Guest Columnist

I recently listened to Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming. I was fascinated by her life and the depth of skills and experience she had before becoming the First Lady.

Over the last year, in response to significant declines in transportation funding, the state legislature proposed a number of bills to stabilize funding. Ultimately, in April, the state passed Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act. The bill focused on providing a steady stream of transportation funding to address the backlog of state and local transportation projects. The legislation combined new diesel and gasoline taxes with vehicle fees and Caltrans efficiencies to fund local and state roadway repairs (including storm damage local matches), public transportation, congested corridors, bike and pedestrian improvements and more. The bill also allows for cities and counties with their own local tax measure (such as our recently passed Measure D) to apply for additional funds.

While the county works to reduce emissions and keep climate change from getting worse, the Climate Action Strategy presents a set of strategies to address the county’s vulnerabilities to climate change that will occur. The strategies include a broad range

The oldest baby boomers (those born in the year 1946) began turning age 70.5 in summer of 2016 and have begun taking required minimum distributions (“RMDs”) under IRS guidelines for at least one if not two tax years now (2016 and 2017). The rules surrounding RMDs can be confusing and mistakes can be costly. Below are a few tips to keep in mind when managing your RMDs.

A tiny six-page pamphlet about Aptos Village reads: Not so long ago there were hundreds of Aptos Indians still living and working in this area. Ralph Mattison, banker, tells of seeing them camped on the beach and remembers his father giving them cheese and milk...

As I begin each new year as your County Supervisor, I like to report back in this column on some of the things we’ve accomplished because of your partnership and communication of priorities. Here is a very small overview of what we accomplished in 2017: Community Meetings: In 2017, we’ve held 71 open office hours in Aptos, Corralitos, La Selva Beach and Watsonville and held or attended nearly 50 community and neighborhood meetings in Seacliff, La Selva Beach, Aptos, Watsonville, Capitola and Corralitos. In addition, I’ve written over 50 columns in local papers and neighborhood newsletters and sent a number of e-newsletters to communicate with our district about county happenings.

Across Santa Cruz County, inventory and sales volume is down from a year ago.

For the first time in decades, significant upgrades and improvements are planned for libraries in our district. Let’s look at how we got here, what’s planned and how you can get involved in the process.

Dear Nicole, I want my kids to learn the value of money. My partner and I both work two jobs to make ends meet, and we live on a tight budget.

Once each decade, the U.S. Census Bureau attempts to count every person in the United States. The next count will occur in a year and will be the first to rely heavily on online responses.