to fill a vacant position after their board president resigned in late August.

The Hollister Airshow lost money for the fifth of six years in its existence, while council members didn't show any reluctance toward continuing on for a seventh year.

The City of Hollister is applying for grant funds with the hope of using them toward a trail project at Vista Park Hill.

Hollister council members Tuesday approved changes to the city's policy for employee use of credit cards following a Free Lance inquiry into the matter just two weeks ago, but none of the officials questioned how nearly $800,000 was charged on the Cal Cards last fiscal year.

San Benito County's total assessed property value exceeded $7 billion for the first time as of Jan. 1 of 2015, according to the assessor's report released last week and approved by supervisors Tuesday.

San Benito County supervisors Tuesday agreed to allocate $25,000 among three business groups to promote economic development.