www.montereycountynow.com OCTOBER 16-22, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 25 INSIDER IMPACT REPORT october 17-23, 2024 montereycountynow.com LocAL & InDePenDent houses of the future 14 | monterey bAy AquArIum At 40 16 | new LIfe for the DeAD cAssettes 39 the monterey county meDIA LIterAcy coALItIon Is fInDIng wAys to teAch us ALL how to thInk crItIcALLy. p. 22 By Sara Rubin Fact or Fiction? fIrst PLAce generAL exceLLence • 2024 cA JournALIsm AwArDs • Disinformation Impact Our cover story in October 2024 showcased the efforts of the new Monterey County Media Literacy Coalition (of which the Weekly is a member) and described the work being done in local high schools, at the state legislature and in higher education. The goal of the coalition is to put into effect the state law requiring media literacy to be taught in high schools so that students have skills to know what information is credible. In May of 2025, 115 participants showed up at a panel discussion on the topic in Carmel. As Mark Gomez of UC Santa Cruz said, “The things we are talking about here today could save this country’s democracy.” Romantic Impact For our Valentine’s Day cover story, we profiled Lisa Love—yes, that’s her real name—who met her husband via the personal ads in the Weekly in 1999. “I wanted a boyfriend,” Love says. “So I did a thing, I went crazy and put an ad in the Weekly.” Meanwhile, Dan Malone recalled, “I had been single for a year and I was tired of being single. I wanted to be in a relationship.” He didn’t drink, so bars weren’t really his scene—“I’m not much for social things,” he says—and he had already placed his own ad in the Weekly. “What the heck, I’ll take a swing at it,” he says. Except for a brief split they have been together ever since. MARCH 20-26, 2025 MONTEREYCOUNTYNOW.COM LOCAL & INDEPENDENT FARMWORKERS TEACHING FARMWORKERS 11 | METAL HEADS 29 | DISASTER MASTER 32 FIRST PLACE GENERAL EXCELLENCE • 2024 CA JOURNALISM AWARDS • WITH FEDERAL SPENDING UNDER THE MICROSCOPE, HERE’S A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT CAME TO MONTEREY COUNTY LAST YEAR. P. 16 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION $14,746,633 HOUSING $65,295,512 MILITARY CONTRACTS $681,378,000 AGRICULTURE $11,386,441 HIGHER EDUCATION $76,749,022 K-12 EDUCATION $160,585,153 ROADS/SURFACE TRANSPORTATION $185,219,000 MST $16,500,000 MONTEREY REGIONAL AIRPORT $37,000,000 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT $18,400,000 PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK $4,079,000 PUBLIC HEALTH/ CLINICS $54,388,506 HOSPITALS $89,000,000 Your Federal Dollars at Work, Locally Big Picture Impact In March of this year, the editorial team took on the ambitious project of attempting to detail for the first time for the community just how much federal money comes to Monterey County and where it gets spent. The object was to illuminate a baseline for funds that were in jeopardy of being cut by the Trump administration. The team tallied at least $7.5 billion flowing to public health, hospitals, agricultural grants, infrastructure and transportation projects, higher ed institutions, scientific research, and public media, all detailed in the only comprehensive outline of the work by a range of local agencies and their employees that are being impacted. Deep Incremental Impact From the immediate on-theground coverage of the fires at the battery storage facility operated by Vistra Energy at Moss Landing last January through the update from the EPA in July, the Weekly’s reporters and editors have filed 27 separate stories (and counting) about the past, present and future of the industrial site. In March we published the most detailed examination of the permitting process that led to the development of the battery storage facility and the evolution of the battery technology at the site, the safety risks going forward and its importance as a part of a clean energy future for California. It is typical of our enterprise reporting that goes beyond the headlines. INSIDER.MONTEREYCOUNTYNOW.COM IMPACT REPORT continued next page Welcome to Monterey County Weekly’s annual report to our Insiders. This is the select group of readers who have made direct financial contributions in support of the company’s journalism and as such have become stakeholders in our project. While typically we relay the details of what’s happening in the community to our readers, in this annual publication we turn our gaze inward and report out some of the impacts from the past 12 months that resulted from the investments the Insiders have made. From the first edition in September of 1988 to today, the mission of the news organization has been remarkably consistent. Journalism has been and remains at the core of the business. To produce and distribute engaging and informative local stories is still the fundamental enterprise that drives the company in 2025. In these pages are a few specific accounts of impacts across the full scope of Monterey County Weekly and Monterey County Now.
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