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A version of the below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.

Donald Trump’s pathetic and sleazy effort to create a slush fund of $1.776 billion that his lieutenants could dole out to his political allies, including, possibly, his violent January 6 brownshirts, appears to be dead. After even Republicans howled about this brazen corruption, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former (and, in a way, still) personal lawyer, proclaimed the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” kaput—though Trump continues to support this idea and there remains a possibility it could be revived in some form. But in all the brouhaha over this attempt by Trump to swipe nearly 2 billion smackers from American taxpayers, one damn big point has gotten lost: The claim that past administrations weaponized government against Trump and his right-wing confederates is complete bullshit.

There was no need for such a fund, because there were no such victims. This chief grievance of Trump and his MAGA cult is a myth that’s been created to cover up the many transgressions of Trump himself. And any acceptance of this notion of weaponization is a win for Trump.

Official reviews of the Russia investigation repeatedly declared it was a legitimate enterprise that was justifiably initiated and not a political hit job.

Trump has been braying for years that he has been the target of politically motivated investigations and prosecutions—what’s called lawfare. But that’s not true. The granddaddy of all this, as far as he is concerned, was the Russia investigation. He’s been moaning about the “Russia, Russia, Russia” probe for a decade, and through that stretch, he, his GOP lickspittles, and his right-wing media enablers have contended the investigation was a fraud cooked up by the Deep State, the Democrats, and the media.

But…no. Official reviews of the Russia investigation repeatedly declared it was a legitimate enterprise that was justifiably initiated and not a political hit job. This included a Justice Department inspector general report issued in 2019, a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee released in 2020 (when then-Sen. Marco Rubio chaired the committee), and the 2023 final report produced by special counsel John Durham, who had been appointed in 2019 by then–Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the investigation.

Each of these reviews concluded that inquiry was neither a hoax nor a witch hunt, as Trump and his lackey have never stopped proclaiming. (The IG report and Durham did criticize elements of the Russia investigation, most notably the FBI’s improper surveillance of Carter Page, a former adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign.) And the Senate Intelligence Committee report reaffirmed (as did special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report) the intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow covertly attacked the 2016 election in part to help Trump win the White House.

There was no weaponization on this front. The Russia investigation led to solid indictments of several Trump aides, including Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, George Papdopoulos, and Roger Stone. Each of them either pleaded guilty or were convicted by a jury. It was Trump who then politicized the process by pardoning all four at the end of his first term. (Trump’s Justice Department in April handed Flynn $1.25 million to settle an iffy lawsuit he filed that alleged he had been maliciously prosecuted, and the department can be expected to be sympathetic to similar claims from other Trump devotees.)

Trump’s other two big gripes about supposed weaponization concern the federal investigations mounted by special counsel Jack Smith of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged swiping of top-secret documents when he left the White House. Both these inquiries were fully justified. During the House January 6 committee’s investigation, multiple Republican witnesses testified that Trump took actions that were possibly criminal to try to retain power. And a bipartisan majority of the Senate voted to convict him of impeachment charges following his incitement of the January 6 riot. (It was not the supermajority needed for a conviction.)

In each of these cases, a jury or judge found Trump guilty—a sign the cases had merit.

As for the stolen-papers case, throughout 2021 and the first half of 2022, the National Archives and the Justice Department repeatedly tried to retrieve from Trump the sensitive records he held on to when he departed 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Had Trump returned the records, there would have been no prosecution. He did give back some of the material, and one of his attorneys certified that all documents had been sent back. But that was false, and an FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago found 25 boxes that contained documents of the highest classification. The subsequent criminal case was no witch hunt.

Neither the stolen papers nor the 2020 election case went to trial because Smith closed them after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy that states that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted on federal charges. (That’s the reason Mueller did not file obstruction of justice charges against Trump during the Russia investigation.)

Trump also argues that he was unfairly investigated in New York for tax fraud and for falsifying business records to cover up the hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had an extramarital tryst with Trump. In each of these cases, a jury or judge found Trump guilty—a sign the cases had merit.

Beyond Trump’s own personal beefs, the MAGA crowd claims that the federal government in the Biden years was weaponized against right-wingers. They assert that the FBI targeted conservative Christians and school-board activists. An internal memo from the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, field office, which was leaked in 2023, cited “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology as a possible pathway for domestic extremist violence. GOP officials and conservatives were outraged by this. But the memo was rescinded, and there was no evidence that it had resulted in any investigations or prosecutions. It was essentially the work of one junior analyst in a field office.

Right-wing groups also howled when the Biden Justice Department—following complaints that some parents protesting at school board meetings were threatening board members—issued a memo directing US attorney and FBI agents to discus this matter with local officials. They objected to comparing concerned parents—who often were religious conservatives—to terrorists. But this, too, did not lead to sweeping investigations of conservatives.

Then there’s January 6. MAGA luminaries—and Trump himself—have long championed the convicted rioters as victims of unfair and overreaching criminal investigations. A White House website—paid for with your tax dollars—makes this ludicrous case. And there was much worry that the Trump slush fund would dole out millions to these violent insurrectionists, thus endorsing and encouraging political violence.

Trump and his cult will continue insisting that he and his loyalists have been victimized by law enforcement. That’s what many crooks do.

To dub the prosecution of the J6 marauders “weaponization” of government is one of the biggest acts of gaslighting a White House has ever tried to pull off. It illustrates the fundamental absurdity of this propaganda campaign. We all saw what happened on that horrific day. Assailing the subsequent quest for justice as repressive federal overreach is bonkers and Orwellian in the extreme.

The investigations and prosecutions Trump bitches about were not acts of weaponization. They were appropriate government activity. But for years, Trump and his handmaids have been mounting this disinformation crusade without much opposition to its big lie. On top of that, Trump has shown us what the weaponization of government truly looks like with the criminal investigations he has ordered up of former FBI Director James Comey, New York state Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former CIA Director John Brennan, and others, as well as the assaults he has launched on major law firms and universities.

The idea that he should be given $1.8 billion to hand out to his supporters who ran afoul of the law was preposterous but so too is the assertion that Trump and his comrades have been the targets of pervasive government weaponization. Yet that’s a major component of Trump’s self-glorifying mythology: He’s the target of a Deep State cabal and a martyr for MAGA. The pot of money for his malfeasants may be gone for now—though Trump still says, “I love it. I think it’s so important.” Whatever ultimately happens, Trump and his cult will continue insisting that he and his loyalists have been victimized by law enforcement. That’s what many crooks do. In this case, it’s a MAGA fairy tale and a cover story for a criminal president that deserves as much resistance as the corrupt slush fund has drawn.

After Martinelli’s announced it would not renew contracts with local apple growers, one Pajaro Valley farmer has been flooded with calls, ideas and offers from community members eager to help replace the major buyer. While potential partnerships with school districts, nonprofits and other local organizations show promise, growers say finding markets large enough to absorb the thousands of tons of apples once sold to Martinelli’s remains a significant challenge.

Heather Cox Richardson is one of today’s unlikeliest social media stars. The Boston College historian has been teaching and writing about 19th-century America, Reconstruction, and the Civil War for decades. But it was only in 2019 that her work took off when she began writing her daily newsletter, Letters from an American, a no-nonsense analysis of the news through the lens of US history.

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The newsletter became one of the most popular on Substack. And today, Richardson has millions of loyal fans who rely on her to make sense of American politics and provide a little sanity and democratic reassurance even as she herself is concerned about the direction of the country today.

“I’m worried about where we’re going. Just don’t even start me,” Richardson tells host Al Letson. “But I am heartened in this moment by the number of people who are rediscovering that they do have agency to change the future. And of course, that’s always been the story of our democracy.”

On this week’s More To The Story, Richardson talks about the decades-long failure to hold corrupt American leaders accountable, the still-resonant death of Reconstruction, and what she sees as the tragic hypocrisy of Thomas Jefferson.

Find More To The Story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, or your favorite podcast app, and don’t forget to subscribe.

Note: If you buy a book using our Bookshop link, a small share of the proceeds supports our journalism.

With the Murray Street Bridge set to be closed through September, business owners and community leaders have plans to bring visitors to the neighborhoods around the Santa Cruz Harbor this summer. Jessica M. Pasko’s weekly look at local business also includes updates on a project to connect four regional airports, including Watsonville’s; legal jabs between air mobility rivals; and plenty more names, numbers and dates to know.

Neil Muller, newly appointed Group CEO of managed service provider Node4, has died after an alleged stabbing at his home. He was 54. Muller, a well-respected and long-serving figure in Britain's tech supply chain, was found with chest wounds at his residence in Claverdon, Warwickshire, in the early hours of June 7. Warwickshire Police said in a statement: "We received a report from ambulance services at 6.15am about a man in his 50s who required emergency medical care following a stab wound in his chest. Sadly, he was declared deceased at the scene at 6.37am." A 55-year-old woman from Birmingham was arrested on suspicion of murder at 7.33am and has since been released on bail. Police confirmed an investigation is underway and said there is "no wider risk to the public." Muller had only taken on the Group CEO role at Node4 this month, tasked with refining its strategy and expanding its AI-augmented managed services platform. The MSP said it was "absolutely devastated" by his death, adding: "Although Neil only recently joined Node4, he made a meaningful impact in a short space of time. Our thoughts are with Neil's family at this very difficult time." Before Node4, Muller led Digital Space for seven years, and prior to that he was chief exec at telecoms biz Daisy Group, whose B2B ops merged with Virgin Media O2 last year. Muller started his career at Computacenter – one of Europe's largest services-based resellers – rising through sales and operations to become UK and Ireland managing director during a 21-year tenure. Mike Norris, Group CEO at Computacenter and a close friend of Muller, told The Register that he was "deeply saddened from a personal point of view." Norris was not alone: many in Britain’s tech business community expressed shock. Charles Bligh, former TalkTalk chief operating officer, wrote on LinkedIn: "Just so shocked to hear this terrible news. Neil was a class act and he filled the room with his energy and leadership. My condolences to his family and his children should know their father was a respected, liked and thought leader in the business community. I know this is cold comfort. Neil you will be missed terribly and RIP." Muller is survived by his wife and two children. ®

UBUNTU SUMMIT SpacemiT is demonstrating its impressive new K3 RISC-V SoC, a fairly hefty 16-core device – with a moderately hefty price. One of the few hardware vendors exhibiting at the recent Ubuntu Summit was SpacemiT. (The site is available in both Chinese and English – click the globe symbol at top right to switch between them.) The company’s product page for the Key Stone K3 chip has specs that look powerful: 16 CPU cores, divided between eight of SpacemiT’s own X100 cores, running at up to 2.4 GHz, and eight A100 “AI cores”. The full product brief [PDF] has more. The RISC-V CPU cores meet the RVA23 spec, which is significant. When Ubuntu 25.10 “Questing Quokka” came out in October last year, we noted that the RISC-V variant needed RVA23 – specifically, RVA23S64 [PDF]. The RISC-V assocation called RVA23 a major milestone: it delivers both full vector-math acceleration as well as hypervisor capabilities. Canonical considers RVA23 significant too, and it announced support for the new SoC back in February. However, in October 2025, there was a very major snag with RISC-V RVA23: there was no commercially available RVA23 hardware available. The only way to run the RISC-V edition of “Questing” was under emulation inside QEMU. Now, RVA23 kit exists and is shipping, and we were able to play with full Ubuntu GNOME running on real hardware. Preview versions of the K3 have been around for some time, and some of the Linux benchmarking sites have been performance-testing them for a while. Back in January, CNX Software ran remote benchmarks, showing performance around the level of a Raspberry Pi 5. Via partner Banana Pi, the chip is available installed on a miniature motherboard as the K3 Pico-ITX. This has a socket for Gigabit copper Ethernet, plus an SFP+ connector for 10GbE over fibre; 16 or 32 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory; 128 or 256 GB of fast local UFS storage, plus two M.2 slots for additional NVMe storage. It can also drive a 60 Hz 4K display, or a 2.5K one at 90 Hz. The K3-Pico is optionally available in an Intel NUC-sized miniature desktop case, and last month Phoronix benchmarked this in its usual detail. The device can beat the Raspberry Pi 500+ in multiple tests, and perhaps unsurprisingly it also bests the SiFive P550 Premier whose launch The Reg covered in October 2024, and which has been one of the mainstream RISC-V boards since. Ubuntu is naturally fully supported, and from our quick hands-on test, it performed well. Video played smoothly, and what’s more, the machine stayed responsive while it was doing so. The difference from the previous time that we tried RISC-V kit at the Ubuntu Summit was impressive. An updated Framework laptop motherboard should become available soon. SpacemiT also supports various other distros, both Western and Chinese, notably its own Bianbu OS, which seems to be based on Ubuntu and LXQt. Banana Pi launched the K3 Pico-ITX board in May. We found it on Ali Express for slightly under £300 (US $400) for an 8GB RAM version, but the listing says that the RRP is £595 (a couple of bucks under $800). That’s roughly twice the price of a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB RAM: £168 in the UK or $175 in the US. Although the K3-Pico is a much higher-spec device, RISC-V performance will still cost you. The company is based in Hanzhou, a short way up the Qiantiang estuary from Shanghai. The name “SpacemiT” is in fact rather clever, and we feel it’s under-served by its logo. In the company’s native Chinese, it’s “进迭时空” (Jìn dié shíkōng), which Google tells us translates as “Iterative Spacetime”. The name in English is composed of SPACE, reading left to right, and TIME reading right to left. We reckon it merits some better graphic design that somehow emphasizes this. A couple of years ago, The Register called SpacemiT “a relatively obscure Chinese firm”, but the K3 looks promising. SpacemiT may not remain obscure for long. ®

In a letter to the editor, the CEO of Central California Alliance for Health underlines the importance of Medi-Cal for all current members and urges readers to push their state representatives to maintain current coverage statuses.

In a county known for barefoot hippies, natural beauty and anti-establishment culture, Santa Cruz women still feel intense pressure to curate how they look, says writer and radio host Suki Wessling. She reflects on Botox appointments over the hill, Zoom beauty filters, punk-rock rebellion and a lively Santa Cruz Feminist Society debate about beauty, aging and self-expression. Her argument: Even here, women are spending too much time staring into the digital mirror — and not enough time simply living.

Waymo created a new computer model to help it better understand how humans behave in crash scenarios that its robotaxis encounter.

One of Europe’s two major next-gen fighter aircraft programs has been hit hard by differences between France and Germany, the two main participants, leaving the UK-Italy-Japan's Tempest as the main contender. Reports say that the Future Combat Air System (FCAS, or Système de Combat Aérien du Futur – SCAF – in French) has been shelved by German Chancellor Merz and French President Macron. The program dates back to at least 2017, and was expected to produce a test flight of a technology demonstration airframe by 2026 or 2027, with the aircraft coming in to operational service by 2040. According to German publication Der Spiegel, the French firm ⁠Dassault ⁠and the European Airbus group could not agree on how to divide up the work on the project, nor on the patent rights for new developments. However, it is also understood there were differences in the requirements, with France needing a replacement for the Rafale jet that must be capable of operating from an aircraft carrier, while the Germans were beginning to question the need for any crewed fighter aircraft in light of drone developments. French publication Le Monde says Merz and Macron "reached the shared assessment that the companies will not be able to come together on building a joint combat aircraft.” It goes on to say that other parts of the wide-ranging project will continue. This refers to FCAS being more than just about a single aircraft; the program also envisioned drone aircraft to accompany the crewed fighter, and a communications system "combat cloud" to link them together, described as a "nervous system that networks aircraft, drones and other components into an integrated whole." The program also drew participation from other European nations, such as Spain and Belgium, and it isn’t clear what these nations will choose to do next. It is likely that France will pursue its own next-gen aircraft that meets its own requirements, as happened with Rafale, while the Financial Times reports that Airbus is keen to lead a consortium to develop a new pan-European fighter jet to replace FCAS. We asked both Dassault and Airbus to comment for this article. There is another next-gen combat aircraft project already underway: the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), which is a tri-partite effort between the UK, Italy and Japan. This aims to replace the Eurofighter Typhoon in service with the British and Italian air forces, and the Mitsubishi F-2 operated by Japan. The British version of the jet is currently known as Tempest. GCAP was proceeding well, but the current UK prevarication over defense spending is proving to be a roadblock to ongoing development, as a long-term multinational contract for the project cannot be signed until the Starmer government pulls its finger out and publishes its delayed defense investment plan. If all goes well, GCAP/Tempest is expected to enter service by 2035, but the planned 2027 date for a demonstrator aircraft to fly is already looking unlikely. Elsewhere, the US is developing its own sixth-generation fighter under the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, to be built by Boeing as the F-47 and expected to enter service possibly as soon as the early 2030s. Questions have been raised over whether this will be chosen by European air forces, however, President Trump previously warned that the capabilities of any exported aircraft would be deliberately downgraded. This follows issues with the in-service F-35, which has seen long delays in key software upgrades, preventing the RAF and Royal Navy from using European-made weapons with their aircraft. ®

The race for California governor this fall will be a battle between a Democrat promising to cement the state’s status as a stronghold of liberal policies and a Republican pledging to dramatically reverse course in the nation’s most populous state.

Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator backed by President Donald Trump, has won enough votes to advance to the general election, The Associated Press determined Tuesday. He’ll face Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and health secretary under President Joe Biden.

The winner will succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to lead the state that is home to roughly 39 million people, Hollywood, a booming tech industry and a vast farming region that helps feed the nation. By itself California represents one of the largest economies in the world.

The next governor will have to take on stubborn issues including a high cost of living, housing shortages and homelessness.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in California

Hilton is banking his campaign on voters being frustrated enough to do something they have not done in two decades: elect a Republican to statewide office. The last time that happened was when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won a second term in 2006. Hilton has campaigned as an outsider who would bring change after more than 15 years of one-party rule.

“If you’re happy with the way that California is being run, Xavier Becerra is your guy,” Hilton said in a recent interview. “If you want change, vote for me.”

But simply having an “R” next to his name stacks the odds against Hilton, since Republicans make up just about 25% of registered voters compared with Democrats’ 45%. Trump’s endorsement likely boosted Hilton with GOP voters during the primary but could be a major liability in the general election.

Becerra was a chief architect of the state’s resistance to Trump during the first years of his presidency after then-Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, appointed him attorney general in 2017. In that role Becerra filed at least 120 legal actions against the federal government.

Becerra has made pushing back against Trump’s incursions a central piece of this campaign, as the president has repeatedly gone after the state during his second term including by curbing a signature plan to reduce planet-warning emissions from cars, withholding aid for wildfire recovery and suing over state policies supporting transgender student-athletes.

“Donald Trump is doubling down on decline and counting on people being too fearful, distracted or gullible to fight back,” Becerra told a crowd on primary night. “As governor I will never back down from the threats of small cowards in big offices.”

Results conclude a chaotic primary

It took nearly a week to determine the general election matchup for governor due to California’s notoriously slow vote-counting process. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter and they are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days. Counties process and count mail ballots in roughly the order they are received, so the last ones returned are the last ones counted.

The AP determined Friday that Becerra had won enough votes to advance to November. Hilton had been vying for a second spot against Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager turned climate activist who poured $215 million of his personal fortune into the campaign and blasted Californians’ screens with ads.

California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer speaks during an election night event June 2 in San Francisco. Credit: Noah Berger / Associated Press

Steyer steadily narrowed Hilton’s lead for second place every day since Election Day on June 2. But he was never on track to fully close the gap. The AP advanced Hilton to the general election on Tuesday after determining there weren’t enough outstanding votes for Steyer to catch Hilton.

Election data shows that large numbers of Democratic voters held onto their ballots until the final days of the election. That helped explain why Steyer did better than Hilton in the votes counted after Election Day.

Steyer conceded Tuesday and urged his supporters to back Becerra.

“It would be a travesty for Steve Hilton to win the governorship, and Californians must unite behind Xavier Becerra to ensure he does not,” he said in a statement.

Affordability is a central issue

How to make the state more affordable was a major theme throughout the primary. Hilton promised to make Californians’ first $100,000 free of income tax, create a loan program for first-time homebuyers and freeze in-state tuition at public colleges. Becerra, meanwhile, said he would declare states of emergency to address high energy costs and housing shortages and to freeze home insurance rates.

The two have one thing in common: They both come from immigrant backgrounds.

Hilton moved to California from the United Kingdom in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021. Back in the U.K., he was an adviser to Conservative Party officials including former Prime Minister David Cameron.

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton gestures after speaking at a news conference at the San Mateo County Elections office on June 5 in San Mateo. Credit: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press

Hilton has poked fun at his British accent by comparing himself to the Austria-born Schwarzenegger.

“I know that some of you may be watching and saying, ‘Who is this guy with a funny accent?’” he said on election night. “Well you know there was actually an immigrant who was governor of California not that long ago.”

Becerra was born to Mexican immigrant parents in Sacramento and also raised there. He said his family’s story mirrored his “underdog” campaign for governor.

“Like my parents, I never gave up,” he told supporters on election night. “I never stopped believing in the beaconlike goodness of California. And thankfully, neither did you.”

Becerra would be the state’s first Latino governor since the late 1800s.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton will face off in California governor’s race appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

The Ray Myers era is officially under way at Pajaro Valley High this week after he was formally introduced as the new head football coach Tuesday afternoon.

The longtime local defensive coordinator was already in full spirits by sporting the green, silver and black colors at Grizzly Stadium prior to a meeting with some of the incoming players.

“Being a coach basically is just an extension of the classroom,” Myers said. “It’s just another chance for me to teach and help impact people’s lives. Not just in the classroom, but on the field, too. It’s a great opportunity for that.”

Myers, 42, will replace Casey Neligh after he was pink-slipped by the Pajaro Valley Unified School District following three seasons (2023-25) at the helm.

Neligh led the Grizzlies to the program’s first-ever winning season after they finished with a 6-4 overall record. They were runners-up in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Santa Lucia Division with a 5-1 record in league play.

Pajaro Valley Athletic Director Joe Manfre said he opened the position not thinking he’d find somebody extremely qualified for the position in such a short period.

That’s when Myers’ name popped up on the EDJOIN website.

“I was like ‘holy moly,’” Manfre said. “The Myers name carries a lot of weight in the city of Watsonville and Santa Cruz County.”

Myers has been a physical education teacher at Pajaro Middle School for the past 18 years. He received his master’s degree in strength and conditioning, and taught a weightlifting class for the Cabrillo College football team the past four years.

Myers played his first three years of prep football at Monte Vista Christian in Watsonville, followed by his senior season at Gilroy High and two years at Cabrillo College.

In 2007, Myers got his first gig as a defensive line coach at Soquel High under his dad, Ron, who spent 47 years on the football sidelines, and was the mastermind behind the Black Death defense at Watsonville High in the 80s.

“I think it’s kind of cool that Ray’s wanted to step into that space, and make a name for himself a little bit, too,” Manfre said.

Myers was promoted to defensive coordinator for six more years until he jumped ship with his dad for his second stint at Watsonville from 2014-19.

He took two years off during the Covid-19 pandemic before making a return to his alma mater at Cabrillo College as a defensive line coach for four years (‘22-25).

Myers now will have a chance to lead a program for the first time in his career, and he’s bringing his mentor, Ron, along for the ride as one of his assistant coaches. 

“I feel like [Ray Myers] brings a wealth of knowledge, and he’s a teacher too. He knows how to deal with kids,” Manfre said. “I think it’s going to be a really good fit.”

Myers will become a physical education teacher at Pajaro Valley, and run a weightlifting class for the football team. He said a benefit to being an on-campus coach is having contact with players for constant grade checks.

Myers also mentioned building relationships with teachers on campus is critical because he wants to make sure students are passing classes outside of athletics.

“The goal for us, and it always has been, is if you play four years of football you’re going to be able to graduate to be eligible to do that,” Myers said. 

Myers can already see the bigger picture, which starts with recruiting as many student-athletes as possible to join the Grizzly football program.

After that, he’s hoping to create a pipeline to send those same players to the next level whether it’s at Cabrillo or another school of their choice. 

“I want it to be a positive experience for them,” Myers said. “I want to have that positivity spread to the school. [Casey Neligh] did a great job with the program. I’m not inheriting a program that is down, it’s a program that is on its way up, and he’s done a really good job of getting the place ready.”

The 168-megawatt facility will support Meta's global AI computing needs and can be expanded over time.

Logitech has unveiled the Mobi Fold mouse – a portable, foldable pointing device that could easily double as a replacement for a chunkier desktop version. It's the first foldable for Logitech, although alternatives have long been available. When you unfold it, it resembles something like Microsoft's Surface Arc mouse. Clad in pleasing materials, the Mobi Fold is available in a variety of colors: Graphite, Lilac, and Off White. The Graphite version feels like it will be more hard-wearing, and that is the aim of this device: lug it around with a laptop and whip it out to replace the inevitable inaccuracy of a trackpad. The mouse weighs in at 79 g, and its party trick – a fold like a '90s flip phone, or the considerably more expensive 2020s alternative – makes it very portable. Open it, and the device is ready for action. Close it, and the mouse is effectively dead. Logitech claims this is due to an "on-device AI model," although we imagine that simple microswitches would have performed more than adequately. But no vendor shall be left standing at the platform when the AI hype train leaves! The hinge is rated for 15 years, according to Logitech (although the warranty is considerably less – two years for EMEA customers), and the mouse is comfortable to use when expanded. Logitech states the battery will last for a month of use. Popping it on charge for a minute (there's a USB-C charge point on the base) will add 22 hours of use. The battery lurks beneath a cover held on by magnets and looks simple to replace. The Register asked Logitech about the cost and ease of replacement and will update when the company responds. The company also claims the device has "a drop-tested, dust-resistant exterior." In use, it's … fine. By virtue of its shape, the mouse is suitable for right- and left-handers – there are no molded shenanigans here. A "proper" mouse will certainly be better, but the Mobi Fold is more than sufficient for most use cases. No, it isn't festooned with buttons like some of Logitech's other devices, but the Mobi Fold ably demonstrates that most people don't really need those anyway. There's touch scrolling to replace the scroll wheel and two buttons on the touch panel that can be customized via the Logi Options+ app. We used Bluetooth in our testing – as with many of the company's devices, three different Bluetooth profiles can be selected – but Logitech will happily sell you a USB-C dongle if you fear the wireless protocol named after a 10th-century Viking. Should you get one? The answer is a reserved yes. As with many Logitech products, this device is aggressively competent. Some users might prefer the solidity of something heavier. Others might need lots of buttons. However, for users who simply want something to move a pointer around the screen, especially if you're happy using a Surface Arc-style device, the Mobi Fold works as advertised. Snapping it shut to pop it in a laptop bag is a bonus. It ain't cheap. The device retails at £69.99 ($79.99), which might be a bit spicy for some buyers – especially as we're already suffering higher prices from the ongoing RAMpocalypse. ®

Good Times editor Brad Kava celebrates the unexpected discoveries found in print, from local music and arts stories to Gabrielle Stocker’s remarkable bequest, Cheryl Anderson’s return (above) and a dose of World Cup fever.

This week’s letters include news of the Sri Chinmoy Peace Run coming through Santa Cruz, a remembrance of Nancy Park from the Resource Center for Nonviolence and reader comments on Oingo Boingo, Woody’s at the Watsonville Airport and Dusty Baker.

Davenport Roadhouse gets a coastal refresh with chef Jessie Curran, formerly of State Bird Provisions, The Progress and The Anchovy Bar, while DIYine brings homemade pineapple wine, mead, beer and more to Santa Cruz.

For nearly 80 years, Stagnaro Brothers Seafood Restaurant has served fresh seafood, family recipes and sweeping Monterey Bay views from its landmark location on the Santa Cruz Wharf.

Santa Cruz celebrates 40 years since The Lost Boys filmed on local shores, with a free Boardwalk screening, a Jamison Newlander signing at Atlantis Fantasyworld and vampire-themed festivities at the Blue Lagoon.

A Santa Cruz screening of The [M] Factor 2: Before the Pause brings women together to talk openly about perimenopause, menopause, shifting hormones and the search for better answers.