Voices Of Monterey Bay

06/01/2026

Producers Akira Boch and Francisco Hernández presented their documentary Let the City Speak at El Teatro Campesino on Friday. Let the City Speak follows award-winning band Quetzal through the decades, through different countries and different band members. Kinan Valdez led a question and answer session with Hernández, Boch, Quetzal Flores and Martha González. Flores and González led a mini community fandango after the question and answer session was over.

Link to the full interview with Akira Boch below.

05/29/2026

Tonight in San Juan Bautista! Hollister High grad and filmmaker Akira Boch brings his documentary Let the City Speak home to El Teatro Campesino Playhouse at 7:30 PM. The film follows Grammy award-winning Chicano rock band Quetzal through East Los Angeles, Japan, Zapatista territory in Chiapas, and the Gulf Coast of Mexico. An artist talk follows with Boch, Quetzal Flores, and Martha Gonzalez. Get your tickets here:

A Chicano rock band finds lasting purpose in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, fusing music and activism into a life-long artistic rebellion

05/20/2026

It took a village to raise Yvonne Thomas as the giver she is — a doting family, immediate and extended. An attentive, caring, close-knit community. Dedicated mentors, role models, and educators. And after decades of being away from home, she’s returned to give back.

Read more about this influential Monterey Bay native on Voices. Link below.

05/19/2026

For people who have survived slavery, genocide, displacement, discrimination — and loss of land, language and traditions — a powwow that begins with youth is a statement of cultural prosperity.

Find out more about the youth takeover during the first Native fashion show by and for the Carmel Band of Rumsen Indians, who now mostly live in Southern California — more than 300 miles from their ancestral home along the Carmel River. (Link in the comments)

05/06/2026

Deputy Dogg is the name used by one or more anonymous people posting on X, often targeting Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto, members of the Board of Supervisors and others from behind a mask rather than attaching a real name to serious accusations. Christian Sneider makes the case for stop normalizing Deputy Dog

04/18/2026

“Heroic journalism.” Voices of Monterey Bay is a finalist for TWO INNY awards!

Finalists for the sixth annual Nonprofit News Awards, or INNYs, focused on those issues through compelling newswriting, poignant photos, thoughtful community engagement and other efforts.

04/06/2026

Young Voices editorial intern Isaac Díaz González profiles Carol Edeza and Teen Moms’s Inc, a beacon for young mothers in Monterey County.

https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2026/03/27/teen-moms-inc-helping-young-mothers-navigate-life/

04/02/2026

The unopposed motion to cancel the proposed Monterey County Department of Health Mental Health Rehabilitation Center means patients and families across California — not just Monterey County or the nearby communities on the California Central Coast — will continue to struggle amid a lack of local mental health support for serious diagnoses.

Read the full story by George B. Sánchez-Tello, co-published though a special partnership with CalMatters.

https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2026/03/31/give-me-another-solution/

04/01/2026

In spite of denials by U.S. Army officials that Jolon Rd. was not patrolled during winter for the purposes of immigration enforcement, actions said otherwise. Read the latest from George B. Sánchez-Tello.

https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2026/03/30/people-are-watching-now/

03/29/2026

No Kings March in Salinas, corner of Blanco and South Main, March 28, 2026.