Guest View

The California State Senate has recognized May as Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month with the passage of Senate Resolution 34, which I was proud to have authored. This designation will help bring attention to this life debilitating disease.  Cystic fibrosis is the most common fatal genetic disease in the United States, with 30,000 people currently afflicted and 1,000 new cases diagnosed every year. One out of every 3,500 babies born in America has cystic fibrosis, and more than 75 percent of people with the disease are diagnosed before the age of two.  Prompt diagnosis of the disease can lead to better treatment of the symptoms and control over the disease, which is defined by a thick buildup of mucus in the lungs, pancreas and other organs, causing persistent infections, lung damage and respiratory failure. And while there is no known cure for this chronic and progressive systemic disease, there have been advancements in research that have produced promising leads in gene, protein and drug therapies that have led to longer life expectancy and better life quality.In the 1950s, cystic fibrosis was almost exclusively found only in children, few of whom lived long enough to even attend elementary school. Through early diagnosis, advancements in medicine and a better understanding of the disease, now over half of those with cystic fibrosis are 18 years of age or older and have a life expectancy into their early 40s.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 12 million Americans are symptomless carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene, and if both you and your partner have the gene, it greatly increases your child’s chance of having the disease.I applaud the work of the researchers and advocates who work for a cure every day and create innovative ways of treating the disease. Through their efforts, those afflicted with cystic fibrosis can pursue their life goals, whether it is a particular career path, marriage, children or all of the above. Please take a moment to learn more about cystic fibrosis.Sen. Bill Monning represents the 17th State Senate District, which includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties, and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties.

This guest view is the first in a periodic series of upcoming op-eds on tips to prepare for wildfire season, which started May 1 in Santa Clara County.No matter where you live, the most common reason homes burn during a wildfire is because embers land on something easily ignitable around the home. Remove leaves and pine needles from your rain gutters. Make changes now to reduce the ember threat to your home.Flaming brands and embers can travel a mile or more ahead of the active front of a wildfire and up to 60 percent of wildland/urban interface home ignitions result from embers.Most of the activity that makes a home less vulnerable to ignition focuses on the home and its immediate surroundings. Our Ember Aware campaign is intended to educate people on the risks of ember cast and the actions they can take to reduce those risks, to encourage residents to harden their homes against embers and/or to maintain those ember-resistant features, and to practice ember-safe housekeeping and landscaping. You can learn more at emberaware.comTip number two: Unclutter the gutter.Rain gutters attached to the edge of your roof are perfect for catching embers during wildfire. Burning embers can land in the gutters, and if they are filled with dried leaves, pine needles and twigs, a fire can start and possibly ignite the roof, roof sheathing and fascia. Even houses with fire-rated roofs are vulnerable to this type of ember attack. Rain gutters made of vinyl will melt and drop into flower beds, igniting plants next to the house and maybe even combustible siding. To keep your home safe, we suggest that you:• Remove all dried leaves, pine needles or other materials from your rain gutters before fire season.• Keep a ladder handy and check your rain gutters throughout the fire season, cleaning them out as necessary.• If a wildfire is approaching and there is no time to clean out the debris, plug the rain gutter downspout with a tennis ball, or something similar so that the downspout will be plugged, and fill the rain gutter with water.Fire Marshal Dwight Good serves the Morgan Hill Fire Department and South Santa Clara County Fire Protection District and the CalFire Santa Clara Unit. He has 24 years of fire service experience. He can be contacted at [email protected].

The City of Morgan Hill is breaking ground on several downtown community parks while continuing to invest in our existing city parks and trails. Construction is beginning on Little Llagas Creek Trail, located west of the Third Street and Monterey Road intersection; Depot Park, along Depot between Third and Fourth Streets; and “Hill Top” Trail, connecting Third and Fifth Streets at Del Monte Avenue. I am proud to make beautiful parks and trails accessible to our residents and encourage you to use them here and throughout South County.The city invests in parks and trails for their many economic, health, environmental and quality of life benefits. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, providing places residents can be physically active can improve both physical and mental health. Chronic disease sufferers can greatly benefit from walking on local trails and spending time at our parks. Being outdoors can increase vitamin D levels, decrease blood sugar levels for diabetes and reduce feelings of depression, thereby improving mental health. Parks and trails function as a hub for community members to meet for social events and recreational activities resulting in increased social cohesion strengthening our community.The City of Morgan Hill has partnered with Santa Clara County Public Health, the City of Gilroy, Santa Clara County Parks, the South County Collaborative and the South County United for Health Leadership Team to coordinate a “Let’s All Go to the Park” project to promote parks and trails as a destination for physical activity and meeting other members of the community. Five free events have been planned in South County geared to all fitness levels.I encourage residents to participate in all five of these events. The first event is at 10 a.m. May 13, starting at the east side of the Centennial Recreation Center, 171 W. Edmundson Ave., and will include a walk or bike ride along Little Llagas Creek Trail. Please join Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman, Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Steve Betando and me for a walk or bike ride on the Little LLagas Creek Trail.Taking steps toward better health as a community is important.  More details are available on the City of Morgan Hill website, morganhill,ca.gov.Steve Tate is the mayor of Morgan Hill. He can be reached at [email protected].

This guest view is the first in a periodic series of upcoming op-eds on tips to prepare for wildfire season, which officially starts May 1 in Santa Clara County.Most people believe that wildfires ignite homes through direct contact with flames, but it is rare to have a home ignite this way. Thanks to effective defensible space campaigns, very few homes are in direct contact with traditional wildland fuel models (e.g., uninterrupted fields of seasonal grass, flammable brush or tree canopies). The collective experience of our wildland firefighters suggests that homes most commonly ignite from airborne flaming brands and embers.Flaming brands and embers can travel a mile or more ahead of the active front of a wildfire. Scientific research finds that up to 60 percent of wildland/urban interface home ignitions result from embers landing on flammable materials such as roofing or landscaping materials, or ember penetration into concealed spaces through vents and other structural openings.Most of the activity that makes a home less vulnerable to ignition focuses on the home and its immediately surroundings. Defensible space preparations are part of the equation, but they do not address the ember threat. Our Ember Aware campaign is intended to educate people on the risks of ember cast and the actions they can take to reduce those risks, to encourage residents to harden their homes against embers and/or to maintain those ember-resistant features, and to practice ember-safe housekeeping and landscaping. You can learn more at emberaware.com.In the coming weeks, we will provide a series of articles and tips on the topic. Make changes now to reduce the ember threat to your home. Tip number one: Stop shaking.• The most reliable way to predict which houses will survive a wildfire and which will be destroyed is by looking at the roof.• Houses with wood shake or shingle roofs are many times more likely to be destroyed during a wildfire. Using wood shakes or shingles for roofs in high fire hazard areas is like stacking hundreds of pounds of kindling on top of your home. During the hot summer months, the shakes or shingles can be nearly bone dry and easily ignited by embers. The embers come from pieces of burning material that can be lofted high into the air during a wildfire and travel a mile or more from the actual fire.• Unfortunately, there is no effective, inexpensive long-term solution to the ember threat to wood roofs. We recommend replacing wood shake or shingle roofs with a rated, fire-resistant roofing material, such as asphalt composition shingles, metal, or concrete or clay tile. Although this can be expensive, it may well be the one thing that saves your home when the embers arrive.Fire Marshal Dwight Good serves the Morgan Hill Fire Department and South Santa Clara County Fire Protection District and the CalFire Santa Clara Unit. He has 24 years of fire service experience. He can be contacted at [email protected].

On Sunday, March 26, residents gathered at St. Catherine Church in Morgan Hill to receive educational information about immigrant rights. Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Steve Betando was asked to speak about the district’s stance on the national immigration discussion and what MHUSD is doing to help students and families. Here is a portion of that speech, which can be read in its entirety on mhusd.org.

April 22 marks the 47th Earth Day—a day created to celebrate our planet, environment and wildlife. Every Californian has a story to tell about how nature has made their lives richer. For some, it is regional food, lakes and rivers, or a beloved local park. For others, it is the ties to ranches, working farms, forests or our magnificent public lands. The ecosystem is one of California’s greatest assets. We have a unique and diverse climate and geography, and some of the most extraordinary plants and wildlife in the world.Today, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the effects of climate change become more and more apparent. Earth Day 2017 provides an opportunity for all of us to do something meaningful for our planet by giving back in our communities. Thousands of volunteers will be needed throughout California to assist with projects such as campfire center improvements, habitat restoration, native garden conservation, fence building, trail maintenance and beach cleanup.The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after he took a trip to Santa Barbara following a devastating oil spill off California’s central coast. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., Nelson introduced a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the Earth. The date was chosen to help commemorate the birth of California naturalist and conservationist John Muir, who was born April 21, 1838.In 1970, the first Earth Day celebrations took place in hundreds of communities across the United States, bringing together millions of Americans who supported environmental reform.  By the end of that year, Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.  By 2000, formal events celebrating Earth Day were being observed in 184 countries, and more than 500 million people participated in those events. It now is considered the largest secular observance in the world, celebrated by more than one billion people every year.Earth Day is a day of action designed to change human behavior and provoke science-based policy changes, and serves as a reminder to us that our planet’s future is in jeopardy. The science is clear: climate change continues to harm our planet and has led to rising sea levels, warmer oceans, rising global temperatures and increased incidences of extreme weather events. I encourage everyone to attend local Earth Day events, which are planned throughout the month of April in communities throughout California. Help do your part to restore and care for the places where we live, work and play…for this and future generations. Seize the opportunity to ensure that nature continues to sustain us in the 21st century.Monning represents the 17th Senate District, which includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties, and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties.

Why do I Relay? My biggest reason is this amazing woman who left us all too soon. Jennifer Pavicich-Murphy was by far one of the greatest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing and calling my friend. For her I Relay!This time last year she and I were lucky enough to be placed in the same corral for the Disneyland Star Wars 10K. Funnily enough, we'd chosen to go as Anna and Elsa. This would be both of our first 10Ks. I was very nervous at first since I had not even run a 5k straight before, but running with Jen pushed me to do it. We spent the first three miles just chatting and catching up when suddenly I realized we'd hit the 5K mark. We both got excited and did a little shout out.We were feeling the Disney magic! She then asked if I was okay to keep going. I felt great, so we did. This was Jen. The girl had been through hell and back battling cancer, was running a 10K, laughing and goofing around, and making sure that I was okay.We slowed around mile 5 to make sure we'd take some pictures and could meet up with the other girls in our group. Thankfully were able to finish with most of them. It was the best feeling in the world to have accomplished that race with my mama tribe and with Jen at my side. We spent the rest of the weekend tearing up Disneyland and having the best weekend ever! Those are memories I will cherish always.We'd make a lot more memories over the following months, especially during special events like her 80s themed birthday and Relay for Life. At Relay we'd all planned to really go all out the following year and make the event one for the books.Sadly, we would lose our beautiful Jen much sooner than anyone expected. Our sweet girl went up to be our forever angel this past August. It still hurts that she can't be with us, but I know deep down inside that she is watching over us all, smiling, just waiting to catch up on all of our adventures one day.This beautiful friend, mother, wife, daughter, sister, niece—she is why I Relay. I will participate in her memory and in memory of all of those we've loved and lost to cancer. I will continue the fight because we all deserve to live in a world without cancer.Last year Jen shared why she relayed: "I RELAY because I want my boys to live in a world where cancer is a disease of the past. Where adults and children of all ages no longer have to endure this fight. And where technology and medicine can provide us with a CURE for every type of cancer. Every step we take brings us closer to these goals."   People like Jen and their families deserve a cure. We shouldn't need to share our warriors stories anymore. We should be able to celebrate that cancer has been cured and that our children get to grow up without knowing the pain of this ugly disease.  The American Cancer Society strives to improve the lives of all those touched by cancer. By creating Relay for Life, they gave us an event to focus all of our energy on, to help raise those funds that are so desperately needed to end this disease.I really hope that after reading this, you'll consider attending our Relay for Life event here in Morgan Hill May 20. Teams, sponsors, attendees, each and every one of you has some way, whether it be large or small, to help make this event great. Let's end this fight for Jen, and for all of those who have been touched by cancer!Amanda Banta, a Morgan Hill resident, is the social media lead for the local Relay for Life.

Regulations issued by President Donald Trump to Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices are chilling.All undocumented people working and living in the U.S. are now legally deportable. This includes not only “the bad guys” with criminal records but millions of hard-working, taxpaying undocumented immigrants who have contributed greatly to the economy of this country.All people in this country have constitutional rights. Trump’s goal is to take away the right to a hearing in preparation for mass deportations. He has increased the budget for Homeland Security to $3 billion from our taxes. He has expanded the number of ICE agents to 25,000 on the border. Thirty percent of these are veterans of the war in Iraq who were trained to kill, not to arrest and deport.“Expedited removal” is the law allowing ICE to pick up and deport without giving access to a hearing or a lawyer. Under former President Barack Obama, expedited removals were limited to those caught within two miles of the Mexican border. Now, there are no limits. All can be deported wherever they are found, and if they cannot prove they have been here for eight years (on the spot), they can be deported with no legal hearing.  Two-thirds of those detained are not able to access lawyers. Those who can afford a lawyer or have access to legal aid have seven times the opportunity to be released from detention.The movement by city police chiefs to disassociate from any cooperation with ICE is admirable. In a raid several weeks ago in Santa Cruz, ICE agents lied to local police when they promised they had warrants. During the raid, they emptied an entire apartment building and detained law abiding, innocent people who were there. The mayor and police chief apologized to the community and said it would not happen again.ICE has also misrepresented themselves as “police officers,” and thus gained access to homes where they could not enter without a warrant. They question people who do not know their rights and get them to sign them away.The state of California is asking for regular reports on their raids and the daily publication of people detained, which ICE has refused to do. These refusals by ICE are illegal.What can we do to help the terrified undocumented in our area? Having the police pledge not to cooperate with ICE is one step. Educating the people who are frightened about their rights is a priority. We can arrange for public Know Your Rights workshops through Siren and the Asian Law Center. We can educate ourselves to educate all the undocumented we know or meet.   Can we organize to form groups that will intercept these ICE raids? Nothing works better than bad publicity from newspapers and radio stations.Which churches and homes in our areas will be willing to be sanctuary places for a family? Have we educated our teachers and principals about ICE coming to schools?If we work together in true community we can bring back constitutional rights to all.Natasha Wist is a former school psychologist and family therapist with 31 years experience. Since retiring, she has volunteered teaching immigrant women in Morgan Hill. For many years, she has been active in peace and justice movements in Morgan Hill and San Jose.

While many know about the impact of February 1942’s Executive Order 9066 on Japanese-Americans in the U.S. in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, surprisingly few are aware that thousands of Italian-Americans were swept up in the same law that imposed various restrictions including unannounced warrantless searches and even incarceration on certain foreign-born residents. San Jose resident Chet Campanella, 86, was a child when he lived through the imposition of these harsh, discriminatory restrictions. Campanella gave a presentation on the impact of EO 9066 on Italian-Americans in Morgan Hill Feb. 11, at the annual membership meeting of Friends and Family of Nisei Veterans (FFNV). The meeting took place at the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center. Sunday, Feb. 19, marked the 75th anniversary of EO 9066. Below is a short version of Campanella’s Feb. 11 presentation.

A much deserved windfall is on its way to many low- and moderate-income California workers. For those who file state taxes and claim their benefit in 2017, the state is offering an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that, combined with what is available through the federal government, could provide up to a $6,000 rebate to families who meet specific qualifications.Research has shown that the cash benefit from the EITC has been one of the single greatest contributors to move people and families out of poverty and to improve their financial security. Unlike other programs to assist low- and moderate- income families, this benefit applies only to those who are working but still remain in financial difficulty.  For many of us, $6,000 could ease our financial challenges and it could make the difference between a family keeping a roof over its head or becoming homeless.In 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature created California’s EITC program, CalEITC, as a way to help qualified working, low-income families. This cash-back credit is intended to complement a similar federal EITC that has existed since enactment by President Gerald Ford in 1975. In order to benefit from the state credit, eligible families need to claim it when they file their state tax returns.According to the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), the state agency that administers CalEITC, one out of five eligible workers does not claim the EITC on their state income tax return. On average, a qualified family that did not participate in 2016 lost $2,409 from the state and federal governments.The specific amount of cash-back credits for qualified working individuals and families depends on income and family size. Californians with an income of up to $53,505 annually may be able to receive cash-back by claiming the federal EITC on their tax return. Additionally, California families that earn up to $14,161 annually may be able to utilize the CalEITC to supplement the federal EITC when a state tax return is filed.If you meet the criteria, you must file federal and state income tax returns to claim the credits, even if you do not owe taxes or are not required to file a return.For more information, visit CSD’s website, www.csd.ca.gov/.  During this tax season, I encourage you to find out if you are eligible to receive the benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credit.  Monning represents the 17th Senate District, which includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties, and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties.