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Do you need a college degree to succeed? That assumption is long-entrenched, and it isn't hard to see a relationship between education and earning power. Yet the cost and debt linked to getting a degree are so significant now that some contrarians are saying “skip it” - go learn in the world rather than on campus, if you're smart you'll do just as well in life.

In London in 1976, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice released an album of a show that would be called “Evita.” By early 1977, the album took the world by storm and when “Evita” premiered in London in June 1978, everyone was humming "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." In September 1979, “Evita” opened on Broadway to a sold out run and won seven Tonys, including Best Musical, Score, Book and Director. “Evita's” Broadway run went on for four years.

I was a young kid back in the 1960s, growing up in Cupertino when it was surrounded by acres of fruit orchards and cutting ’cots (apricots) for a summer job was a rite of passage. I remember my older brothers racing home on their bikes - out of breath - after being shot at with salt pellets from a BB-gun-wielding farmer for stealing a handful of cherries. Our fertile Santa Clara Valley, filled with a profusion of spring blossoms, was dubbed the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.”

If you're like many people, you may not like participating in

I woke up this morning, went downstairs, read the paper, sipped

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Since the 1960's, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has worked to protect open space in northwestern Santa Clara County and southern San Mateo County. Twenty years ago, realizing the need to extend protection to the rest of Santa Clara County, the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority was created by an act of the California legislature. They have been busy ever since.

You know you're a gardener when a tree can make your day or can

Like many pets, kittens and cats are considered part of the family. People have such a close bond with cats, so it is no surprise we want to spoil them every so often. The next time your kitten or cat deserves a treat, instead of reaching for the factory-created ones in a pouch, consider one of the three recipes for homemade cat treats I feature today.