Erika Mahoney

With over 1 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases and surging, California is pumping the brakes on reopening. We checked in with Dr. Allen Radner for the fourth time since the beginning of the pandemic. He’s Chief Medical Officer of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System and an infectious disease specialist. Last weekend (November 14-15, 2020), Monterey County hospitals had 51 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, an all time high.

It’s that time of year again when thousands of western monarch butterflies begin to show up in the Monterey Bay area to spend the winter. They come from all over the western United States and southwestern Canada. 

Historically, youth voter turnout is low. But young people are more engaged than ever before. Voter registration numbers among California college students tripled this election season compared to all of 2016, according to the state. KAZU spoke with young voters in our community who are making their mark this election.

As the pandemic shakes up how we vote, Santa Cruz County has rolled out something new, a mobile voting center. Called the “VoteMobile,” it has been cruising through the county since mid-October, bringing voting directly to residents. Not only is the VoteMobile serving those who can’t venture far from their homes due to COVID-19, it’s also helping those who lost their homes in the CZU Lightning Complex fire.

Early voting began this week in California and mail-in ballots started landing in mailboxes. Besides the important decisions you’ll make on candidate races, ballot props and, of course, the next president, you also have to figure out how to cast your ballot.

This year, amid a pandemic, all registered voters in California will receive a ballot in the mail. Locally, ballots are already beginning to arrive. There’s a lot to keep track of and a lot of curiosity, like how is my signature verified? Gail Pellerin, Santa Cruz County’s chief elections official, answered our questions. 

With sheer precision, a farm worker harvests a row of strawberries. He tosses the bruised berries that won’t sell on the ground, the others into plastic packaging. It’s hard work, even without a pandemic and wildfires. 

The River Fire, south of Salinas, is 10% contained and has burned 2,800 acres. Around 1,500 structures are threatened and five have been damaged. Not only are people evacuating, so are their animals.

Over the past few months, we’ve been inundated with data about COVID-19, from maps to graphs to data dashboards. Add to that a glitch in the state’s reporting system, which led to a backlog in test results. It’s all a lot to process.

Before the pandemic, county health officers mainly worked behind-the-scenes. Now, they are center stage. In a one-on-one conversation, KAZU’s Erika Mahoney interviewed Dr. Gail Newel, the Health Officer for Santa Cruz County. They discuss a variety of topics, from new evidence on the effectiveness of masks to how the pandemic has affected her daily life. 

As COVID-19 boomerangs in California, local hospitals are treating a record number of patients. KAZU News checked in with Dr. Allen Radner, Chief Medical Officer of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System.

A Monterey County doctor spent two months working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. He was deployed as part of the military’s response to the coronavirus.

July 15 is the extended deadline to file 2019 income taxes. Next year, some undocumented families will qualify, for the first time, for California’s tax credit program for low income workers. 

Far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean is a lab run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, MBARI. From here, scientists have been studying deep-sea communities, and they’ve been at it now for over 30 years. This was cause for a special issue of the journal Deep-Sea Research Part II, in which marine scientists published 16 papers about their findings.

California is now asking Monterey County to reclose a number of businesses. It comes after the state placed Monterey County on its COVID-19 watchlist due to elevated COVID-19 transmission.

While much of the nation is confronting the ongoing killings of civilians by police officers, in Santa Cruz County, the life of Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller was honored Wednesday. Gutzwiller was killed in the line of duty earlier this month.