Dear Readers,
City officials say staffing shortages at PG&E are to blame for the three-day outage that messed up everybody’s Christmas. Mary Schley reports.
Last week’s storm swept through the entire county, but lengthy outages only happened on the Peninsula. Are strict tree ordinances to blame? Kelly Nix has the details.
Pacific Grove is grappling with implementation of the new state housing mandates, and some of the people in a neighborhood picked for affordable units are crying foul. Lily Patterson has that one.
Sacramento politicos are under pressure to increase penalties for DUI, even though the ACLU calls drunk-driving enforcement “a form of racialized wealth extraction." Caitlin Conrad takes a look.
Big Sur made it through last week’s storm relatively unscathed, and Caltrans says the reopening of Highway 1 by the end of March is still on track. A lion was killed recently by a car on San Benancio Road — but was it the one that’s been attacking pets? The SPCA has an unusual patient — a bald eagle that was found injured near Salinas.
The remains of a woman killed Dec. 21 by a shark near Lovers Point were recovered last weekend from a beach near Santa Cruz. Stevenson school apparently considers “Christmas” to be a forbidden word — but not Kwanzaa. Lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, are asking the president to make sure the Gaza peace plan is implemented in full.
Great Lives introduces you to one of the Peninsula’s premier photographers. Dennis Taylor says recent graduates from the sports programs at local high schools are finding a lot of success in college. Our food and wine column makes some unexpected discoveries, introduces you to a new spot for lunch, and explores a batch of good treats. Jerry Gervase laments the passing of some of his favorite people in 2025. And my editorial says if you don’t want the power to go off, start warming up the chain saws.
To return to the download page for the January 2, 2026, edition, please click here.
Copyright, Carmel Communications, Inc.