In the News
“I was honored and humbled to visit with the students personally and hear and see these young kids who are anywhere from 19 to their early 20s – how much they appreciated being able to learn the language and have the teachers and the facilities to do so,” said Panetta, visibly impressed by his classroom experience.
APTOS -- The bout of storms that battered Santa Cruz County and much of Northern California has taken a toll, eroding away roads that have stood for decades and toppling trees.
Damage in Santa Cruz County is estimated to be at least $30 million and the cost most certainly increase as crews continue to survey the damage. Officials are looking to state and federal agencies for monetary help with the repairs. On Saturday, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel, toured parts of Aptos with county officials to get a first-hand view of the storm damage.
Congressmen Jimmy Panetta toured parts of Aptos hit hard by recent storms Saturday.
"Being in Washington is fine but this is what the job is about," said Panetta. "Having boots on the ground so that you can make sure that you help the community here that you represent."
The congressman looked at slip outs on Valencia Road which forced closure of the road and elementary school. Another slip out on Soquel Drive caused the road to drop more than eight feet.
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, is a co-sponsor of the Military Infrastructure Consolidation and Efficiency Act of 2017 with Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington. The bill would require a round of BRAC, but Panetta says the bill includes language emphasizing that the military would have to prioritize professional military education “as an important part of military readiness and training,” in determining which facilities to cut.
When the office of newly-elected Congressman Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, planned a Feb. 12 town hall meeting in Salinas about immigration, it was before news reports of raids and mass arrests of undocumented immigrants over the weekend.
When the town hall meeting came on Sunday, an estimated 500 members of the public crowded into the Hartnell College student center, seeking answers.
Panetta didn't have a lot of answers, but he reassured the standing-room-only crowd.
SALINAS, Calif. - In the face of uncertainty and anger, more than 200 people packed the Steinbeck Hall in Hartnell Community College to gain clarity.
"I get really emotional around this because what's happening now is not who we are," said Cindy Muscarello of Salinas.
"I want to learn more about the facts," said Sandra Martinez of Soledad. "I don't want to make a decision based on fear factor, which I believe that the current administration at the Washington level is trying to manipulate us."
Salinas -- Hundreds of people turned out Sunday afternoon at a town hall meeting on immigration organized by Rep. Jimmy Panetta at Hartnell College.
There was standing room only in the Monterey Room at the college, which hosted the event.
Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, spoke about President Donald Trump's executive order to ban immigrants from seven predominently Muslin countries, as well as his promise to deport undocumented immigrants. The immigration order was placed on hold last week by a federal judge.
SALINAS — News of expanding immigration raids, leading to more than 160 detentions in Los Angeles last week, has sent waves of fear through the state's rural fields and farmlands, where growers and immigrant laborers alike are bracing for possible crackdowns on the state's agricultural heartland.
Fears, anxiety and in many cases anger in the wake of President Trump's executive orders on immigration, drew a tremendous crowd of at least several hundred that packed the student center on Sunday afternoon at Hartnell College in Salinas for an immigration town hall.