Month: July 2025

Ata Shaheen

SOLEDAD, Calif. (KION-TV) — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff and State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas visited the Central Coast today in support of California’s agriculture industry.

This, while a lot of people feel that local agriculture is being threatened by policy coming out of the White House.

Senator Adam Schiff is the first representative from California to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in decades, trying to ensure issues specific to California farmers are being considered on Capitol Hill.

“Number one on the committee is making sure that the agricultural laws are good for farmers throughout the country,” said Schiff. “Not just in the Midwest, but here in California, where we have unique kinds of farming.”

Both Schiff and State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas are calling out the Trump Administration for reckless policy that has ripple effects throughout the crop fields of Soledad.

“The unpredictability with the president’s tariff policies; they undermine and undercut our agricultural industry here in the state,” said Rivas, who represents the Salinas Valley. “It’s creating chaos within the markets and then when you talk about what we’re seeing when it comes to these indiscriminate ICE raids… ICE raids to immigration, it’s causing fear.”

Immigration enforcement starting to threaten the workforce of Californian agriculture. Senator Schiff saying that he hopes to just bring awareness to the situation.

“The American people are watching. They’re not liking what they see, and you’ve already heard the administration sort of begin to change course vis-a-vis at least farm labor,” said Schiff. “[It’s] not consistently, but I think administration is getting the message.”

Senator Schiff referencing the Trump Administration’s original campaign to lower costs amid the U.S. Department of Agriculture facing $7 billion in funding cuts.

Schiff adding a sense of urgency to the department to avoid shuttering nine USDA field offices in California.

“For a president who ran on a platform of lowering costs, to the degree that you are making it hard for farms to find labor, you’re going to drive up the price of food, not bring it down,” he said.

Braga Ranch, locally, grows broccoli, celery and leafy greens. They say that they want fewer regulations that slow progress down and drive up costs.

“I also like to go talk to staff and regulators, whether it be in Sacramento or Washington DC and you can try to explain what we’re doing here,” said Colby Pereira, the COO of Braga Fresh. “Until you come and see it in person — you touch the soil, you look at the plants, you talk with members of the team that are responsible for the day to day of the operation — that’s when you really have the most impact.”

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Jeanette Bent

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — Around 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday night, there were reports of a house fire in Salinas.

This fire taking place on West Market Street, where the home billowed out smoke with many fire crews from Salinas and Marina working to put out the fire.

Firefighters told KION that everyone who was inside the building got out safely.

This is a developing story. We will have more details as they become available.

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jose.romo

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — On July 3, the City of Salinas submitted petitions to the City Clerk looking to repeal four rent-related ordinances — Rent Stabilization, Tenant Protection and Just Cause Eviction, Tenant Anti-Harassment, and Rental Registration.

The city says that the referendum petition was accepted because it had no less than 10% of Salinas voter signatures.

Now, the Monterey County Registrar of Voters is set to review the petitions and determine whether they meet the criteria with a sufficient amount of signatures to be placed on the ballot, according to the City of Salinas.

“The effective date of the ordinance adopted by the City Council on June 3, 2025, is suspended, and the four rent-related ordinances are once again effective,” according to the city. “The Registrar of Voters has thirty (30) calendar days excluding weekends and holidays to complete the verification of signatures.”

The city says that the four reinstated ordinances require landlords and tenants of rental units to be aware of their requirements and restrictions.

The Office of the City Clerk is available for questions at cclerk@ci.salinas.ca.us or 831-758-7381. 

10,000 signatures gathered to revisit Salinas’ rental ordinance referendum

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — A major milestone passed July 2 for a rental ordinance referendum in Salinas.

After months, over 10,000 signatures have been gathered to either have Salinas City Council vote to reverse the repeal of the ordinances or allow voters to decide for themselves during the next election.

“The council is going to have another crack at the apple to make the right decision that doesn’t hurt the community,” said councilman Andrew Sandoval.

Before these options, however, the City Clerk needs to count the signatures and then verified by the county, which could take up to 30 days.

After being verified is when the signatures will be voted on by city council or during the next election by voters.

“I fear [the council is] going to call for a special election that could cost the city of this residents over a million dollars–wasteful tax taxpayer money,” commented Sandoval, worries that the council may lean towards the costly third option. “They could just hold the election at the next regularly scheduled election… and I hope my colleagues do the right thing.”

During the verification process, the repeal from four previous rental ordinances will remain on pause and the laws will stay in place for the interim.

We reached out to Salinas mayor Dennis Donohue for comment on these developments, to which he replied; “We will continue to focus on rental assistance and making sure our residents know their rights and resources.”

The rental ordinances being a hot topic in Salinas for nearly a year.

Protect Salinas Renters hit 8,400 signatures ahead of their deadline

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — The looming deadline to gather enough signatures for a petition that would look to send rental ordinances to a public vote is near. 

Monday morning, renters, activists, and members of the community joined outside the Salinas City Rotunda. This, just days before having to submit nearly 10 thousand registered voter signatures to the city council.  

“The message is clear,” says Nidia Soto, member of Protect Salinas Renters. The general sentiment of the community, she adds, is that they want these protections to be put back in place. Over the last 30 days, these volunteers have canvased at events looking to meet the required number of signatures. 

The community organization set an internal deadline of July 1, with the city officially requiring them to submit the signatures by Thursday, July 3, and with only days before that, these volunteers say they have gathered 8,400 signatures.  

“Our internal check, which will be done beginning 5 p.m. tomorrow, John Silva, a member of the organization, says they would like to first do an internal verification of the petitioned signatures. He adds they have to make sure all those who signed are, in fact, registered Salinas voters.

Dr. John Silva says they have had many people who are unhoused and were told to sign with a different address. To this, Dr. Silva states they will double-check if this is allowed before submitting signatures. If it is not permitted, “we will discard those. We’ll discard illegible ones. You know, we’ll be responsible with our list.”  

At the beginning of the month, Mayor Donohue made his stance clear. “We weren’t stripping away rights. It wasn’t going to solve the problem of rental relief that people wanted.”

He added the four ordinances doubled on protections already in place by state law. The city clerk is adding just how hard the process for a referendum is. In a statement, the city clerk’s office adds, “If that threshold has been met, the City Clerk will submit the petitions to the County Elections Official, who must determine whether the petition contains the requisite number of valid signatures. The County Elections Official has a thirty-day period to do so.”

If it gets enough signatures, the referendum will be brought to the council to decide whether to hold a special election or wait for next year’s primary.

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