Doctor Pete discussed how to get a dog to eat a new food. The trick that worked with his own dog involved bananas. He also talked about the current state of veterinary medicine. We have too few vets now, but several new schools are coming online.

Movies were quirky, but there were several favorites. They were The Surfer, with Nicholas Cage, Boujour Tristesse and Vulcanizadora.

Charlie was full of good ideas for gardening related gifts to give for Mother's Day.

In good news we heard of a group of volunteers in the UK who built a house extension for a disabled man and his family, as well as of a woman, also in the UK, who has rescued ten thousand animals.

Speaking of animals, a naughty duck made it into the traffic report several times today.

We heard May Day themed music.

Jaime Smith answered the age old question, "Why does chicken go so well with fish?" Also, does the B.R.A.T. diet work? It does. We talked honey, too.

Christina "Cee Gee" Glynn, director of communications for Visit Santa Cruz County joined us in the studio. She's back from Frankfurt, France, London and Copenhagen where she was part of a group promoting California tourism. The counter to a bad image is good storytelling, which is what they did. March visitors to the U.S. numbered 12% fewer than in 2024, and they are tasked with improving that. She reminded us of so many places to go in Santa Cruz County, like the boardwalk, parks, wineries, breweries, restaurants and more.

In good news we heard of a waitress who died, whose sister used her last day's tip money to start a project that ended up causing many people to do good deeds for many more, and resulted in a terrific video tribute to woman who died.

State senator John Laird spoke of his bill to enact protections related to battery energy storage systems like the one in Moss Landing. He compared his bill to another, proposed by assemblymember Dawn Addis. He also talked about sanctuary cities, and citizens' ability to move about the country, and to and from it, freely.

In Good News we heard of a rare tree from Australia that is producing fruit in England for the first time, a boy who saved a calf, and the recent successfull running of the Big Sur International marathon.

Mark Mozena had lots of topics, not all of which we got to, so perhaps some will spill over into our next visit.

Dr. Pete let us know today is Penguin Awareness Day. He told us about penguin etiquette, which is mostly just people not getting to close to them.

Alex and Rosemary both liked several of this week's movies. The Accountant 2, Jimmy in Saigon and Cheech and Chong's Last Movie all got thumbs up from both of them.

Charlie said it is a banner year, both for neighborhood gardens and for wildflowers on the hillsides.

Heather Houston of Yala Lati was in the studio with us. She told us the name Yala Lati was just a fun sound to sing, but if we must have a meaning for it, it is this. "Women's voices raising in harmony to bless the world." What's not to love about that? Her group has been singing together for 20 years. She says anyone can sing, and told us a bit of how one can make that happen. Best of all, she shared with us a couple pieces of quite beautiful music.

A More Beautiful World

Tending The Spark

Jaime Smith was all over the place. First we heard of his Easter meal with his family. Then we learned that his child's Florida school is not the one that recently had a shooting with multiple victims, but is the rival to that school, so he knows parents of several students at it. We learned whether coconut water really is healthy. Rosemary introduced him to Dubai chocolate.

Dan Haifley was also with us, talking about whales in the Monterey Bay. NOAA employees have been fired, hired and fired again, which is causing difficulties for marinie sanctuaries. He talked about the coastal commission, and the support Justin Cummings has gotten in his bid to serve. Finally he told us about Whalefest.

Tim Goncharoff joined as well, with lots to share about recycling and trash.

Michael Olson subbed in for Bill today.

Rachael Shelton joined and set a new record for going over time. She and Mr. Olson talked about the cost of leasing a building. She emphasized the importance of reading the contract. How much everything will cost can be a mystery until then.

Mark had extremely exciting news today, about our best evidence for life elsewhere to date. Here are that and his other topics as well.