We have so much news for you this week, including lots of exclusives, we barely have room for it all ... so let's get started!

According to the 2010 Census, Carmel's population declined by almost 8 percent in the last ten years. But does that mean people are fleeing and the place is no good anymore? I have the answer.

The teenager whose DUI driving paralyzed a classmate and injured three others a year ago was sentenced to seven-plus years in state prison Thursday, despite pleas from several of his victims for probation. Kelly Nix was in the courtroom.

The bomb squad blew up a "pipe bomb" on Carmel Beach Sunday. Was the device for real? Mary Brownfield reports.

A notorious rapist claims he was convicted only because the judge was so unfair during his trial, and he wants an appeals court to set him free. A high school student was arrested last week and will probably be expelled for threatening to kill an assistant principal and her son. A county supervisor is already starting her 2012 re-election campaign, because she says the deck is stacked against her. The regional park board suddenly changed its tone to contrition this week after coming under attack for overpaying its former general manager. A reward has been offered for return of a painting stolen from the lobby of a local hotel years ago — a painting with an important role in American history. And my editorial looks at the statewide political implications of the 2010 census (things don't look good for environmentalists).

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions or comments. To get this week's complete Pine Cone, please click here. If you have an opinion about one of our stories and would like to submit a letter to the editor, please click here. And if you want to know which story in the Monterey County Herald this week was one of the most ignorant stories ever printed, be sure to visit my hot Internet links.

Paul Miller, Publisher
paul@carmelpinecone.com

To return to the download page for the March 11, 2011, edition, please click here.