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By J.D. Hillard
In the Monterey County supervisorial district comprised of the central portion of Salinas, incumbent Fernando Armenta and challenger Tony Barrera both prioritize jobs and reducing youth violence.
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In tonight’s Talk of the Bay Jeff Taylor and Sam Farr – Congressman Sam Farr has represented much of the MontereyBaysince the early 1990s. Jeff Taylor has challenged him for his seat in Congress for several successive elections. He’s doing it again this year. We roughly split the hour between them. Just a note, these are pretty broad ranging interviews. My goal is to introduce these candidates to you and to talk about the issues that affect the MontereyBayarea. They mention a lot of facts, I had time to check few of them. Please go ahead and if you find falsehoods, email jd@kusp.org with some clear citation and I’ll note the new facts on the Web page with this show.
Start some fact checking on your own: historical federal spending
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Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers - playing in April 2011. Photo: Stewart Vincient
By J.D. Hillard
The Doobie Brothers continue their long career with a steady schedule of touring. One of the band’s founders Pat Simmons spoke with KUSP’s Kirby Scudder ahead of their recent performance at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival.
Tuesday offers voters around the Monterey Bay region the privilege to choose county Supervisors or to decide on whether taxes should be levied to make up shortfalls for local agencies. This ballot is also a primary for several legislative offices and the race for United State President. For an overview of Monterey Bay area choices I spoke with Royal Caulkins of the Monterey County Herald and Don Miller of the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
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'I Dream of Chang and Eng'
Chang and Eng Bunker were conjoined twins who presented themselves in freak shows in the mid 19th century. UCSC Theater Arts performs the play inspired by their lives, I Dream of Chang and Eng, from May 25, through June 3. The leading actors and director spoke to KUSP’s Rick Kleffel.
Also on this program, otters nearly went extinct on the California coast. The fur trade of the 19th century eliminated nine tenths of the original population. Since a few dozen were discovered near Big Sur in the 30′s their numbers grew to about 24 hundred in the last decade, but have declined since. Otter 501 is a new film illustrating their tenuous recovery and the role this animal plays in the relationship between humans and the ocean. The film makers spoke with KUSP’s Kelly O’Brien.
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By J.D. Hillard
Courtesy of Woody Guthrie Archives
Bike week begins tomorrow – the semiannual celebration of cycling. Cyclists get free coffee in Santa Cruz County. Monterey County businesses are competing for the most bike friendly workplace award. And on Thursday all around the Monterey Bay cyclists will be served breakfast. Piet Canin, a long time organizer of bike week discusses the accomplishments the event has made in its 25 years. And the Steinbeck Festival was May 3-6 at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. One of the speakers this year was Nora Guthrie, director of the Woody Guthrie Archives. She also spoke to KUSP.
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Santa Cruz celebrates its 100th art tour. Kirby Scudder, one of the events’ founders takes us back to the beginning. Also Ken Burson offers a look at a computer game to help low income couples prepare for birth and Meghan Rosen reports on at the continuing hazard of lead in the environment and new stricter regulations for the toxic element. Also when Monterey Bay area schools fall behind, one of the critical standards they hope to improve is math. They’re not alone, schools across the state are struggling to improve math scores – let alone restore art class. Lillian Mongeau reports that a southern California group is demonstrating how both to reach both goals. And David Anthony’s look back at the two film versions and the novel, Cry the Beloved Country.
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The Watsonville Community Band performed at the White House and taken its show around the world. For the last 7 years its been conducted by Eugene Smith, a member of the band since 1966. Smith has announced he’s retiring from the band. KUSP’s Wes Sims reports from one of Eugene Smith’s final rehearsals.
Also in the show: Leslie Sunny is the Executive Director of the Food Bank for Monterey County. The food bank has been feeding more people while adjusting from using donated surplus food to distributing fresh fruit and vegetables.
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Santa Cruz County’s Local Agency Formation Commission was expected to okay the esxtension of Santa Cruz City water service to the north of the current UCSC campus, allowing the university to expand. Sante Cruz County District 1 Supervisor John Leopold serves on the commission. He explains his motion that delayed the approval. Monterey County emergency services manager Sherrie Collins discusses Monterey County’s preparations for tsunamis.
