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Bill’s Bullpen is hosting another free comic event.

When it comes to the topic of holistic practices, it’s going to be hard to top what Holistic Management International (HMI) has going on Friday through Sunday at Paicines Ranch. HMI is holding its yearly conference, which this year is entitled, Cultivating Community: Land, Food, Health.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Luis Valdez, the playwright, theater director, actor and lifelong activist, joined arts luminaries Thursday morning at the White House to receive the 2015 National Medal of Arts.

Why should I care about Zika if I’m not planning on getting pregnant or I’m not pregnant? Although summer has come to an end and travel has slowed down, 40 million people or more travel to Zika-affected countries every year. It is only a matter of time before local transmission of the virus occurs, say infectious experts. It’s most likely to happen when an infected traveler returns to the U.S. and is bitten by a local mosquito that’s capable of spreading the disease. It’s essentially every person’s responsibility, then, to make it harder for mosquitoes to spread the virus. We want people to get rid of the mosquito-breeding sites on their property to protect pregnant women as well as themselves.

We’re all tired of hearing about the drought; tired of trying to squeeze a little more savings out of our gardens and indoor water use; tired of processing bad news about dying fisheries, drying wells, suffering farmers and dead trees.

Luis Valdez, a proud 45-year resident of San Juan Bautista, can’t wait to bring a slice of San Benito County to the nation’s capitol.

Revered in the wine world, Josh Jensen is the winemaker at Calera Wine. He’s graced the cover of Wine Spectator and Jensen’s pinot noirs are known the world over.So it was during their recent Summer Social & Sliders event that I made my pinot pilgrimage to Calera, to sip and savor wine made from grapevines grown in limestone soil at the site of a former limekiln. Arriving at the winery I was immediately awed by the views provided by the majestic Diablo Mountains.My tasting started inside the cool barrel room with a glass of 2014 Central Coast Chardonnay ($20), awarded “Best Value!” by Wine & Spirits Magazine. Next up was a “spunky and fun” 2015 Pinot Noir Rose—just right for summertime picnics.Although 19 different pinot noirs, all estate grown and from different vineyard blocks, are available for purchase, for the day’s event we were treated to a vertical tasting of pinots from the Jensen Mt. Harlan block: two library and one 2012 release.The pinots were poured next to the outside tent filled with gourmet sliders. Surprisingly, the 2005 Pinot Noir ($94) is still a fabulous wine, showing rich and complex layers of ripe raspberry and Bing cherry. The 2009 Pinot Noir ($104) is silky with sweet spice topping the dense raspberry and cherry cola flavors. Layers of sweet raspberry jam and tart rhubarb give way to leathery notes on the finish of the 2012 Pinot Noir ($92).Taking in the views, I savored the tasty bites and sipped these extraordinary wines.

There are two loan programs, both backed by government agencies, that are sorely underutilized by their constituency.

Once a year, this extraordinarily rural town in San Benito County celebrates itself.