Salinas

Salinas, the small city in the heart of the salad bowl of the world, ended the decade with two distinctions: a record number of homicides, and the imminent closure of the last bookstore in John Steinbeck's hometown. Signs at the B. Dalton bookstore read "50% off -- Non-returnable" as faithful customers stopped by to purchase one last book and pay respects, muttering indignantly about the idea that Salinans don't read. The sales clerk expressed relief that he had only four more days to watch over the near-empty shelves: "It's like dying a slow death."

Authorities have arrested a purported "secretary" for the Mexican Mafia who allegedly helped funnel information through Los Angeles County jails - from her home in Kansas. Cecilia Virgen-DeLeon, 31, was taken into custody about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Salina, a town of about 50,000 in the heart of the state, L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Francis Hardiman said in a phone interview from Kansas. The so-called secretaries of organized crime groups often use fraudulent cellphone accounts to help push information - about drug movements, hits and other matters - to shot-callers inside the jails, Hardiman said.

The grass in Pocket Park is trimmed and fragrant, the jungle gym and swings freshly painted. It's the kind of place where parents exhausted after a day in the lettuce fields can let their children run free. But when dusk settled on that urban sanctuary one evening in March, the only people around were a few tattooed gang members wearing the signature blue of the Sureños . A car full of young men wearing the red colors of the rival Norteños drove past on East Laurel Drive, and a passenger fired a single shot.

John Steinbeck couldn't find a boat and he needed one desperately. His marriage was in trouble. People in his hometown were vilifying him as a communist rabble-rouser. He figured a sea expedition with his wife, Carol, and marine biologist buddy Ed Ricketts would be just the thing. They chartered a 76-foot sardine boat called the Western Flyer. Over six weeks in 1940, they and a four-man crew chugged from Monterey to the Mexican coast, where they caroused in waterfront bars, poked through tide pools, identified dozens of new species of sea life and collaborated on "Sea of Cortez," a pioneering work of ecology still read by budding ocean researchers.

A Salinas, Calif., company is recalling 1,715 cartons of recently harvested spinach after discovering salmonella, the California Department of Public Health said. The spinach was harvested Sept. 1 to 3 and packed in 12 to 24 bundles in each wire-bound crate or reusable plastic container. Distributor Ippolito International sold the greens to retail, food-service and wholesale buyers. The recall affects 1,515 cartons shipped under the Queen Victoria label to Canada, California and 11 other states.

A tornado ripped the roofs off greenhouses, injured two people and scattered debris as it whipped through a large nursery in a rural area this morning, authorities said. A number of other people were reported to be dazed by the twister that hit the 35-acre Sunnyside Nursery. The Weather Service predicted thunderstorms throughout Northern and Central California through tonight and said it expected more sightings of funnel clouds, which become tornadoes when they touch down.

Thank you for the article regarding George Shirley. I heard the story a few weeks ago from a friend who teaches in Salinas. She had told me only what remarkable work he had done when I asked, "Have they fired him yet?" It was the obvious question. Your article implies that this is an isolated horror story. It is not. Good teachers without tenure are fired. For example, a math teacher whose students improved their test scores by an average of two years in six months was promptly fired.

As students at UC Irvine, Ricardo Cerros Jr. and his buddy Mike Clark often made plans to train together for the university's taekwondo team. When they did, Clark would sometimes show up early at the gym, hoping for a head start. But there would be Cerros, already an hour or more into the workout. Often, Clark would find Cerros on the treadmill in several layers of clothing, including a sauna suit, to make his workout more challenging. "He would train harder than everyone," Clark said.

When the sculpture outside the Salinas rodeo arena was unveiled in 1982, bands played, Boy Scouts led a salute to the flag and the mayor presented sculptor Claes Oldenburg with a commemorative salad bowl. "Hat in Three Stages of Landing" was more than a monumental work by the world-renowned Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen. It was a point of civic pride, a way to let the world know that Salinas was a place where art and culture thrived along with endless acres of lettuce and broccoli.

Salinas city officials are expressing frustration over an outbreak of gang violence that has already left six dead and eight wounded in 2009. City leaders held an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss ways to confront the surge in shootings in this Central Coast farming city of nearly 150,000. Councilman Steven Villegas said Sunday that he was concerned whether the city's police force was large enough to deal with the violence, especially given the city's tight budget. Police Chief Daniel Ortega told the City Council that the department is working with state and federal law enforcement agencies to help stem the bloodshed.

SOLEDAD, Calif. - For decades the slogans have sought to entice motorists who pull off Highway 101 in this Salinas Valley farm town - usually for gas or a cup of coffee - to stay and visit a while. "It's Happening in Soledad," declares a billboard that looms over the asphalt artery. "Soledad: Feel the Momentum" urge the stone markers planted at the town's highway exits. PHOTOS: Soledad's success rests on Pinnacles Now city officials think they have seized on an idea to provide the economic boost the community desperately needs: "Gateway to the Pinnacles.

When the sculpture outside the Salinas rodeo arena was unveiled in 1982, bands played, Boy Scouts led a salute to the flag and the mayor presented sculptor Claes Oldenburg with a commemorative salad bowl. "Hat in Three Stages of Landing" was more than a monumental work by the world-renowned Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen. It was a point of civic pride, a way to let the world know that Salinas was a place where art and culture thrived along with endless acres of lettuce and broccoli.

On his receipts, the acting director of a Monterey County public hospital district appeared to be paying a luxury car service to ferry him to and from the airport as part of his weekly commute. But Lowell Johnson, interim chief executive at the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, was actually paying his daughter for those rides, $50 each way. He then turned in receipts to the hospital district labeled "Airport Town Car. " The district paid him nearly $4,000 in reimbursements for the trips during his first 12 months on the job, according to records.

In 2009, Vils Galarza's parents resisted when he told them that he wanted to join the Army after high school in Salinas. They wanted him to go to college, and he already had acceptance letters in hand. If he had to join the military, they told him, couldn't he pick a trade that would provide him some modicum of safety - working as a truck driver, perhaps, or a mechanic? Galarza told them that not only would he enlist, but he wanted to be an infantryman - to experience the vaunted tradition of having his boots on the ground.

A Monterey County public hospital district did $21 million in business over the last five years with firms in which its chief executive and board members held financial interests, according to a state audit released Thursday. The audit was launched in response to a series of articles in The Times last year that highlighted the huge supplemental pension and severance package, totaling nearly $5 million, that the hospital's former chief executive received. The audit found that the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System regularly did business with firms that the board and top officials had financial stakes in — in some cases in apparent violation of state conflict-of-interest laws.

Voters in Sunland Park, N.M., are set to elect a mayor Tuesday, and oh, what a choice it is. They can pick Gerardo Hernandez, who was secretly recorded getting a lap dance in his office. Or they can choose Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas, who was arrested on suspicion of trying to use the lap-dance video to force Hernandez out of the race. So goes politics in the community on the border with Mexico, which is also being audited by the state. If signs of embezzlement are found, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has indicated that the state is prepared to take over the city's finances, the Associated Press reported . The mayoral mess started last month when Hernandez was interviewing a man who'd offered to help with his campaign.

The Vigilantes came within a couple of feet of pulling off a second consecutive ninth-inning rally but instead suffered a frustrating, 10-9, loss to Salinas in a Western Baseball League game Wednesday at Saddleback College. Many of the announced crowd of 1,944 left early, ushered out because Salinas scored seven runs in the fourth inning to open a 9-4 lead.

In 2009, Vils Galarza's parents resisted when he told them that he wanted to join the Army after high school in Salinas. They wanted him to go to college, and he already had acceptance letters in hand. If he had to join the military, they told him, couldn't he pick a trade that would provide him some modicum of safety - working as a truck driver, perhaps, or a mechanic? Galarza told them that not only would he enlist, but he wanted to be an infantryman - to experience the vaunted tradition of having his boots on the ground.

The voters of Sunland Park, N.M., chose a new mayor Tuesday - but he can't enter City Hall. Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas squeaked by Gerardo Hernandez, the man he's accused of trying to blackmail out of the race. Salinas had 637 votes to his rival's 553, the Associated Press reported . But the election probably will be challenged in court. Local prosecutors said they're investigating potential voting irregularities. The race has been nothing short of bizarre , starting with the emergence of a video showing Hernandez enjoying a lap dance from a topless woman.

As students at UC Irvine, Ricardo Cerros Jr. and his buddy Mike Clark often made plans to train together for the university's taekwondo team. When they did, Clark would sometimes show up early at the gym, hoping for a head start. But there would be Cerros, already an hour or more into the workout. Often, Clark would find Cerros on the treadmill in several layers of clothing, including a sauna suit, to make his workout more challenging. "He would train harder than everyone," Clark said.