To lend his campaign some gravitas, Bernal made a big deal of his 10-year plan for the department. Six-plus years later, it remains mostly that, a plan. According to his critics, including three ...

UPDATE: This article, posted a week ago, states that four inmates had died in the Monterey County Jail this year, the most recent in June. But, unknown to Voices, another inmate was found unresponsive ...

April 25, 2023 How students are helping to get people out of prison In “Making An Exoneree,” students from UCSC and Georgetown bring investigation and storytelling together in the pursuit of justice.

September 25, 2022 First they came for the newspapers. Then for mobile home parks. The owners of the Monterey Herald and the Santa Cruz Sentinel walk away from unpaid bills as they amass personal ...

The longstanding legal skirmish surrounding the planned football stadium upgrade at Monterey High School now includes allegations that the Monterey Peninsula school district relied on falsified fire ...

After months of lobbying by dozens of low-income residents, Salinas officials will consider a rent stabilization ordinance that advocates say is way overdue. Organizers led by Building Healthy ...

February 9, 2023 On the frontlines of pesticide exposure Despite decades of research linking pesticide drift to health harm, regulation remains weak and leaves the most vulnerable with few protections ...

February 13, 2022 Spreading the political wealth In Monterey County, the big money is going into the race for sheriff and for a North County supervisor's position ...

Northern California’s most notorious prison and street gang has infiltrated a nationally known Salinas nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing youth leaders. Public records and extensive ...

Although we skipped a cherished tradition in 2023, we just had to revive the “Books We Loved” for 2024. While social media has brought many distractions — and our national drama only adds to said ...

March 16, 2023 California’s new pesticide notification system aims to protect public health. Will it work? Community activists were instrumental in achieving the landmark program. But they worry it ...

December 27, 2023 The Davids in Appalachia fighting the Monterey Bay Area’s news Goliath A feisty team of lawyers and tenants are fighting the owners of our region’s daily papers — and sometimes, they ...