Plugged in, yet all alone: All About Theatre connects with ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
All About Theatre takes on the emotionally complicated “Dear Evan Hansen” with strong vocals and a spectacular technical design that brings its story of loneliness, belonging and our digitally connected lives vividly to the stage.
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On Coral Street, police sweeps don’t solve homelessness; they make it invisible
On Coral Street in Santa Cruz, the tents are disappearing — but the people who lived in them have not. As Housing Matters prepares to open 120 units of supportive housing, weekly street sweeps are escalating into daily displacement, writes Kevin Gallagher, who works with the unhoused on Coral Street. A community, he says, cannot call itself compassionate while pushing its most vulnerable people out of sight. Homelessness is not erased when we clear a sidewalk; it is simply moved somewhere we don’t have to see it. He urges city leaders – and all of us – to do better.
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El debate sobre Flock en Watsonville cobra impulso mientras un concejal reconsidera su apoyo
Esta traducción fue generada utilizando inteligencia artificial y ha sido revisada por un hablante nativo de español; si bien nos esforzamos por lograr precisión, pueden ocurrir algunos errores de traducción. Para leer el artículo en inglés, haga clic aquí.
La exitosa campaña para retirar las cámaras de vigilancia de Flock de Santa Cruz está dando impulso a los activistas que intentan persuadir a Watsonville de hacer lo mismo.
Ese fue uno de los mensajes centrales del domingo, cuando organizadores y simpatizantes de Get the Flock Out se reunieron en las escalinatas del tribunal del condado de Santa Cruz para celebrar haber logrado deshacerse de la tecnología en Santa Cruz en enero, mientras dirigían su atención a las casi 50 cámaras que todavía operan en Watsonville y Capitola.
En Watsonville, los organizadores han continuado reuniéndose con líderes municipales y candidatos desde que el Concejo Municipal votó el año pasado para renovar su contrato con la controvertida empresa de lectores de matrículas y añadir 17 cámaras. Con 37 cámaras actualmente en funcionamiento en toda la ciudad, Watsonville tiene el mayor número de cámaras de cualquier jurisdicción del condado; Capitola, la única otra jurisdicción del condado con cámaras de Flock, tiene 10.
Lourdes Barraza, organizadora de Get the Flock Out en Watsonville, dijo que continúa conversando con funcionarios electos y candidatos al Concejo Municipal sobre la tecnología, y que los esfuerzos podrían estar dando resultados.
Organizers from Get the Flock Out at a rally on Aug. 16 in Santa Cruz. Credit: Natasha Leverett / Lookout Santa Cruz
Casey Clark, uno de los cinco miembros del Concejo Municipal que votaron para renovar el contrato, ahora dice que su perspectiva sobre las cámaras está empezando a cambiar.
Anteriormente Clark le dijo a Lookout que terminó votando a favor de renovar el contrato porque confiaba en la información proporcionada por el Departamento de Policía de la ciudad y estaba satisfecho con el hecho de que toda la información recopilada por las cámaras de Flock pertenece al departamento de policía y que nadie más puede acceder a ella sin permiso.
Las cámaras registran automáticamente las matrículas y otros datos identificativos de cada vehículo que pasa por su campo de visión. Los datos no señalados como relevantes recopilados por estos lectores de matrículas se almacenan durante 30 días antes de ser eliminados permanentemente. Sin embargo, existe una excepción si un registro pasa a formar parte de una investigación en curso. Watsonville también puede conceder acceso a las grabaciones a organismos policiales externos cuando estos lo soliciten.
“La idea de Flock es maravillosa,” dijo Clark a Lookout a principios de esta semana. “Especialmente en Watsonville, donde no tenemos muchos agentes en las calles. Flock ha sido beneficioso para la seguridad de la comunidad.”
En febrero, el jefe de Policía de Watsonville, Brian Shab, dijo a Lookout que las cámaras son útiles, especialmente en un momento en que la mayoría de los departamentos de policía tienen dificultades de personal, y que aprovechar este tipo de tecnología de manera justa y transparente supone un cambio radical.
Sin embargo, Flock está dirigido por personas, dijo Clark, “y las personas pueden equivocarse y tomar decisiones realmente malas,” que es precisamente donde se centra su preocupación.
Watsonville City Councilmember Casey Clark in a March 2024 council meeting. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
Los críticos de esta tecnología, tanto a nivel local como nacional, sostienen que la red de Flock permite a los organismos encargados de hacer cumplir la ley rastrear, registrar y compartir los movimientos de las personas sin una orden judicial y con pocas regulaciones. La empresa también ha sido criticada por compartir información directamente con la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de Estados Unidos (U.S. Customs and Border Protection).
El invierno pasado, miembros de GTFO informaron que un exjefe de Policía de Georgia buscó datos de Flock de Capitola a principios de 2025 para acosar y hostigar a ciudadanos particulares.
Después de conversar con Barraza y su esposo, Gabriel, Clark dijo que ha estado realizando su propia investigación y revisando artículos periodísticos para determinar cuál es su posición sobre el tema. Añadió que le decepciona ver tantos ejemplos de organismos policiales que han utilizado indebidamente el sistema.
“Estoy haciendo mi debida diligencia, y por eso la respuesta prudente es que ya no estoy tan convencido como antes,” dijo Clark.
Clark le dijo a Lookout que está dispuesto a volver a tener una discusión pública con sus colegas sobre las cámaras más pronto que tarde.
El concejal Jimmy Dutra, por otro lado, considera que no hay suficiente impulso para volver a llevar el tema ante el pleno del Concejo para debatirlo, y añadió que Watsonville no ha tenido ningún problema con las cámaras.
“Flock realmente nos ha ayudado a resolver muchos problemas que hemos tenido en nuestra comunidad,” dijo Dutra, haciendo referencia a un reciente accidente con fuga en Green Valley Road en el que murió una persona. La Policía de Watsonville pudo encontrar al sospechoso utilizando las cámaras de Flock.
Dutra añadió que Flock está realizando cambios constantemente en su sistema. La semana pasada, la empresa anunció que reducirá el período de conservación de datos de 30 días a siete, y permitirá conservar los datos durante más tiempo si están vinculados a un número de caso.
La empresa también exigirá que todos los organismos policiales implementen una herramienta de auditoría diseñada para detectar “comportamientos de búsqueda anormales” como parte de estos cambios. Funcionarios de la Policía de Watsonville habían dicho anteriormente a Lookout que su sistema de Flock ya cuenta con una herramienta similar y que esta marca las búsquedas relacionadas con inmigración.
A Flock camera on Freedom Boulevard in Watsonville, down the street from the St. Patrick Parish church. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
“Incluso ellos están perfeccionando la manera en que operan,” dijo Dutra. “Simplemente no es un problema aquí en Watsonville.”
Dutra también señaló la Medida Y, un impuesto sobre las ventas de medio centavo aprobado por los votantes y destinado a financiar iniciativas de seguridad pública, que, según él, demuestra la importancia que los residentes de Watsonville conceden a la seguridad pública.
Dutra añadió que está dispuesto a conversar con los residentes de su distrito sobre el tema si tienen inquietudes acerca de las cámaras.
Actualmente, la ciudad no está considerando ningún cambio en su contrato con Flock, según Erika Vazquez, portavoz del Departamento de Policía de Watsonville.
El departamento no tiene preocupaciones respecto al uso de las cámaras, ya que realiza auditorías periódicas para “garantizar que la tecnología se utilice de manera apropiada y de acuerdo con las políticas del departamento y las expectativas de la ciudad,” dijo Vazquez por correo electrónico.
Vazquez dijo que el departamento tiene “muchos ejemplos exitosos” del uso de Flock para ayudar a resolver casos. A principios de este mes, las cámaras ayudaron a recuperar un camión robado en cuestión de horas y, a finales del año pasado, el departamento utilizó las cámaras para arrestar a un delincuente sexual registrado que presuntamente se había exhibido ante una mujer en público.
El tema de Flock es una “espada de doble filo,” dijo Clark, y existen ventajas y desventajas de esta tecnología que él y sus colegas del Concejo tendrán que sopesar si en el futuro se abre la posibilidad de volver a debatir el asunto.
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Mustangs maintain formation to become Mission North contenders | PCAL football
Two games into the 2025 campaign, Monte Vista Christian senior Evan Vessey was named the starting quarterback.
And just like that, the youngster was in charge of a varsity offense.
The Mustang slinger did his best to get the job done on the field but it wasn’t enough to deliver a winning season.
Vessey returns under center for a second straight year, only this time he’s feeling a lot more comfortable, and confident, as ever.
“I think we’re gonna go far, honestly,” he said. “I love our team mentality. I love how we build a brother up, we always are positive towards each other. If a man doesn’t do his job you pick him up and help him move on to the next play.”
MVC finished with a 4-6 overall record last season. They placed fifth in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Mission North Division, going 1-4 in league play.
Vessey, who has an elite arm and outstanding leadership ability, will have plenty of playmakers to help him get the job done this season.
Jordan Ramirez is a remarkable athlete and impact player on both sides of the ball, while Johnny Finney should be a versatile two-way starter who can impact the game in multiple ways.
Vessey really enjoys the new pro-style offense that MVC first-year head coach Joe Sturdivant instilled during the offseason.
For starters, it’s going to take a lot of pressure off Vessey’s shoulders (literally). In 2025, he completed 70 percent (279 of 396) of his pass attempts while compiling 3,438 yards, 27 touchdowns and just five interceptions, according to statistics on the Max Preps website.
Plus, he likes the idea of being able to run some play-action, when accordingly.
“We did a very good job passing the ball [last year], but I feel like every team knew we were gonna just pass the ball,” Vessey said. “So, mixing it up with a run game, it will give us more of an opportunity for [Ramirez] to get open more, just not rely on the pass game.”
Ramirez added the new playbook opens their palate, and they’re able to spread the field by putting players in certain positions to make plays.
“It’s going to be a lot more mix-match here and there,” he said.
Sturdivant said their system is designed to take what the defense is going to give them, and create the best matchups when they can.
“When I say pro-style offense, that’s what it means,” he said. “We’re going to game plan to run the offense that attacks that defense we see that week. So if it’s throw it a bunch, we’ll throw it a bunch. Run a bunch, we’ll run a bunch.”
Senior Kai Bergthold is another two-way starter who will lead the secondary on a formation-adjust defense that mixes both three-man and four-man fronts to create matchup advantages.
Ramirez, who guards the outside as a cornerback, said the way they line up will apply a lot more pressure on the opposing offense.
“Make the quarterback make quick decisions,” he said. “Get the ball out quick to give our secondary a better chance to capitalize, and tackle the ball and do what we do great. It helps us out.”
Sturdivant said the strength of their defense will be the linebacker corps that includes junior Reece Walker, a young player with the ability to make an immediate impact.
Other newcomers for the Mustangs are juniors Seth Estorga and Brandon Hagan.
Estorga is expected to be a two-way starter on the line, while Hagan brings both toughness and athleticism as one of the main halfbacks and linebackers on the squad.
“All three of those guys are old-school football players, just tough, hard-nosed,” Sturdivant said. “Reese, that’s a big running back. He’s also a big linebacker for high school. I think today he showed he’s got some really good speed. Brandon made some great runs, but he’s also a good linebacker.”
MVC will scrimmage against Pajaro Valley, Rancho San Juan and King City at Alisal High on Aug. 21. Then they’ll begin the regular season with a non-league contest at Seaside on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm.
The Mustangs return to the PCAL Mission North Division where they’ll face some familiar faces in San Lorenzo Valley, Scotts Valley, St. Francis and Watsonville.
The division will also welcome newcomer Aptos, which was relegated from the Gabilan Division after going 0-8 in league play in 2025. They are 6-0 against MVC since 2000, and it’s the first meeting between both teams since 2021.
Vessey is excited to play Aptos in what he anticipates will be a great game, especially because it’s on homecoming night during the school’s centennial celebration.
Ramirez added that in order to contend in the Mission North they’ll need to compete on every single play and show it by dominating the opposition.
“For us, it’s competing and dominating, and showing our confidence,” he said. “Just building as a team is really what’s supporting us.”
Sturdivant, who is a Georgia native, is new to the local rivalry scene. But despite being an “outsider,” he knows these newly revived matchups are great for the local communities.
“The more fans that are there and people care, that means a little bit more to the folks of the area and the community,” he said. “When you’re a local team playing another local team, things matter.”
Monte Vista Christian football 2026 scheduleAug. 27: at Seaside, 7:30pm
Sept. 4: Modesto Christian, 7:30pm
Sept. 10: at Pacific Grove, 7:30pm
Sept. 17: at Alvarez, 7:30pm
Sept. 25: King City, 7:30pm
Oct. 3: Aptos*, 7:30pm (Homecoming)
Oct. 16: Scotts Valley*, 7:30pm
Oct. 24: at San Lorenzo Valley*, 12:30pm
Oct. 30: St. Francis*, 7:30pm (Senior Night)
Nov. 6: at Watsonville*, 7:30pm
*PCAL Mission North Division game
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Monte Vista Christian High senior Evan Vessey will return as the starting quarterback for the Mustang football team, which kicks off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Monte Vista Christian High senior Jordan Ramirez bulldozes his way into the end zone during football practice. Tthe Mustangs kick off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Monte Vista Christian High football head coach Joe Sturdivant will enter his first year with the program. The Mustangs kick off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Monte Vista Christian High's special teams unit partakes in a drill during football practice. The Mustangs kick off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Monte Vista Christian High junior Reece Walker will be a major piece for the Mustang football team, which kicks off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Monte Vista Christian High senior Johnny Finney is expected to be a threat as a wide reciver for the Mustang football team, which kicks off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
The Monte Vista Christian High football team partakes in a scrimmage during football practice. The Mustangs kick off the 2026 fall campaign at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Monte Vista Christian High junior Brandon Hagen, right, will get several carries for the Mustang football team throughout the 2026 fall campaign, which begins at Seaside High on Aug. 27 at 7:30pm. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)
Former Monte Vista Christian School teacher arrested on lewd acts charges
A former Monte Vista Christian School teacher faces multiple charges of lewd or lascivious acts with a child aged 14 or 15 from an alleged incident in 2022.
On Friday, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office detectives traveled to Suffolk County, New York, where they arrested Jacob Lee, 28, according to a Wednesday news release.
Sheriff Chris Clark said in the release that Lee will be “brought back to face the justice system.”
“When someone entrusted with educating and mentoring young people is accused of committing crimes against them, it is an especially serious betrayal of that trust,” he said. “Let me be clear that there is no place to hide from accountability. Moving across the country does not make those allegations disappear.”
The sheriff’s office is still investigating and believes there may be additional victims because Lee was a teacher at the time of the alleged incident and was involved in the church community. Deputies are encouraging people with any information to contact the sheriff’s office at 831-454-7646.
Monte Vista Christian School officials say Lee was employed at the school from August 2021 to February 2024. Located northeast of Watsonville, the private Christian school was founded 100 years ago and serves grades 4 through 12.
School officials told Lookout they are committed to the safety of their students and they ensure their staff are properly vetted and evaluated.
“We see any unsafe action toward a member of our school community to be a serious betrayal of trust,” they said in the statement.
Santa Cruz County Superior Court records do not list an attorney for Lee.
Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.
MORE LOCAL COVERAGEThe post Former Monte Vista Christian School teacher arrested on lewd acts charges appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
This PVUSD consultant is paid $4,000 per day. Some trustees want more oversight
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees meets in October. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)
Pajaro Valley Unified School District board meeting- 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 275 Main St., fourth floor, Watsonville.
- The meeting will be streamed on YouTube.
- Click here to email the Board of Trustees.
WATSONVILLE >> Amid increased public scrutiny of spending on consultants, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees tabled renewal of a contract with a literacy coach that is paid $4,000 per day.
The consultant is one piece of a larger strategy to improve the district’s low reading scores. Some trustees worry the delayed renewal could slow the fragile progress the district has made with literacy. But teachers at two elementary schools said the coaching was counterproductive, and many staff and teachers have decried what they see as wasteful spending on outside consultants while staff and teachers are laid off.
Former Modesto City Schools administrator Kimberly Newton, whose consulting business is called Leading Literacy Consulting, has been working in the districts’ elementary schools that are underperforming in reading since the beginning of last school year.
Ahead of an Aug. 5 board meeting, teachers at Hall District and Radcliff elementary schools urged the board not to renew a one-year contract that would compensate her $157,500 for 35 days of work — a daily rate of $4,500. Newton’s contracts with the district last year and the first half of this year had daily pay rates of $3,500 to $4,000 and purchase orders from her totaled $239,500, according to district documents.
A group of Hall District teachers that wrote the email described Newton’s coaching as “disruptive” and “counterproductive,” according to a document reviewed by Santa Cruz Local.
A longtime teacher at Hall District, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to workplace concerns, said in a phone interview that the coaching from Newton was essentially a waste of time.
“She would give us certain strategies, but the strategies were not useful for us because they weren’t serving our population, our demographics of students,” the teacher said.
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For example, the teacher said, Newton suggested students’ parents could help them with reading exercises, yet many of the students’ parents don’t read or speak English.
In an email to Santa Cruz Local on Tuesday, Newton disputed this concern and said she has experience working in schools with similar demographics as Hall District and had not suggested more homework for parents.
“Throughout the year, morale was positive, teachers were receptive, administrators and literacy coaches were grateful,” Newton wrote. “The focus of my work was to support the implementation of research-based literacy practices.”
Superintendent Heather Contreras, who picked Newton to be a literacy consultant for the district, wrote in an email that, “Prior to working with Ms. Newton, both site principals worked with their teachers to see if teachers were interested in the support, and teachers agreed.”
Contreras wrote that “exit surveys following the professional learning delivered by Ms. Newton have all been positive,” and added that “if teaching staff do not feel a strategy is effective for them, we work to listen to staff and work collaboratively with them on next steps.”
A plan to improve reading scoresLess than 13% of third graders in PVUSD were proficient in English Language Arts, according to 2025 test scores. In California, about 44% of all third graders and 15% of third grade English learners were proficient in reading in 2025.
While improving reading scores to pre-pandemic levels has been a challenge across the state, PVUSD has struggled more than other districts to catch up.
Under Contreras’ leadership since 2024, the district has been prioritizing reading scores. Strategies meant to address the gap include the implementation of the 95% phonics curriculum, literacy training for teachers, and consultants like Leading Literacy.
Superintendent Heather Contreras has helmed the district since 2024. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)
LETRS, Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, is a training program for kindergarten through fifth grade teachers. In 2024, PVUSD implemented an incentive program for teachers to take the LETRS training and receive a monthly $1,500 stipend.
The Hall District teacher who spoke anonymously said they found that training really useful, and thought 95% phonics, a reading curriculum that emphasizes connecting spoken sounds to written words, was having a positive impact in the classroom.
Their main concern about the district’s strategy to improve reading scores is that it felt like a top-down implementation that lacked teacher buy-in — and that it was hard to work with a new consultant who had yet to build rapport or trust.
“It was quite stressful for us to not only try and learn this new program [95% phonics], but to have eyes on you telling you what you’re doing wrong from a person that we don’t know at all,” the teacher said.
Newton said her work included “individualized professional learning opportunities through modeling and co-teaching these instructional practices directly in classrooms.”
Part of teachers’ concern with the literacy contract, and other spending on consultants, is tied to the district’s financial position, recent devastating layoffs of staff and teachers, the threat of school closures, and ongoing contract negotiations between the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers and the district.
In an email to Santa Cruz Local, Contreras said the money that pays for Newton’s coaching comes from one-time funds that are restricted to professional development in teaching literacy and couldn’t be used to pay ongoing teacher salaries.
A call for oversight of consultantsAt the Aug. 5 board meeting, trustees debated the contract and how the district might solicit anonymous feedback from staff about their experiences with outside consultants.
Trustee Gabe Medina’s district includes Radcliff and Hall District.
“What I’m hearing from my teachers in my area is this was a really bad experience for them,” he said of the coaching from Newton. Medina suggested there be an evaluation process for consultants, because “if it’s not a good match, it’s not a good match, and we need to determine that.”
Ultimately, Board President Carol Turley and Trustees Daniel Dodge Jr., Joy Flynn and Medina voted to table renewal of the contract until the Aug. 26 board meeting. They also directed the superintendent to devise a mechanism for teachers to submit anonymous feedback about Newton.
Though Turley voted in favor of tabling the contract to make time for an evaluation process, she was upset when reached by phone after the meeting.
“We failed our kids. Our kids are testing in the bottom,” Turley said. “If you can’t read by third grade, it’s almost impossible to catch up. We have a plan, and we’ve been working this for two years, and we’ve seen significant growth in the past year. And now we’re just abandoning the coaching to help those teachers make sure our kids can be successful.”
Trustee Misty Navarro, the sole vote against tabling the contract in a board meeting with two trustees absent, said that she supported allowing the superintendent to implement her strategy for improving reading scores and that the district should allocate the resources necessary for that.
But, Navarro agreed with other trustees during the meeting, saying, “if you don’t get teacher buy-in, I don’t think we’re going to move the needle.”
In an email Aug. 7, Navarro wrote that she was disappointed and tabling renewal of the contract “is a loss for our educators, who were genuinely interested in the professional development it offered, and it is a loss for our students.”
PVUSD teachers and their supporters rally outside a board meeting in February 2025 to oppose layoffs to teachers and staff. (Fidel M. Soto — Noticias Watsonville file)
Though no vote was made to create such a system, several trustees said there should be a process in place for evaluating all consultants’ work and a way for staff to submit anonymous feedback about any consultant. The district has many consultants for professional services, from classrooms to the business department.
Flynn suggested the district require an evaluation of consultants that would be reviewed by the board prior to renewal of a contract.
Board meetings have, in recent weeks, featured heightened scrutiny of consultant contracts. This came to a head last month when the contract for bond consultant Bill McGuire was up for renewal.
Santa Cruz Local reported in June that McGuire was hired by the district to advise on its bond-funded facilities projects, but the contract and the public record lacked specificity as to the work being done. He was hired to work one to two days per week at a cost of $200,000 per year to the district — paid out of the voter-approved bonds in 2024’s Measure M — with no clear deliverables available for review by trustees or the public.
McGuire told this publication in an interview in June that he advises the district’s facilities and business staff “to make sure that we’re utilizing the bond funds in the best way possible and helping coaching the team, who’s fairly new at this work.”
McGuire’s business partner Terry Bradley, who died shortly after being contracted by the district in June 2025, had previously been charged for bond bidding fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but paid a settlement that did not include an admission of wrongdoing. McGuire said Bradley was never convicted and that any suggestion he was guilty was “character assasination.”
These articles provoked concern and anger over financial transparency among some district staff, parents and trustees. At last month’s board meeting, Medina was strident about his disapproval of the superintendent for bringing on McGuire, and moved to pull the item from the consent agenda for discussion. But with no votes on his side, the consent agenda, and McGuire’s contract renewal, were approved without discussion.
At the Aug. 5 meeting, Trustees Jessica Carrasco and Olivia Flores were absent, and the board lacked the votes to approve the consent agenda without discussion.
The contract renewal for Leading Literacy and a plan to solicit anonymous feedback is expected to come before the board at its next meeting, 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 275 Main St., fourth floor, Watsonville.
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Down The Line: All the biggest and best shows, gigs & events ahead in Santa Cruz County
Team BOLO (Be On The Lookout) is gathering and curating all of Santa Cruz County’s biggest and best happenings from now until forever — or at least until the latest gigs are officially announced.
Latest additions are marked as NEW below.
Use the following links to see the major events happening by month:
And away we go with Down The Line …
AugustAug. 19: Bill O’Connell Trio, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 19: Steve Hawk, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Aug. 20: Jon Dryden, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 21: Willie Watson & Erin Rae, Felton Music Hall
Aug. 21: Frankie Moreno Trio, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 22: Earthless, Moe’s Alley
Aug. 22: “Music, Hope & Insight,” Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 23: Mighty Mike Schermer, Moe’s Alley
Aug. 24: Keyon Harrold, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 25: La Luz, Felton Music Hall
Aug. 25: “Winter in America,” Bookshop Santa Cruz
Aug. 26: Duane Betts, Felton Music Hall
Aug. 26: The Kirtan Love Experience, The Rio
Aug. 26: Built to Spill, The Rio
Aug. 27: Simon Phillips, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 27: Dave Evans, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Aug. 28: Tim Flannery & the Lunatic Fringe, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Aug. 29: Greyboy All-Stars, Moe’s Alley
Aug. 31: Eagles of Death Metal, The Catalyst
SeptemberSept. 1: Rehash, The Catalyst
Sept. 3: Paula Arai, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 4: Santa Cruz Shakespeare opening night: Noel Coward’s “Private Lives,” Audrey Stanley Grove
Sept. 5: Clinton Fearon & the Boogie Brown Band, Moe’s Alley
Sept. 5: Public Image Ltd., The Rio
Sept. 6: Tommy Castro & the Painkillers, Moe’s Alley
Sept. 6: Stephen Malkmus, The Rio
Sept. 7: Tom Petty tribute, Audrey Stanley Grove
Sept. 8: Susan Shillinglaw, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 9: PawPaw Rod, The Catalyst
Sept. 9: Laurie R. King, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 10: Nduduzo Makhathini, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Sept. 10: Sara Kehaulani Goo, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 11: Santa Cruz Shakespeare opening night: Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last 5 Years,” Audrey Stanley Grove
Sept. 12: Black Uhuru, Moe’s Alley
Sept. 14: John Pizzarelli, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 15: “Smoke Cabaret,” Laurie Rivera, Audrey Stanley Grove
Sept. 16: Pedro Martín, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 17: The Growlers, The Catalyst
Sept. 17: Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 18: Old Blind Dogs, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 19: Rayland Baxter, Moe’s Alley
Sept. 19: Santa Cruz Guitar Company 50th anniversary, The Rio
Sept. 20: Vieux Farka Toure, Felton Music Hall
Sept. 20: Stick Men, UCSC Music Center
Sept. 22: Al DiMeola, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 22: Welcome Week Rave, Santa Cruz Civic
Sept. 23: Brass Queens, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 23: Curtis Reliford, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 24: Bill Frisell & Harmony Five, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 26: Laurie Anderson, The Rio
Sept. 27: Sleep, The Catalyst
Sept. 28: Linda Ronstadt tribute, Audrey Stanley Grove
Sept. 28: Joseph Fink, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Sept. 29: Aldous Harding, The Rio
Sept. 29: Teada, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Sept. 30: Cyrille Aimee & Mathis Picard, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
OctoberOct. 1: El Khat, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 1: Groundation, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 1: Pearl & the Oysters, The Crepe Place
Oct. 1: Miriam Pawel, Bookshop Santa Cruz
NEW: Oct. 1: Steel Pulse, The Catalyst
Oct. 2: Soda Blonde, The Crepe Place
Oct. 2: Fruit Bats, The Rio
Oct. 2: Twin Temple, The Catalyst
NEW: Oct. 2-3: Diggin’ Dirt, Moe’s Alley
Oct. 3: The Bends, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 4: Mike Dawes, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 5: Hiromi, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 6: Kishi Bashi, The Rio
Oct. 8: Rickie Lee Jones, The Rio
Oct. 8: Ben Flocks, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 8: The Guitarsonists, The Crepe Place
Oct. 9: The Breaks, Moe’s Alley
Oct. 9: King Crimson tribute, Quarry Amphitheater
Oct. 10: Damien Jurado, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 10: Banff Center Mountain Film, The Rio
Oct. 10: Acid Bath, Quarry Amphitheater
Oct. 11: Yellowjackets, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Oct. 11: Min Jin Lee, The Rio
Oct. 12: Somi, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 14: Bonnie Raitt, Santa Cruz Civic
Oct. 14: Acoustic Alchemy, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 14: Alborosie & Shengen Clan, Moe’s Alley
Oct. 15: Bumpin’ Uglies, The Catalyst
Oct. 16: Young Dubliners, Moe’s Alley
Oct. 16: Xavier Wulf, The Catalyst
Oct. 17: B-Side Players, Moe’s Alley
Oct. 17: Megan Woods, The Rio
NEW: Oct. 17: Santa Cruz Comedy Festival, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Oct. 17: Marty O’Reilly, The Crepe Place
Oct. 19: Buster Williams, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Oct. 19: Grace Krilanovich, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Oct. 21: Jerry Douglas Band, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 21: Hannah Mayree, The Crepe Place
Oct. 22: Todd Rundgren, The Rio
Oct. 23: Black Flag, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 23: Lyrics Born, Moe’s Alley
NEW: Oct. 25: “Let the Caged Bird Sing” IV, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 26: Fonville & Fribush, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 27: Great Lake Swimmers, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 28: Lyle Lovett, Santa Cruz Civic
Oct. 29: Laura Anglade, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Oct. 29: Michael Franti, The Rio
Oct. 30: The Mother Hips, Moe’s Alley
Oct. 30-31: Jerry’s Middle Finger, Felton Music Hall
Oct. 31: AJ Lee & Blue Summit, The Rio
NovemberNov. 1: Andrew Duhon, Moe’s Alley
Nov. 1: Alexandr Misko, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 2: Helen Sung, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 4: Joshua Redman, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Nov. 4: Priyanka Matoo, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Nov. 5: Gabrille Cavassa, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 6: Elijah Scott, Felton Music Hall
Nov. 7: Henry Diltz: Behind the Lens, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Nov. 7: Jeffrey Foucault, Felton Music Hall
NEW: Nov. 7: Led Zeppelin tribute, Moe’s Alley
Nov. 8: Southern Culture on the Skids, Moe’s Alley
Nov. 9: Alex Cameron, The Crepe Place
Nov. 9: “Birth of the Cool” Revisited, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 10: Donavon Frankenreiter, The Rio
Nov. 12: Jake Xerxes Fussell, Felton Music Hall
Nov. 12: Ken Okada, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 14: Nick Shoulders, Felton Music Hall
Nov. 14: Jon Spencer, Moe’s Alley
Nov. 15: The Cactus Blossoms, Felton Music Hall
Nov. 15: California Honeydrops, The Catalyst
Nov. 16: Las Migas, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 17: John Carroll Kirby, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 18: As I Lay Dying, The Catalyst
Nov. 18: Michael Nau, The Crepe Place
Nov. 19: James Gordon Williams, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 20: Andrew McMahon, Felton Music Hall
NEW: Nov. 20-21: Kabaka Pyramid, Moe’s Alley
Nov. 23: The Residents, Felton Music Hall
NEW: Nov. 23: Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Nov. 29: Sandra Bernhard, The Rio
Nov. 30: Benny Green, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
DecemberDec. 2: Kassa Overall, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 2: “A Celtic Christmas,” Santa Cruz Civic
NEW: Dec. 2: Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Crepe Place
Dec. 3: Isaiah Sharkey, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 4: Dragon Smoke, Moe’s Alley
Dec. 5: Hell’s Belles, Moe’s Alley
NEW: Dec. 5: The Expendables, The Catalyst
Dec. 7: The Bad Plus, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 8: Buck Meek, Moe’s Alley
Dec. 8: A Guaraldi Holiday, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 9: Mike Renwick, Felton Music Hall
Dec. 10: Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 11: Jonathan Richman, The Rio
Dec. 12: The Wooten Brothers, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 14: Christian Sands, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Dec. 17: Pokey LaFarge, Felton Music Hall
Dec. 17: Skylar Tang, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
January 2027Jan. 21: Jesse Cook, The Rio
NEW: Jan. 22: Andy McKee, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Jan. 23: Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Jan. 28: Chris Cain, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
FebruaryNEW: Feb. 8: Kenny Barron, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Feb. 11: Nella, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
NEW: Feb. 15: Hamilton de Holanda, Kuumbwa Jazz Center
MarchNEW: March 14: Alok, The Catalyst
AprilApril 21: “Alice in Wonderland,” Santa Cruz Civic
April 23: Fashion Teens, The Rio
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF BOLOSign up for Lookout’s Weekender newsletter, sent every Thursday afternoon.
If you’re planning or producing your own event, click CREATE AN EVENT on the calendar.
Questions, comments, concerns? Email bolo@lookoutlocal.com.
The post Down The Line: All the biggest and best shows, gigs & events ahead in Santa Cruz County appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Watsonville airport receives $115K federal grant
Watsonville Municipal Airport will receive more than $115,000 in federal funding to upgrade runway markings, U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff announced Wednesday.
The $115,058 grant will pay for new markings on Runway 2/20 to bring the airport into compliance with current standards.
The funding is part of nearly $109 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants awarded to 51 airports across California through the agency’s Airport Improvement Program.
The program supports airport infrastructure projects including runway and taxiway rehabilitation, safety improvements, lighting upgrades, terminal construction and noise mitigation.
“California’s airports are critical to the millions of travelers, workers, and goods that keep our economy moving,” Padilla said in a statement. “Investing in this infrastructure means safer runways, shorter delays, and airports built to handle the demands of our growing state.”
Watsonville Municipal Airport, owned and operated by the city of Watsonville, is a general aviation airport serving the Pajaro Valley and surrounding region.
The Watsonville grant is among several awarded to Central Coast airports. Monterey Regional Airport will receive $2.37 million toward construction of a new 66,500-square-foot terminal, while Hollister Municipal Airport will receive $794,087 for design work to reconstruct 9,200 feet of Taxiway A.
“From upgrading runways and taxiways to reducing airport noise and improving passenger facilities, these investments will make airports across California safer and more reliable,” Schiff said in a statement.
The latest grants follow $107 million in federal funding announced last month for 16 California airports.
Last year, Padilla and Schiff announced $168.85 million for 46 California airports through a separate airport infrastructure grant program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Another 72 airports received a combined $158.4 million for upgrades.
Capitola Murder suspect pleads not guilty
A 19-year-old man pleaded not guilty to homicide charges Wednesday for the recent stabbing death of a woman outside Capitola Mall.
Tyler Leibelt was arrested July 20 and charged with murder and other enhancement allegations, including lying in wait, for the stabbing of 73-year-old Rachell Summers.
Police said he didn’t set out to kill a specific person, but was planning a violent crime, and that he called 911 to confess shortly after the attack.
Summers was a much-loved woman who managed Art of Santa Cruz gallery in Capitola Mall. Her only grandchild was nearing his first birthday when she was killed outside the mall on Clares Street.
A family friend attended court, saying he was only there to relay information to the family.
A handful of people attended to support Leibelt as well. Declining to give their names, three said Liebelt had repeatedly tried, unsuccessfully, to get the mental health assistance he knew he needed.
Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Gary Paden accepted Leibelt’s plea and then asked if he understood the “very serious felony charges” against him. He answered, “Yes, sir,” with a quick thumbs-up gesture.
Leibelt remains in County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
Summers’ daughter is hosting two memorials, per Facebook posts. A drop-in visitation is 1 to 5pm Friday at Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz. A memorial service is at 10:30am. Aug. 28 at St. Joseph’s Church, 435 Monterey Ave., Capitola.
As of Wednesday, a GoFundMe college fund appeal for Summers’ grandson had raised $14,712 toward the $16,000 goal.
“Her passing left a deep void in the lives of everyone who loved her, especially her grandson,” a statement on the site reads, adding that Summers dreamt of a bright future for her beloved grandson.
Leibelt lived earlier in the Zayante area of Felton. He was in a sober-living home in Santa Cruz when arrested, and has been in Juvenile Hall and at a county short-term psychiatric facility, court records state. Information in a firearms restraining order from November containing an alleged and later dismissed juvenile justice case was sealed Monday by Judge Paden.
Investigators say he had homicidal fantasies and had expressed desires to kill multiple people.
Supervising Assistant District Attorney Conor McCormick declined comment after Wednesday’s hearing, as did Lisa McCamey, felony supervisor at the county public defender’s office.
Former Monte Vista teacher arrested on suspicion of sex crimes
A former Monte Vista Christian School teacher was arrested Aug. 14 on suspicion of committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child who is 14 or 15.
Jacob Lee, 28, is facing multiple charges, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn, deputies in April received a report about an incident involving Lee that allegedly occurred in 2022. Detectives identified Lee as the suspect, and on Aug. 14, detectives traveled to Suffolk County, New York, to arrest him.
“When someone entrusted with educating and mentoring young people is accused of committing crimes against them, it is an especially serious betrayal of that trust,” Sheriff Chris Clark said. “Let me be clear that there is no place to hide from accountability. Moving across the country does not make those allegations disappear.”
According to his LinkedIn page, Lee taught biology at Monte Vista Christian from August 2021 to February 2024. He received a degree in molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz in 2020.
It was unclear Wednesday whether the victim was a student at Monte Vista. The Pajaronian has reached out to school administrators for more information.
Clark said Lee will be extradited to Santa Cruz County.
“We will never stop pursuing those who prey on our children,” he said. “No matter where you go, we will find you.”
Because Lee was a teacher at the time of the alleged incident, detectives believe there could be other victims.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Munoz at 831.454.7646.
This story will be updated.
Tyler Leibelt pleads not guilty in Capitola Mall murder case
The Santa Cruz 19-year-old accused of murdering a 73-year-old Capitola woman outside of the Capitola Mall in July will return to court on Oct. 8 for a preliminary hearing.
The post Tyler Leibelt pleads not guilty in Capitola Mall murder case appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
The secret Santa Cruzans have always known is becoming our city’s next great space. Be part of what’s next.
The Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries just announced that they are only $75,000 away from their $3 Million goal towards the build-out of the new Downtown Library. You might be surprised where you fit in this story — read on.
Long before there were think pieces about third spaces and the loneliness epidemic, Santa Cruzans understood that belonging doesn’t have to mean fitting in. The secret isn’t hidden. On our best days, this community gives every person room to do their own thing. What’s more Santa Cruz than the public library? The new Downtown Santa Cruz Public Library will soon open its doors for everyone.
Jessica Goodman and Victor Willis. Credit: Sean McLean Photography
Jessica Goodman, who manages adult programs for the library system, described the ethos: “It really is for absolutely everybody. Everyone is welcome all the time. You don’t need to pay anything. You don’t need to bring anything with you. You don’t need to prove anything. The library is there for you.”
This is the place for the curious to explore, the dreamers to create, the strivers to succeed, the networkers to connect, and the innovators to thrive.
When Kendra Baker and Zach Davis first dreamed up the Penny Ice Creamery, they chose the downtown library as their meeting place. “Using the resources of the library, the references and the people that work there helped us figure out how to start a business,” Davis recalls. “It was the first business we’d ever started and we needed all the help we could get.”
Kendra Baker and Zach Davis. Credit: Sean McLean Photography
Victor Willis, the librarian who oversees Local History collections, leads a team of 15 volunteers digitizing Santa Cruz’s historic collections, with a new podcast just out. When asked about the impact of working with community archivists, he doesn’t hesitate: “We had an outpouring of support from everybody from retired people to college undergrads and everything in between. The community is preserving and sharing the communities’ collective memory.”
Founders plotting first steps. History being preserved by neighbors.
Downtown Branch Library Lincoln & Cedar. Credit: Jason Architects
The new Downtown Library was designed the way this town operates: welcoming everyone’s ideas. Right in the center of the action, this sustainably designed, museum-quality civic space will be enjoyed for generations to come.
Rena Dubin participated as a member of the Downtown Library Advisory Committee and describes a process that surveyed more than 2,000 residents across every generation and walk of life. “We are really thrilled to have everybody involved,” she says. “This is a library for the community and by the community.”
Downtown Branch Library Lobby. Credit: Jason Architects
What the community asked for, the community is getting: large communal and family activity rooms, study rooms, a toddler area, a teen center, an expanded children’s library with dedicated programming space, a special collections room, an atrium. And a roof deck with an open view toward the ocean, a few blocks away.
Downtown Branch Library Roof Deck. Credit: Jason Architects
Joe Ferrara has watched downtown reinvent itself for 50 years from behind the counter of Atlantis Fantasyworld. He remembers what a true gathering place feels like. “People who were around during that era will remember that the Old Cooper House was considered the heart of downtown,” he says. “I believe this new library will be the new heart of downtown.”
In an age when nearly everything is mediated by a screen, the library stays grounded in real life. Bjorn Jones, a Downtown Branch librarian who focuses on digital literacy and often helps patrons land new jobs, frames it this way: “The human relationships and interactions that we can build upon are at a premium in a world where there is increasing technology and automation. I’m hoping that for libraries, we can really lean into our humanity.”
You’re Already Part of It. Make It Official.If you already believe in what the library is, the only question left is whether your name will be on it.
Longtime donors John and Linda Burroughs understand what a gift here actually buys. “What we’re really trying to do is to fund the future for our children and our grandchildren,” John says. “It’s a place where people can gather. It doesn’t matter what’s in your wallet or what your interests are. Everybody can get together.”
John and Linda Burroughs. Credit: Sean McLean Photography
Andrew Ow, whose family has supported the library for generations, describes the payoff in the most tangible terms: “We’re going to have this really big, beautiful new building where you can take your partner or your children or your grandchildren and show them, ‘Hey, I was a part of this. I helped build this.’ It’s going to be here for a very long time.”
Andrew Ow, Library Supporter. Credit: Sean McLean Photography
The Friends have an announcement to share with you:
We have less than $75,000 to go to reach our $3 Million goal towards the build-out of the new Downtown Library!
We have a deadline. This campaign ends in September. This is your moment to add your name and stand with us to finish this library.
Library Construction
Recognition on the prominent donor wall begins at $1,000 — a roster of the families and businesses greeting everyone who walks through the doors. A few larger naming opportunities remain available for a limited time. Whatever your capacity to give, every contribution is meaningful and recognized. This library belongs to you.
That’s not charity. That’s pride. That’s the most Santa Cruz thing you can put your name to. Here’s your opportunity to be part of it.
DONATE TODAY
The post The secret Santa Cruzans have always known is becoming our city’s next great space. Be part of what’s next. appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Wednesday morning traffic: Highway 9 closures; traffic hazard at Branciforte Drive
Here’s what’s happening on Santa Cruz County roads this morning…
▼︎ new incidents
Road incidents as of 6 a.m. on August 19- There is a one-way traffic closure on Highway 9 at Cascade Avenue in the San Lorenzo Valley because of ongoing work. This closure is scheduled to last until Aug. 31.
- Alternating lanes are closed on Highway 9 at Riverdale Park in the San Lorenzo Valley because of bridge work. The closure is expected to end on April 30, 2027.
- A traffic hazard was reported at the intersection of Branciforte Drive and Mill Road in Santa Cruz at 5:46 a.m. Emergency crews were on their way as of 5:41 a.m. The incident was reported today.
Disclosure: Traffic incidents are partially generated by artificial intelligence. We are constantly working to improve the accuracy and quality of our AI-generated content. However, there may still be errors or inaccuracies. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.
The post Wednesday morning traffic: Highway 9 closures; traffic hazard at Branciforte Drive appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz County school board elections: Who’s running, who’s unopposed and which seats have no candidates
Want to serve on a local school board? Show up in Bonny Doon, the Mountain Elementary district or Scotts Valley and a seat might be yours for the taking.
While dozens of school board seats across Santa Cruz County and for Cabrillo College are up for grabs this November, several districts have no candidates at all. Many registered voters will see school board candidates on their ballots this November.
Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District has three seats up for election this year but had zero candidates for them – the most of any school board. Mountain Elementary and Scotts Valley Unified school districts also have seats that had zero candidates.
ELECTION 2026: Read more Lookout news and Community Voices opinion coverage
Bonny Doon Union’s five sitting board members, as with Mountain Elementary and Scotts Valley Unified, now have until Nov. 3 to appoint candidates to those seats, according to Santa Cruz County Elections Clerk Tricia Webber.
Bonny Doon Superintendent Mike Heffner told Lookout that the incumbents in his district aren’t seeking reelection for a variety of reasons, including having children who aged out of the school as well as wanting a break from the work trustees have done spending Measure L bond funding. He said he doesn’t yet have candidates identified for the seats.
“What the new trustees don’t know is that the current board did most of the heavy lifting [of the bond work],” he said. “Now we’re going to break ground and do all the fun parts of it.”
Bonny Doon Union Elementary School Superintendent Mike Heffner on the school campus. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
Webber told Lookout that the number of uncontested seats across all of the county’s races is consistent with the number she’s seen over the past 10 to 12 years or so.
“It’s pretty normal,” she said. “Some years you see a few more, some years you see a few less.”
Webber told Lookout about the races that will appear on ballots, the races that won’t and what happens when a candidate decides they no longer want to run.
School board seats appearing on the ballotThe races listed below are all contested and will appear on the ballot this November.
One of these races, however, has a candidate who has announced her intention to not actively campaign for the race. Jennifer Schacher, a candidate in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Area 5 race, said she decided to step back from the race for family reasons.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to not actively campaign for Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Area 5,” she said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision, but at this time, my family needs my full attention, and I believe that is where I need to focus.”
Webber told Lookout that because the deadline has already passed, however, Schacher’s name can’t be removed from the ballot.
So, voters living in PVUSD’s Area 5 district, which includes northwestern Watsonville and some outlying areas, will see Schacher’s name on their ballot, in addition to candidates Curt S. Wilcox and Alicia G. Jimenez.
Webber said the only scenario in which names can be removed from the ballot at this point is in the case of a death. She said that regardless of Schacher’s announcement, because her name will be on the ballot, voters can still vote for her and she can still win the race. If that were to occur, and Schacher were still intent on not serving, she would have to resign. Schacher didn’t immediately respond to Lookout when asked if she would serve if she won the election in the end.
The school district would then have a vacancy and would have to decide to fill it either by appointment or by special election. The seat has to be filled within 60 days of that person’s resignation.
Webber told Lookout she was aware of only one other candidate who had told her he planned not to actively campaign. Candidates who decide not to campaign are not required to inform the county elections office and there is no penalty for deciding to no longer actively campaign.
Several incumbents are not running for reelection. PVUSD Area 1 Trustee Joy Flynn, PVUSD Area 5 Trustee Olivia Flores and Cabrillo Community College Area 6 Trustee J. Dan Rothwell declined to seek reelection.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District – Trustee Area 1- Andrew Goldenkranz
- Meilin Obinata
- Robin Sukow
- Daniel Dodge Jr. (incumbent)
- Eriberto Estrada
- Alicia G. Jiménez
- Curt S. Wilcox
- Jennifer Schacher (no longer actively campaigning)
- Misty Navarro (incumbent)
- Mads Stockwell Realmuto
- Gail Levine (incumbent)
- Ashleigh Hopkins
- Ariel Gray (incumbent)
- Andrea Locke
- Milissa Ales-Barnicoat
- Karen Cogswell
- Benjamin Finke
Pajaro Valley Unified School District offices in Watsonville. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
School board seats appointed in lieu of election
None of the races below will appear on the ballot because they fall into one of two different categories: the candidates ran unopposed or the race didn’t have enough candidates to fill the open seats.
Three school districts that are listed below have seats without any named candidates. Bonny Doon Union Elementary, Mountain Elementary and Scotts Valley Unified have three seats, one seat and one seat, respectively, that had zero candidates.
Webber said these three school districts must appoint candidates to those seats before Nov. 3. The candidates who are selected for those seats are appointed for the full term.
For the remaining school board races listed, all the named candidates are appointed to their seats for the full term.
Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District – three seatsNo candidates
Mountain Elementary School District – one seatNo candidate
Mountain Elementary School District – two seats- Michelle Jones
- Bryan Matthews
- Roger Snyder
- No candidate for second seat
- Cliff Hodges
- Jacob Willet
- Michelle Yegge
- Emily Avila
- Kristin Pfotenhauer
- Felicita Rasul
- Diana Conner
- Chad Herendeen
- Trustee Area 1 Stacy Newsom Kerr
- Trustee Area 2 Mark Becker
- Trustee Area 1 Kevin Grossman
- Trustee Area 2 Kyle Kelley
- Trustee Area 4 John Owen
- Trustee Area 5 Angela Meeker
- Trustee Area 6 Cindy Ruhsam
- Trustee Area 3 Robert Dickenson
- Trustee Area 1 Melinda Newfarmer
- Trustee Area 2 Adam Spickler
- Trustee Area 5 Francisco Estrada
- Trustee Area 1 Liann Reyes
- Trustee Area 2 Bruce Van Allen
- Trustee Area 4 Stacey Kyle
- Trustee Area 7 Abel Sanchez
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
The post Santa Cruz County school board elections: Who’s running, who’s unopposed and which seats have no candidates appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Watsonville Community Hospital temporarily closed NICU last month due to ongoing staffing issues; reopening still weeks away
Due to ongoing staffing issues in its labor and delivery unit, Watsonville Community Hospital temporarily closed its neonatal intensive care unit last month. Interim CEO Tim Moran told Lookout that a reopening is still weeks away as hospital leadership works to recruit more nurses.
The post Watsonville Community Hospital temporarily closed NICU last month due to ongoing staffing issues; reopening still weeks away appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Watsonville Community Hospital cerró su unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales el mes pasado debido a falta de enfermeras
Esta traducción fue generada utilizando inteligencia artificial y ha sido revisada por un hablante nativo de español; si bien nos esforzamos por lograr precisión, pueden ocurrir algunos errores de traducción. Para leer el artículo en inglés, haga clic aquí.
La unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales del Watsonville Community Hospital permanece cerrada desde mediados de julio debido a la escasez de personal de enfermería, y los directivos del hospital afirman que todavía faltan varias semanas para poder reabrirla.
El director ejecutivo interino Tim Moran dijo a Lookout que la escasez de enfermeros en la unidad de trabajo de parto y parto obligó al cierre temporal, un problema que, según explicó, comenzó antes de que él reemplazara al exdirector ejecutivo Stephen Gray.
Watsonville Community Hospital interim CEO Tim Moran. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
La unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales (UCIN) funciona como la unidad de cuidados intensivos para recién nacidos del hospital. Las UCIN se clasifican según el nivel de atención que brindan, de manera similar a los centros de trauma.
La unidad de Watsonville es de Nivel II. Proporciona atención intermedia a bebés nacidos a partir de las 32 semanas de gestación que pueden presentar problemas leves de respiración y alimentación, y estabiliza a bebés más prematuros —nacidos antes de las 32 semanas— antes de trasladarlos a un hospital de mayor nivel.
El Dominican Hospital de Santa Cruz cuenta con una UCIN de Nivel III, equipada para atender casos más críticos y bebés nacidos antes de las 32 semanas. El Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center of Santa Cruz no cuenta con una UCIN.
El cierre tiene repercusiones más allá de Watsonville: aproximadamente el 31 % de los bebés nacidos en el condado de Santa Cruz nacen en Watsonville Community Hospital, ligeramente por encima del 29 % correspondiente a Dominican. Una gran parte de las madres que dan a luz en el hospital son latinas, hablan español, tienen ingresos bajos o moderados y viven en Watsonville y el valle de Pajaro.
El hospital atiende, en promedio, unos 60 partos al mes. En junio hubo 65 partos, según un informe presentado el mes pasado por el director financiero del hospital.
Antes de que Moran asumiera el cargo, la unidad de trabajo de parto y parto ya tenía poco personal. Antes de su salida, Gray había contratado a seis enfermeros nuevos, pero dos de ellos no contaban con las certificaciones necesarias, según Moran.
La solución a corto plazo fue trasladar a los pocos enfermeros que trabajaban en la unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales a la unidad de trabajo de parto y parto para apoyar al equipo, explicó Moran.
“Con el personal que tenemos actualmente, no podemos operar ambas unidades al mismo tiempo,” dijo Moran. “Por eso, hasta que podamos estabilizar el personal, mi instrucción es mantener cerrada la UCIN y proporcionar el nivel de atención más seguro posible a las mujeres que vienen aquí para dar a luz.”
El presidente de la junta directiva del hospital, Tony Nuñez, dijo que el cierre fue una decisión ejecutiva, no de la junta, y que no estuvo motivado por razones financieras.
“Si la junta quisiera hacer eso, tendríamos esa conversación públicamente, para que la comunidad pudiera escuchar nuestras razones y conocer la estrategia de por qué querríamos hacerlo,” dijo Nuñez.
En la reunión de la junta del hospital celebrada el mes pasado, varios enfermeros y hospitalistas pediátricos expresaron su preocupación por el impacto del cierre en los pacientes. Sylvia Perez, enfermera encargada de la unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales, dijo que durante sus 26 años en el hospital nunca antes había ocurrido que la institución no pudiera atender a bebés dentro del alcance de servicios de la unidad.
El hospitalista pediátrico Tendo Kironde dijo que la falta de un plan eficaz para desviar los partos de alto riesgo “ha causado mucho estrés, ya que seguimos atendiendo partos de alto riesgo y no contamos con los recursos necesarios para atenderlos.”
Otros médicos y hospitalistas pediátricos dijeron a Lookout que el cierre temporal sí afecta el nivel de atención. Si un bebé presenta complicaciones durante las primeras horas o días de vida, el hospital no tendrá la capacidad de atenderlo o estabilizarlo allí mismo.
Moran dijo a Lookout que, si hay bebés con problemas de salud, el hospital cuenta con acuerdos de traslado con hospitales cercanos, entre ellos Dominican Hospital en Santa Cruz y Natividad Medical Center, ubicado a 23 millas al sur del hospital.
Watsonville Community Hospital. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
En casos mucho más críticos, los pacientes también pueden ser trasladados al Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, como parte de la asociación existente entre ambas instituciones.
La unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales de Watsonville atiende, en promedio, a un paciente por día y hasta ocho pacientes al mes, según Moran.
En julio, el hospital realizó cinco traslados de bebés, una cifra que suele variar de un mes a otro. En 2026, el hospital ha tenido que trasladar a pacientes recién nacidos a otros hospitales al menos 16 veces. A pesar del cierre temporal, Moran dijo que no se ha producido un aumento en el número de traslados.
Moran afirmó que el hospital tiene planes tanto a corto como a largo plazo para abordar los problemas persistentes de personal. Sin embargo, añadió que es difícil encontrar enfermeros con experiencia y las cualificaciones necesarias para trabajar en la unidad de trabajo de parto y parto.
“No es solo un problema nuestro,” dijo Moran. “También existe en los demás hospitales de la zona.”
Otro factor que dificulta la contratación de nuevos empleados —tanto enfermeros como médicos— es el costo de vida, señaló Nuñez. Por cuarto año consecutivo, el condado de Santa Cruz fue nombrado el mercado de alquiler menos asequible del país.
Otro objetivo es asegurarse de que los enfermeros actuales de la unidad de trabajo de parto y parto estén al día con sus competencias básicas: las habilidades esenciales necesarias para brindar atención a los pacientes, así como las destrezas específicas utilizadas en una unidad de trabajo de parto y parto, explicó Moran.
“Esto reduce la dependencia de los enfermeros de la UCIN para ayudar con los partos normales de recién nacidos,” dijo Moran.
Sin embargo, todavía faltan varias semanas para que vuelva a abrir la unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales. Moran no proporcionó a Lookout una fecha exacta para la reapertura.
Explicó que todo depende de encontrar enfermeros cualificados que ocupen las vacantes. Una vez contratados, todavía tendrán que completar el proceso de incorporación y familiarizarse con los procedimientos del hospital, un proceso que podría tardar hasta tres semanas.
“Estamos tratando de hacer lo correcto para nuestros pacientes y de superar este desafío de personal lo más rápido posible, para poder volver a nuestra actividad habitual,” dijo Moran.
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Despite Trump’s visa policies, international students are still flocking to California universities
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It’s become much more difficult for foreign students to study on U.S. college campuses during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Last year, the Trump administration revoked over 1,000 student visas and paused interviews for prospective international students vying to study in the U.S. to incorporate social media vetting for applicants. Last month, the federal government also restricted how long international students can stay in the U.S. by ordering students to leave the country as soon as they finish their schooling.
Federal officials say the measures are intended, in part, to curtail visa overstays. They mmight also have contributed to a decline in international enrollment last year, which some estimates put at nearly 20%. Some groups renewed warnings that this fall will again see fewer foreign students coming to U.S. campuses, declining by as much as 9.5%.
And yet, these visa restrictions are not keeping international students away from some California universities.
At the University of California, the percentage of undergraduate enrollment of international first-year students increased, albeit marginally, in the years before and after Trump began his second term, according to UC enrollment data.
At the graduate level, however, international enrollment declined 3% between 2024 and 2025, which resulted in roughly 600 fewer foreign students on campuses.
It could take several years to determine how visa restrictions, federal funding cuts and other policies impact international student enrollment, said Valerie Lundy-Wagner, associate director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Higher Education Center.
But, despite the visa restrictions, Lundy-Wagner said that because UC “is a globally regarded institution, people are still going to come.”
According to preliminary fall admission data, UC admitted its largest class of first-year students this year, including 23,569 international students. That figure reflects an 8% increase in admitted foreign students compared to last year, though fewer are expected to enroll at UC campuses. The system will release its fall 2026 enrollment figures in December or January, a UC spokesperson said.
Other California universities have seen drops in enrollment. At the University of Southern California, enrollment of international students dropped by 3% last year. And in the California State University system, where international students make up a smaller portion of the student body compared to UC, foreign enrollment had been declining years before Trump took office.
About 14% of UC’s enrollees are international students, according to PPIC. These students pay more in supplemental tuition than California residents, which helps subsidize the cost of college for in-state residents. For California residents, UC’s tuition for the 2027-28 school year costs $16,278 per year. For nonresident and international students, the annual cost of tuition is $57,300.
Lundy-Wagner said that the decreases in enrollment at the graduate level have also been impacted by federal funding cuts for research programs. She said that some universities have reduced the number of admitted doctoral students whose programs are traditionally financed with the help of federal dollars.
“The institutions are really trying to be attentive to the reality that doctoral students, in particular, need reliable funding sources to be supported,” Lundy-Wagner said.
Rachel Zaentz, a spokesperson for the UC Office of the President, said in a statement that changes to visa policies, financial and other external factors may make it less likely that international students enroll at UC. About 85% of UC’s undergraduate students are California residents, Zaentz noted.
“We can’t speculate, but what is clear is that the enduring value of a UC education and the university’s global reputation for academic and research excellence continue to attract promising students,” Zaentz said.
Other states have experienced sharper declines. At the University of North Texas, the number of enrolled international graduate students dropped by nearly half, from about 6,200 students in fall 2024 to under 3,400 students the following year, according to The Texas Tribune. That decrease contributed to a $45 million budget shortfall that university officials projected earlier this year.
Rachel Banks, senior director of public policy and legislative strategy at NAFSA: Association of International Educators, said federal policy changes are “injecting a lot of uncertainty” into students’ decision to study abroad, which she suspects will lead to fewer international students in the upcoming year.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced changes to how long international students on “F” visas could stay in the country. Previously, international students could stay in the U.S. until they completed their programs. Under DHS’ new rule, their admission is limited to four years, though students who need more time can apply for extensions.
But Banks said DHS is already overwhelmed with immigration-related applications, and there are concerns that the federal agency won’t be able to process extension requests in a timely fashion.
International students applying to programs that will likely require them to be in the United States more than four years might not want to bother with the new, burdensome visa requirements, Banks said.
“It’s a confluence of all these policy changes that is telegraphing a message to international students around the world to say that the United States isn’t necessarily welcoming,” Banks said.
She noted that the Trump administration is also considering changes to a temporary work authorization program for international students that allows them to get professional experience in their industry.
That has been a topic of conversation among international students on UC campuses. An international undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation by the federal administration, said that the job search for his fellow international students has been complicated by the recent policy changes.
“Definitely for recent graduates, I do notice a lot more hesitation to stay in the U.S. than there used to be,” the student said.
The Berkeley student said anxiety rose among international undergraduates during the first year of Trump’s second term when federal agents arrested and attempted to deport several student activists, including Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil.
But the mood on campus has settled down a bit since then. Foreign students who feared being denied entry to the US if they left the country have since become more comfortable traveling internationally, the student said.
While UC has a larger share of foreign students, CSU has seen steeper declines in international enrollment recently. Last year, the system’s international enrollment declined roughly 14%, according to CSU Chancellor’s Office spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith.
CSU’s international student enrollment began decreasing prior to Trump’s return to the White House. Between 2022 and 2024, the percentage of admitted international students who enrolled at CSU campuses dropped from 42% to 31%, which mirrored national trends, Bentley-Smith said.
As to why some universities across the country have seen more pronounced declines in the number of international freshmen showing up to campus since Trump took office, Banks said, “We can say with some certainty that schools that have strong international brands and strong reputations seemingly are weathering the choppy waters a little better.”
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Will California vote ‘progressive’ in insurance commissioner race?
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➤ Para leer el artículo en español, haga clic aquí.
Progressive Jane Kim, one of two Democratic candidates for California insurance commissioner, is betting that voters are as hungry for change as those who powered Zohran Mamdani into New York City’s mayor’s office and Abdul El-Sayed into Michigan’s U.S. Senate race after the Democratic Party endorsed her rival, state Sen. Ben Allen.
How it plays out could rest on how engaged voters will be about an elected position they may not know much about; how much weight disillusioned voters give to the state party’s endorsement; and how much they respond to ads and mailers that they’ll be bombarded with ahead of the November election.
Kim, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, is squaring off against Allen to become the regulator of the state’s massive insurance market. Kim wants to establish state-run natural disaster insurance for all and expand low-cost auto insurance to all California drivers, in line with well-known progressive ideas like Medicare for All. Allen wants to stabilize and improve the private insurance market after years of availability and affordability problems largely driven by increased wildfire risk and massive, deadly wildfires.
ELECTION 2026: Read more of Lookout’s free news and Community Voices coverage here
Kim’s message has struck a chord with many Californians: She got the most votes, more than 27%, among the 11 candidates on the ballot in the June primary. Allen came in second with more than 19%.
“[Kim and Allen are] a microcosm of the fracture going on in the Democratic Party across the country,” said Shauhin Talesh, a law professor at UC Irvine whose expertise includes insurance and consumer protection. “They both think insurance companies should be regulated. The question: How aggressively should California intervene and what role should the government claim?”
Allen recently secured the California Democratic Party’s endorsement, which Talesh said wasn’t surprising because the senator is seen as a more “traditional” candidate.
Kim, whose accomplishments include securing free community college for San Francisco residents and the state’s first $15 minimum wage, was the director of the California Working Families Party, a party within the Democratic umbrella that supports progressive policies including raising the minimum wage. She is backed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, on whose presidential campaign she worked in 2020.
“Is this going to become another situation where people are speaking with their votes [and going against the establishment]?” Talesh asked. “At what point does Democratic Party recognize it?”
But Kim isn’t just lacking the state party’s endorsement. The insurance industry is, not surprisingly, leery of her plans to have the state play a greater role in insurance. So are some consumer advocacy groups such as Consumer Watchdog, whose founder wrote the ballot initiative that became the state’s insurance law.
Jamie Court, president of the group, warned that a state-run natural disaster insurance fund — which Kim says would be funded by portions of premiums policyholders pay to their insurance companies — would require tens of billions of dollars to start, which he said could be wiped out by one catastrophic fire.
Kim has said that while her proposal would require further study, her critics fail to address that there needs to be more discussion and “public engagement to reform the system.”
“I don’t think just allowing the insurance industry to raise rates is the solution,” she told CalMatters in an interview. “People will lose their homes or go uninsured. And that will wreck the economy.”
Allen told CalMatters that his opponent’s proposal “is effectively a massive subsidy for those who are rich” because their homes will cost more to replace after a fire.
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said Kim’s message is resonating with Californians because of “a populist wave, not a progressive wave” nationwide.
He noted that primary results showed Kim did well in historically conservative areas such as the Inland Empire and the Central Valley, as well as in Los Angeles County — which includes Allen’s district.
Considering those results, Jorge Contreras, California director of the Working Families Party, called the state Democratic Party’s endorsement of Allen “out of touch.”
Some delegates for Kim complained their votes did not seem to be counted; Kim called for a recount.
“The votes were counted,” said Robin Swanson, spokesperson for the party. “And recounted. The result was the same.”
Contreras noted that the next day, the California Labor Federation endorsed Kim.
Not everyone buys the “moderate” label being pinned on Allen — including at least one of his own supporters.
“Ben is a progressive by any standard,” said RL Miller, former chair of the California Democratic Party’s Environmental Caucus who also runs a political action committee, Climate Hawks. The group doesn’t endorse in California races, but Miller said she personally endorsed Allen.
“He’s stood with us and authored landmark climate bills over the years,” Miller said, adding that the “tribal nature of Democratic politics these days” might be the reason Allen is being seen as the more moderate candidate.
Allen has a strong track record on the environment, including his work on Proposition 4, the $10 billion bond measure approved by voters in 2024, which includes funding for wildfire prevention. He also authored the law that decreases the use of single-use plastics.
Allen’s votes have also been more aligned with some of the same groups now supporting Kim, including the California Labor Federation. The senator’s record has generally not aligned with business interests, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.
Though both candidates have pledged not to take money from the insurance industry, Contreras said it’s important to follow the money in this race.
Business groups spent $1.5 million to oppose Kim’s primary campaign, mostly from JOBSPAC, a coalition of employers sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce, according to Digital Democracy.
Meanwhile, Contreras said “Ben Allen has taken crypto money, which came in big for him at the end.” Campaign finance records show billionaire Chris Larsen, co-founder of crypto company Ripple, in May gave $1 million to the PAC sponsored by California Environmental Voters, the biggest outside spender supporting Allen’s campaign.
Contreras said billionaires are going to spend a lot of money supporting moderates this election cycle: “Why? Because they want the status quo. Jane is now going to be the bogeyman.”
The biggest contributors to Kim’s campaign are the California Working Families Party and the California Teachers Association, which gave about $365,000 and $150,000 each, respectively.
The main difference between this battle and other contests going on elsewhere is that many voters don’t know exactly what the insurance commissioner does, said Kevin Liao, a Democratic political consultant who briefly worked on Allen’s campaign before leaving to work on Tom Steyer’s gubernatorial campaign during the primary.
That could mean that voters will rely on shortcuts such as Sanders’ endorsement of Kim, or the California Democrats’ endorsement of Allen. The race could come down to whose brand will convince voters, he said.
“We’re at a moment when voters, certainly the base of the Democratic Party, are fed up with the party establishment,” Liao said.
But not all candidates with more progressive ideas have found success: In California, the progressive Steyer failed to advance to the general election. Recently, David Crowley, a moderate Democrat, beat Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor by less than a percentage point.
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Forest fires follow roads. The Trump administration wants to build more
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The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is rolling back a rule prohibiting logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests, including more than 4 million acres of federally managed forest lands in California.
The change could open some of California’s most remote backcountry to new roads and development — even as U.S. Forest Service research shows that roads are a major source of wildfire ignitions in the state’s national forests.
People start most of California’s wildfires, including on federal land — and it’s not just sparks from faulty power lines. Fires can start in many ways: A hiker might burn toilet paper in the backcountry, a hot tub might be miswired, or someone might drag a tow chain or pull a hot car onto dry grass.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who first announced the plan last year, said Tuesday that federal officials filed a proposal and environmental impact statement to rescind the rule in order to reduce barriers to managing fuels on public lands.
“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” Rollins said in a statement.
But in California, the U.S. Forest Service’s own research points to a complication: Roads and the people who travel on them are known conduits for fire.
Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service mapped 26 years of fire ignitions along roughly 850 miles of roads in the Angeles, San Bernardino, Los Padres and Cleveland national forests. All of them, according to a Forest Service map, also contain roadless reaches.
The mapping effort revealed that nearly two-thirds of the fires people caused in these forests sparked along roadsides — places where people, the sparks they create, and fuel in the form of flammable, invasive grasses often converge.
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said that the roadless rule has not hindered California’s forest management and prescribed fire efforts.
“In fact, more than 240,000 acres of roadless land in California have undergone vegetation treatments to reduce wildfire risk and protect nearby communities,” Crowfoot said in a letter to Rollins last September. He cited an example in the Caples Creek roadless area south of Lake Tahoe, which he said helped shield communities during the 2021 Caldor fire.
Crowfoot warned that opening these areas to construction, timber harvests and mining “may put rural communities at increased risk of fire and significantly increase firefighting costs of California.”
A national patternIt’s not just California. A recent, peer-reviewed study by scientists with The Wilderness Society reported earlier this year that wildfire ignitions in national forests across the country are four times more likely near roads. From 1992 to 2024, wildfire ignition densities were lowest in designated wilderness areas, followed by roadless areas. They were highest within 50 meters of roads.
“Opening our backcountry forests to more roads and development, and therefore more ignitions, is also not a wildfire solution, and never will be,” Josh Hicks, The Wilderness Society’s director of conservation campaigns, said in a statement.
The Trump administration said rescinding the rule doesn’t automatically mandate timber harvests or building roads. Instead, it would leave decisions to local national forest managers.
“Future land management decisions would be based on natural resource conditions and needs and informed by states, tribes, and communities,” the Agriculture Department’s announcement said Tuesday.
Why more roads?Environmental advocates are skeptical, especially in light of the Trump administration’s executive order last year calling for an “immediate expansion of American timber production.”
The roadless rule also already allows for roads to be constructed or rebuilt to protect health and safety from the threat of wildfire.
Retired U.S. Forest Service chiefs, including one who served during the first Trump administration, said in an opinion piece last year that repealing the rule threatens key watersheds and wildlife.
“Why build more roads when the agency, strapped for resources, can’t even maintain the ones that already exist?” they asked. “Let’s not forget the reasons these backcountry areas do not have roads. The easily accessible high-value timber from national forests has been harvested. What little that remains in these roadless backcountry areas is difficult and costly to access.”
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat and ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, blasted the Trump administration for moving forward on rescinding the rule during a catastrophic fire season following the Trump administration’s slashing of the U.S. Forest Service. He vowed to fight it in Congress.
“The Trump administration is at again, selling out our public lands to corporate polluters, ignoring the overwhelming objections of the American people,” Huffman said in a statement. He added: “It’s reckless.”
The public has until midnight on Sept. 21 to comment.
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Save Our Shore
