www.montereycountynow.com december 19-25, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 23 There are countless ways to take stock of time—in the news business, at least our news business, it happens every week as we produce a new print edition. Even as we look ahead to 2025, the year-end presents a perfect time to look back at the year that was. From restaurant and sports news to crime and public works projects, the list that follows is just a small sampling of notable events of 2024. Many of these stories remain ongoing, and all have more context and reporting. To read more about any of these, visit montereycountynow.com. -Sara Rubin, editor January Jan. 11 Unable to reach a new agreement with the City of Monterey after an initial five-year contract expired, Pecos League owner Andrew Dunn cut the Amberjacks baseball team from his independent minor league baseball roster. At the time, both sides indicated they hoped an agreement could be hashed out to bring the Amberjacks back to Monterey’s Sollecito Ballpark. And the team could return for the 2025 season, as contract negotiations are close to being finalized in December, with plans to bring a proposal to the Monterey Parks & Recreation Commission in February 2025. Jan. 24 The board of Carmel Unified School District votes 4-1 to appoint Sharon Ofek as superintendent. She served as deputy superintendent starting in 2022, then became acting superintendent after her predecessor, Ted Knight, resigned in 2023. Ofek becomes the district’s seventh superintendent since 2015. Many members of the public urge the board to conduct a nationwide search, but the board disagreed. “It feels like there is stability,” board member Seaberry Nachbar said previously. “I am excited to work with Sharon to figure out some goals. I don’t think right now is the time to do a search.” Jan. 24 The Weekly confirms that Kaiser Permanente is beginning renovations on a 30,618-square-foot former Babies ‘R’ Us in North Salinas with plans to open its first clinic in Monterey County. It’s a big move for the health care giant, which has been angling to enter the county’s marketplace since at least 2021. With hospital services from Watsonville Community Hospital, Kaiser could siphon off privately insured patients in North Monterey County from Monterey County hospitals like Natividad and Salinas Valley Health. The new clinic is scheduled to open in January 2025. February Feb. 1 To say the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was unique in the tournament’s history is an understatement. After uneventful opening rounds starting Feb. 1, Wyndham Clark spent Saturday, Feb. 3, breaking the event and course record at Pebble Beach Golf Links, firing a 12-under round of 60. Then, after a deluge and high winds, and with Pebble Beach under shelterin-place orders, play was canceled Sunday, Feb. 4 and the tournament called after 54 holes, with Clark the winner. But those were minor storylines. For the first time since the Pebble Beach Pro-Am began in 1947, there were no celebrities in the field. Now deemed a signature event by the PGA Tour, the field consisted of the world’s top golfers, many—like world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler—taking part for the first time, with a total purse increased from $9 million to $20 million. Feb. 18 Two retirees who live near Highway 68 team up in their opposition to roundabouts on the highway, and advocate for the Transportation Agency for Monterey County to instead install adaptive AI technology to the highway’s traffic signals. Months later, on Oct. 23, TAMC’s board votes unanimously to install the technology into all nine of the signals where roundabouts are proposed, a process expected to take about a year. The project is funded by up to $500,000 generated by Measure X, a 2016 countywide ballot measure to fund infrastructure for transportation projects. Feb. 22 Fed up with what they viewed as an authoritarian homeowner’s association, residents in East Garrison came out of the woodwork to voice their concerns about the HOA’s board of directors, and the selective enforcement of the HOA’s rules for residents. Two members of the HOA board later resign, and some new board members are elected in the fall. Feb. 27 Inside his small downtown Pacific Grove laboratory, infectious disease expert and physician David Craig Wright and his team at D4 Labs invented a modification of the SARS-CoV-2, or Covid-19, virus and a new vaccine delivery system, earning Wright his 20th U.S. patent on Feb. 27. The patent also covers the fact that the vaccine can be delivered subcutaneously, or under the skin, which can be painless compared to most vaccines that must be injected into muscle. Wright and his team were invited to share their discoveries at the International Vaccines Conference in October. Feb. 29 The County of Monterey’s building on Broadway Avenue in Seaside has long been due for an upgrade, and on Feb. 29, the county unveiled plans for a new building on the site that is projected to cost around $115 million. The vision for the proposed 60,000-squarefoot, four-story building is that it will be a hub for a suite of county services. The District Attorney’s Office is expected to have a satellite office there, and Seaside’s library is envisioned to relocate within the building as well. March March 3 A shooting that killed four people at a party in King City rocked the South County community. On May 10, three Greenfield residents are caught and arrested for the murders, as well as for a double homicide in February in Soledad. Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto says more than 20 regional, state We revisit the moments that made headlines in Monterey County this year. By Sloan Campi, Erik Chalhoub, Dave Faries, Celia Jiménez, Pam Marino, Agata Pop˛eda, Katie Rodriguez, Sara Rubin and David Schmalz Photos by Daniel Dreifuss Kate Daniels celebrates her victory for Monterey County supervisor on March 3. She won the primary outright, with over 50 percent of the vote in three-way race. year in news
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==