Columnists

There’s a few interesting news items worth mentioning this week. First comes word from China that Chinese pet owners have started importing pet food and treats made in the United States because of concerns about contamination in their own domestic products. Seems they won’t buy their own stuff ever since reports surfaced about salmonella contamination and other problems. Perhaps now they’ll see better quality control from these companies. I still say we should all avoid pet products imported from China.

Rapazzini Winery on U.S. 101 and Highway 25 is the embodiment of all that is sacred in Gilroy: wine, garlic and family ties.

Powerful conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s three-day verbal assault on Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke is outrageous for many reasons. Limbaugh’s choice of words – the subject of his narrow, half-hearted apology – is just the beginning.

 Like most people, you probably save and invest throughout your working years so that you’ll be able to afford a comfortable retirement.

The first step toward a California housing recovery has been taken, in the form of the mid-February legal settlement between 49 states and the five large banks that were the leading culprits in the years of mortgage fraud that created a price bubble and convinced many thousands of homeowners to take on high-value mortgages.

It is not uncommon to hear people say something like: “I don’t need to go to church. I can worship God in nature on a sandy seashore or even a golf course.” Well, a group of Bay Area Christians have formed an organization that combines worship of God and appreciation of nature.

If you want to laugh, if you want your senses to be drowned in spectacular color and sound, and most all, if you want to feel good, go see “Beauty and the Beast” with or without the kids. This production is more than the telling of the old fairy tale: It is an artistic conception that challenges the imagination and opens doors to ultimate creativity.

Cruciferous is a designation that comprises the Brassica members of the cabbage family, including cavolo nero, mustard and turnip greens, along with cauliflower and collards, plus radishes, horseradish and arugula. The name derives from the flower common to these plants, the four petals of which spread to form a cross. Hence, “crucifer”-ous.

The library at Hollister’s Sunnyslope Elementary School was packed with second-graders that rainy afternoon recess period. In all the racket and ruckus, I found a quiet corner to peruse a book I’d discovered on the shelves. It featured a funny little orange fellow with an oversized walrus mustache – a creature dreamed up by author Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Upon finishing my first reading of “The Lorax,” a simple tale teaching the importance of good stewardship of our planet’s natural resources, my child’s mind had learned some  environmental truths: All life is valuable. All life is fragile. All life is connected in a great tapestry of creation.

Big news, but will it make a big difference? On Feb. 9, the Justice Department announced it had struck a settlement approaching $26 billion with the major U.S. mortgage servicers.