Nearly all of Pleasant Valley Vineyards’ wines are named after family members—nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and so on. Winery owners Cathy and Craig Handley have an extensive family, so they’re not going to run out of names anytime soon. The Handleys proudly named their stunning 2013 Reserve Pinot Noir (around $55), Santa Cruz Mountains, after their newest...

Films this WeekCheck out the movies playing locallyReviews Movie Times Santa Cruz area movie theaters > New This Week STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON “Speak a little truth and people lose their minds”—not everyone was ready for what N.W.A. had to say when the young Compton rappers hit the scene in the late...

As critics go after national group, local Red Cross volunteers carry on When the ProPublica article “How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti and Built Six Homes” went after the organization’s disaster relief efforts, the group’s national leadership went into damage-control mode. The article, by Justin Elliott and Laura Sullivan, accused the...

County worried about high number of Latino kids being tried as adults Latino youth in Santa Cruz County are being tried as adults at a rate 12 times higher than white teens. This is the most eyebrow-raising statistic in a recent study into the state of our local juvenile justice system by the Santa Cruz County...

John Benedetti was pouring his splendid Sante Arcangeli wines recently at Lester Family Vineyards—a delightful event attended by many, complete with good food, too. I tasted quite a few varietals that day but a very impressive nectar, a Rosé of Pinot Noir 2014 Santa Cruz Mountains, stopped me in my tracks. A blend of three premier...

Win a pair of tickets to the Tequila & Taco Music Festival on SantaCruz.com Tequila and tacos and music, on a weekend in downtown Santa Cruz. If your mouth is already watering, you’d be wise to check out the Tequila and Taco Music Festival on Aug. 22 and 23. Featuring top-shelf tequila sampling on Saturday, a...

“It’s not that we don’t make mistakes,” says Scott Polland with a smile, from under his fedora. “We make lots of mistakes. We just make pretty mistakes.” The lead guitarist for Western “swamp rock” quartet Shotgun Suitor may be joking, but, as the old saying goes, there’s always a little truth in every punchline. Although the...

The dollar is so damn powerful that politics doesn’t really have anything to do with it anymore. Chris McGilvray, Santa Cruz, Filmmaker             I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but change is coming. Regina Schulz, Santa Cruz, Sign Language Interpreter             I think...

Buckley vs. Vidal changes TV news in smart doc ‘Best of Enemies’ How has the pseudo-journalism of Fox News risen to the powerful role of Kingmaker in next year’s GOP presidential politics? Blame it on Gore Vidal. The late author, historian, and stalwart liberal commentator would, of course, be horrified to think he was in any...