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Jessica Lyons delves into the heart and soul of Monterey County's Census Track 7, one of the most densely populated districts in the United States, a gang-ridden neighborhood filled with vibrant life and deep despair. She rides with a councilman in search of a park in the impoverished neighborhood. They never find it, but they find a place where they can look out over a lush golf course in the affluent part of town. "It's got to be so goddamn depressing," the councilman tells her. "You live in the ghetto, but you can see out.

Hold on to your liver! Riverfront Times salutes the coolest watering holes you've never heard of. Randall Roberts and Mike Seely pull the hard duty of checking out the VFW and American Legion bars of St. Louis, where no one recalls how it became law that "no beer shall cost more than a buck and a quarter or that a majority of bartenders be named Rita." Seely tells AAN News, "This is the real cheese when it comes to getting to the nit-grit of the current military state."