Editorials

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in late March that he didn’t expect President Trump’s tariff announcements to have “a big impact on the economy.” He even went so far as to say that “what we’re doing is long-term very good for the economy.” Mnuchin...

San Benito County District Attorney Candice Hooper told us this week that her forensic accountant has finished his examination of bank records of the Matulich Charitable Trust, and that she has forwarded the case back to Hollister Police “for further investigation” of possible criminal...

One prevailing stereotype of Californians—shared by state residents as well as red-state politicians and the Trump Administration—is that we pay higher taxes than anyone else in the country. A national consumer website, WalletHub, this month has released its 2018 Taxpayer Survey, as well as its...

The printing press remains the symbol—despite the arrival of online news—of the Fourth Estate, of “Freedom of the Press.” That’s why for centuries one of the first acts of authoritarian rulers was to smash the printing presses of the opposition. In 21st Century democracies, the...

Sadly, events in distant cities mean that our students and teachers have had to add another set of tools for school safety that we all hope they never have to use. Preparations for a broad list of calamities—earthquake, fire, bomb threats, gunfire—are now a fact...

Sonny Perdue is a veterinarian, and a former governor of Georgia. He also is the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He spent one day in the nation’s biggest agricultural state last week—California—presumably to show that the Trump Administration cares about and understands our state’s critical...

Sonny Perdue is a veterinarian, and a former governor of Georgia. He also is the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He spent one day in the nation’s biggest agricultural state last week—California—presumably to show that the Trump Administration cares about and understands our state’s critical...

Showy military displays go back millennia, to ancient Egypt and Greece and beyond. Yet, the U.S. has no consistent tradition of big military parades, especially since the Second World War. Why is that? Ask any senior officer. She or he will explain that it’s because...

The San Benito Business Council this week announced its support of the 2017-2022 San Benito County Comprehensive Economic Development strategy. Here is that strategy’s Executive Summary. How do we build on our strengths and maximize our opportunities? How do we reach out to others who...

News this week that the new state election reform law is requiring that the date of the election of San Benito County’s Board of Education trustees be moved from June to November is a mixed blessing for county voters. On the plus side, the change...