News

Garden Railroad Tour: Garden railroaders in the South Santa Clara Valley and Santa Cruz areas will open their homes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Visitors are asked to bring a donation of nonperishable food (or cash, checks or gift cards for Nob Hill or Safeway) when they pick up a guide book. Details: (408) 683-4537.

A deputy district attorney said he expects the office to make a formal charging decision Friday relating to accusations a 17-year-old Morgan Hill resident stabbed a Hollister man to death.

Ricardo Ramos spent part of last week on location filming a short film he is hoping will be making the festival circuit in the coming months. Ramos, who attended Rancho San Justo Middle School and graduated from San Benito High School in 1999, said he took a circuitous route to becoming the director of the short film.

The proposed changes in water rates at the Hollister and Sunnyslope Water Districts modify the fixed price, tier price, and tier steps over several of years. This makes forecasting of water bills difficult for the average homeowner.

Construction of the new San Benito County courthouse has been moving at a brisk pace on the lot at the corner of Monterey and Fourth streets. Judge Steven Sanders said last week the court staff members estimate the first proceedings will be held at the new courthouse location by the end of this year or early in 2014.

While Hollister's Relay For Life is over, one little girl who helped start out the cancer survivor's lap on Aug. 3 has one more celebration coming her way.

On a visit to Hollister last week, San Luis Wildlife Refuge Complex manager Kim Forrest talked about current easements and prospects for others under the federal government's proposed California Foothills Legacy voluntary program. Her office currently manages nearly 200 easements - they usually involve the government paying landowners a certain amount per acre to follow certain requirements - for duck-hunting clubs.

A key environmental document for a federal easement program aiming to permanently set aside huge swaths of rangeland notes that San Benito County is excluded from the proposal's preferred alternative.

Supportive sentiments and concerned opposition categorize two sides emerging from Monday’s passage of California’s new education code, which allows transgender students to use school restrooms and locker rooms as well as play on athletic teams that match their “gender identity” instead of the sex listed on their birth certificate.

CMAP open mic: CMAP is hosting their open mic night for Aug. 16, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the CMAP studio at Christopher High School, 850 Day Road, in Gilroy. If you want to perform in a TV studio and have your talents broadcast on cable TV come perform at the CMAP open mic night. Poets, musicians, and any other kind of artist. Call to sign up with Mitch Goldsmith, (408)722-9144.