Spreckels News

Monterey County planners are poised to allow the removal of seven of nearly 200 landmark black walnut trees that line both sides of Spreckels Boulevard.

Why does last week's fiasco at HSBC/Capital One seem like a tired Salinas rerun? Thinking they were being warmly welcomed into the Capital One family, former HSBC employees got lavish gift packs in tasteful brown cardboard boxes.

Christina Brigantino presents a new bicycle to Thomas Brau, 9, in the front hall of Spreckels Elementary School.

The vacant Spreckels sugar beet factory in Mendota may receive a green energy overhaul, as a group of former sugar beet farmers pursues a plan to transform the site into an advanced biorefinery using several high-tech processes to convert sugar beets into ethanol and other forms of energy.

Salinas Circle for Children, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for physical and emotional special needs children in Monterey County, is holding its first chalk art festival, called "A Chalk in the Park," from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 19 at Spreckels Park, Hatton Avenue between Second and Third streets in Spreckels.