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Hollister
March 21, 2026

Water Cooler: Should the NCAA punish Penn State’s football program?

This week, the Around the Water Cooler panel answers the question: In light of the scandal leading to legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's ouster and considering repeated acts of alleged abuse were known by university officials for nearly a decade, should the NCAA punish the football program with sanctions?

Editorial: Impact fee decision shows council has mixed priorities

A majority of Hollister council members were out of touch with the community's priorities when they approved a completely irrational set of new traffic impact fees that stand to send an anti-business message to prospective developers.

Marty: Bullet train or the Boondoggle Express?

In November 2008, California voters passed Proposition 1A, the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act, 53 percent to 47 percent. It authorized $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds to help, ostensibly, fund a $40 billion, 800-mile bullet train. Now, only three years later with nothing built the estimated costs have skyrocketed to $98.5 billion, the completion date has been pushed out nine years to 2033, and the maximum annual ridership estimate has shrunk by 18 million. At what point do the misstatements or gross errors that formed the original premise of Prop 1A invalidate the election results?

Marty: The Hoover Dam revisited in 2011

Every politician wants to rebuild the Hoover Dam – at least metaphorically. At one time the national frustration phrase was, "If we can put a man on the moon why can't we...?" Now the moon is "old cheese" and we're invoking the Hoover Dam, but could we even build it today?

Another view: Outrageous raise for Gavilan’s president

Significant local news events of the day have pushed the Gavilan College president's whopping $42,000 salary increase off the front page. But it shouldn't be ignored.

Water Cooler: Should the state proceed with the bullet train?

In this week's Around the Water Cooler question, we ask panelists, "With the estimated cost of the bullet train tripling to nearly $99 billion, should the state proceed with the project?"

Quote of the week

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Letter to the Editor

Unofficial poll points to favorite candidate

Chickmo

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