THUMBS DOWN — To the marine researchers at UC Santa Cruz for not acknowledging earlier the contributions they had received from the Santa Cruz-based Pelagic Shark Research Foundation in preparing a study involving tagged sharks. A lawsuit was filed after an article appeared in 2002 in the journal Nature not giving any credit to work done by the Pelagic group. The matter was settled out of court with a UCSC scientist belatedly acknowledging his "dual affiliation with UCSC and PSRF."

THUMBS UP — To the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce, for setting up an organization to fill the void left by the demise of the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Santa Cruz County. Those running the old chamber are currently being investigated by law enforcement, and the organization had been stopped cold. But the Pajaro Valley chamber realized that specific services are needed by Latino business owners around the county, so it has formed a Latino division. The group will meet next at 8 a.m. March 3 in the Pajaro chamber office, 444 Main St., Watsonville.