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Having received nearly four out of every five votes district-wide, Central Coast Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-20) is cruising to a second term in the U.S. House.

The most recent election results show Panetta getting 79 percent of the vote compared this his challenger Ronald Paul Kabat, who has received 21 percent.

Kabat was out of town on vacation and unavailable, his staff said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — As Congress returns from its weeks-long election recess, it has a piece of unfinished business that is critical to a nearly

$50 billion California industry and millions of Americans on food stamps.

There's hope the election results could finally get it over the finish line.

In between Saturday's Stanford football game and the San Francisco 49ers Monday Night Football matchup, the U.S. Army's Golden Knights will drop into Salinas for the eighth annual Veterans Day Parade.

On Sunday, paratroopers will descend from sunny skies – projected to be in the 70s – onto Salinas High School's practice field during opening ceremonies in the school's parking lot at 1 p.m.

The parade will start at 2 p.m. at Salinas High School, then head south on Main Street and into Oldtown.

GONZALES — Gonzales students and brothers Andrew and Scott Funk have earned the Congressional Award for their commitment to physical fitness, volunteering, personal development and exploring the surrounding areas.

Andrew and Scott completed 100 hours of physical fitness, 200 hours of volunteer work, 100 hours of personal development as well as two nights and three days of expedition and exploration that qualified them for the Congressional Award, which they received from Congressman Jimmy Panetta.

MONTEREY — It's been a decade since Greg Migdale started Project Helping Hand. Still, one of his all time favorite stories is about when he helped music teacher Jim Paoletti revive a music program in 2012.

Paoletti knew there was a closet with 10 violins and violas just sitting unused for years because they didn't have new strings, Migdale said.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta, 20th District Democrat and co-chair of the Congressional Agriculture Research Caucus, has introduced the Specialty Crop Mechanization Prize Challenge Act.

The bipartisan legislation incentivizes innovative agriculture technology development and deployment. The bill also encourages public-private partnerships between agriculture industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop mechanization technology to alleviate workforce and cultivation shortfalls.

“As a former prosecutor, I know how critical U and T visa protections are to law enforcement and immigrant communities,” Panetta said in a February statement. “Non-citizen victims and witnesses daring to come forward to support our criminal justice system deserve safeguarding. This bill promotes victims’ safety and encourages their continued participation in our communities.”