KAZU News

Monterey Bay This Week: a century of Chautauqua Hall dancing, avian flu outbreak and battery fire update

KAZU | By Katie Brown,

Erin Malsbury, Ngozi Cole, Elena Neale-Sacks, Martha Tabares

Published March 21, 2026 at 2:00 AM PDT

An adult male elephant seal lies in the sand and eyes the camera. — The Año Nuevo elephant seal population is closely monitored by researchers at UC Santa Cruz and partners. Public tours are closed for safety.

Highlights from this week's news roundup:

The Chautauqua Hall Dance Club in Pacific Grove is celebrating 100 years of hosting weekly socials with a Roaring '20s event that includes a free dance lesson.
At least one southern sea otter and a California sea lion have tested positive for avian flu in addition to elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park.
Monterey County Supervisors are demanding more accountability from Vistra after conflicting reports about the ecological impacts of last year’s battery fire.

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Katie Brown

Katie Brown comes to KAZU after earning spot news and investigative journalism awards for her reporting and photography in Maine. A Report for America alumna and former Metcalf Institute fellow, Katie’s reporting beats span business, environment, and public health.

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Erin Malsbury

Erin is an award-winning journalist and photographer. She's written for local and national outlets, including the Smithsonian and Science Magazine. She has a master's degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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Ngozi Cole

Before joining KAZU, Ngozi covered health, business and economy stories for WYSO in southwest Ohio and The Ohio Newsroom. She’s also worked as a freelance reporter for Reveal, The New Humanitarian and other outlets.

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Elena Neale-Sacks

Elena is an Emmy award-winning researcher, reporter, and producer. At KAZU, they cover agriculture, housing and homelessness, and the aftermath of the January 2025 lithium battery fire in Moss Landing. Their reporting and research has been featured on NPR, KQED, Netflix, Reveal, CalMatters, and more. Elena is an alum of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and UC Santa Cruz. You can reach them at elena@kazu.org.

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Martha Tabares

Martha Tabares is a student intern at KAZU News, and started in January 2026. She is a third year at Cal Sate Monterey Bay, and is majoring in Humanities and Communications with a minor in Journalism. Martha has hopes for a career in fashion journalism.

See stories by Martha Tabares