Insights and Opinions

This is the first time in my life I have had to depend on a well for my water, and I have been seriously thinking of letting my lawn go dry. However, it would be the only lawn on the whole block which would be dry. Then as fate would have it, the Saturday of July 4th weekend, I woke up, and there was no water. The well had gone dry. At…

It was not that long ago when we first stepped onto our own sailboat in Alameda, and sailed out into San Francisco Bay. The year was 1994. We had only…

By Steve Tietjen, Ed.D. & Salvador Sandoval, MD It has been more than a year since the COVID-19 health crisis disrupted our lives. While most…

Paradise, California is like a moonscape. It has been more than two and half years since the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history — the Camp Fire. The blaze was also the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses. Today, there are some new homes being built on what were once…

With 41 percent of the normal rainfall in most areas of California, what are we looking at this fire season? The same as the past, only worse. There…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Publisher John Derby drove more than 4,000 miles in less than a week to be with his sister for her 88 birthday and present in Illinois for…

We are in the GREEN tier! That means we can toss the masks, go buy gas for less than $2 per gallon and head for Fresno for a flight to London! … Not. APRIL FOOLS! Unfortunately, Merced is one of eight (of 58) counties stuck in the purple tier that indicates widespread outbreak. But things are slowly progressing. Last week, our…

I'm working on my 18th trip to Kenya in December. On my second trip to Kenya, I saw a Maasai elder with a deep scar across his chest. I asked my friend,…

By Juan Sánchez Muñoz Fifty-five years ago this week, a major movement in U.S. civil rights history spent the night in Merced on its march from Delano to…

By Mike Biddison The official beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere this year came and went on Saturday, March 20th. The day passed hardly noticed by me and other Californians because we all normally spot signs of spring in mid-February — the flowering almonds, peaches, and flowering pears on M Street (Veterans Blvd). This year, most…