Lookout Santa Cruz

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.

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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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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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for its newsletters.

➤ 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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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 pattern

It’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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As students and teachers head back to school across Santa Cruz County, Lookout Santa Cruz is getting ready for another year of connecting young people with the community they call home.

This year, every middle and high school student and teacher in Santa Cruz County can access Lookout for free – giving students an opportunity to follow the local issues affecting their schools, families and communities, while giving educators trusted local news and classroom-ready resources to bring current events into their teaching.

And that’s just the beginning.

Throughout the school year, Lookout offers classroom visits, educator resources, student journalism opportunities, storytelling projects and ways for young people to see their work and perspectives published.

Critical to the success – and growth – of our student and school programs is your support. All Lookout memberships help, but our new One-for-One Membership supports them best. Each membership purchase gives one membership to a local teacher! Sign up for one today, or upgrade to it, and you’ll be supporting this great work in the high schools and middle schools across Santa Cruz County. Or give a tax-deductible donation here.

Free access to local news for every student and teacher

Lookout believes every young person should have the opportunity to understand what is happening in the community where they live. Local journalism can help students connect what they learn in the classroom to the world around them – from local government and elections to education, health, environmental issues, arts and culture.

That’s why Lookout provides free access to its journalism for:

• All middle school students in Santa Cruz County.
• All high school students in Santa Cruz County.
• All Cabrillo College students.
• All UC Santa Cruz students.

For students, access means they can explore Lookout’s reporting, follow issues affecting their community and develop the skills to distinguish reliable information from misinformation — all while learning more about the place they call home.

For educators, free access is part of Lookout for Teachers, our nationally recognized program designed to make it easier to bring local journalism into the classroom. That’s why Lookout provides free access to its journalism for:

• All middle school teachers in Santa Cruz County.
• All high school teachers in Santa Cruz County.

For teachers: Local news, ready for the classroom

Teachers are at the center of Lookout’s student engagement work.

This school year, we’ll again provide educators with free access, as well as a weekly Educator Resource Newsletter, highlighting Lookout stories that can spark classroom conversations and connecting teachers with discussion guides, lesson plans, news quizzes and other resources.

The newsletter is designed to answer a simple question: What’s happening locally that my students should know about – and how can I use it in my classroom?

Lookout’s educator resources include:

• Weekly educator newsletters featuring timely local stories and classroom resources.
• Current events discussion guides that encourage reading comprehension, conversation and critical thinking.
• Media literacy resources to help students understand how to evaluate and interpret news and information.
• News quizzes that make following local news accessible and engaging.
• Journalism and storytelling resources.
• Custom resources and requests based on individual classroom needs.

Sign up for the Educator Resource Newsletter

Bring Lookout into your classroom

Sometimes the best way to learn about journalism is to meet the people who do it.

This year, Lookout staff will once again visit classrooms throughout Santa Cruz County to lead workshops, answer questions and help students explore journalism and storytelling.

Classroom opportunities can include:

• Career talks. 
• Journalism and media literacy workshops.
• The media and elections presentation.
• Science and communication workshop.
• Custom classroom visits based on a teacher’s needs.

We’re also continuing to develop partnerships with schools and youth-serving organizations throughout the county, creating opportunities for students to report, tell stories and engage with their communities.

Explore classroom visit opportunities

For students: Your voice belongs in local journalism

Lookout’s student programs are built around more than simply helping young people consume news. We want students to ask questions, report stories, explore issues and share their own perspectives.

Our Student Stories section gives local high school and college students a place to publish their work, accomplishments, opinions, experiences and reporting.

This summer, two student stories offered powerful examples of what young people can bring to the local conversation.

ADD SIMON AND SLOANES Stories here.

These stories are part of a growing collection of student voices that show the range of experiences, interests and perspectives young people bring to Santa Cruz County.

Explore Student Stories

The Student Journalism Scholarship returns in November

One of Lookout’s biggest opportunities for aspiring young journalists returns this fall.

The Lookout Santa Cruz Student Journalism Scholarship will open for submissions in November.

Inspired by Lookout’s popular Unsung Santa Cruz series, the scholarship challenges students to identify and profile a local person who is making a positive difference in the community.

Students get the opportunity to practice interviewing, research, reporting and storytelling — and potentially see their work published on Lookout.

The top 10 stories will be published on Lookout, and the authors of the top three stories will each receive a $500 scholarship for an educational purchase.

More details and submission information will be available when the scholarship opens in November.

Learn more about the Student Journalism Scholarship

Why local news belongs in the classroom

For students, local news isn’t just about knowing what happened yesterday.

It’s about understanding how decisions made at city hall, the school board or the county level can affect their lives. It’s about knowing the people and organizations working to make their communities stronger. It’s about learning how to ask questions, evaluate information and participate in civic life.

And because students are future voters, journalists, educators, community leaders and neighbors, those skills matter long after graduation.

Lookout’s goal is to make trusted local journalism accessible to every student and teacher in Santa Cruz County – and then create meaningful opportunities for them to engage with it.

Whether you’re a teacher looking for classroom resources or a student looking to better understand your community — Lookout is here for you.

The post Back to school with Lookout: Free local news, classroom resources for educators and opportunities for Santa Cruz County students appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area.

Here is what’s new in local business recently.

New businesses

• Aaliyah’s Catering was registered at 24 Ford St., Apt. G, Watsonville, by Laura Terriquez Gonzalez as an individual business on Aug. 3.
• MOUNTAIN MEDUSA DESIGNS was registered at 150 Taylor Rd., Ben Lomond, by Karen Michelle Oeh as an individual business on Aug. 3.
• BAMBI’S WAG TAXI was registered at 3325 Gross Rd., Santa Cruz, by Kimberly Lynn Bambi Brenkwitz as an individual business on Aug. 3.
• DAGNE & LACY was registered at 331 Martin Dr., Aptos, by Tracey Diane Brosig as a general partnership on Aug. 3.
• SOCKSMITH ON THE WHARF was registered at 1515 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, by Socksmith Design, Inc. as a corporation on Aug. 4.
• MAZA MADRE BREAD CO. was registered at 16 Richardson Ave., Freedom, by Maira Alondra Fernandez Nolaso as an individual business on Aug. 4.
• FIREFISH GRILL, GILBERT’S GIFT SHOP, WOODIES CAFE was registered at 25 Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, by Mark Gilebrt Enterprises, Inc. as a limited liability company on Aug. 5.
• TONI JULIAN INTERIOR DESIGN was registered at 3929 Mainsail Place, Soquel, by Toni Julian Apgar as an individual business on Aug. 6.
• SANTA CRUZ GARLIC was registered at 343 Soquel Ave., Suite 173, Santa Cruz, by Han Zhang as an individual business on Aug. 6.
• G’S MEXICAN GRUB SPOT was registered at 279 Lucerne Ave., Watsonville, by Gustavo Santillan Regalado as an individual business on Aug. 7.
• AMBROSIO ORGANIC FARM was registered at 523 Airport Blvd., Watsonville, by Maria C. Romero Alvarado as an individual business on Aug. 10.
• LARRYS AUTO CARE was registered at 5346 Scotts Valley Dr., Scotts Valley, by Dsas Automotive as a corporation on Aug. 10.
• SIERRA March STUDIOS was registered at 522a Oak Dr., Capitola, by Douglas Alan Atkinson as an individual business on Aug. 10.
• WILDBODY CHIROPRACTIC AND REHAB was registered at 528 Chestnut St., Santa Cruz, by Alexandra Lynn Gerdisch as an individual business on Aug. 10.
• ALUNA SOL was registered at 1 Deerfield Dr., Scotts Valley, by Elise Marie Brennan as an individual business on Aug. 11.
• JAMES’S GARAGE DOOR REPAIR was registered at 1101 Pacific Ave., Suite 120a, Santa Cruz, by Garage Door Repair Near Me Inc as a corporation on Aug. 11.
• SCATTERED & SACRED THERAPY was registered at 331 Hillside Dr., Boulder Creek, by Jaquelyn Weber as an individual business on Aug. 11.
• SPIDERSSCRAMBLEDWEB was registered at 1740 Alice St., Santa Cruz, by Lila Simpson as an individual business on Aug. 12.
• BASELINE AERIAL SERVICES was registered at 4734 Thurber Lane, Santa Cruz, by Dillon Hadden as an individual business on Aug. 12.
• MISSION STREET was registered at 2959 Park Ave., Suite E, Soquel, by Rachael Anne Shelton as an individual business on Aug. 13.
• JM TOMAS CLEANING was registered at 789 Green Valley Rd., Sp 55, Watsonville, by Tomas Sanjuanero Rodriguez as an individual business on Aug. 13.
• WILDFRAME CREATIVE was registered at 51 La Hacienda St., Watsonville, by Madison Orion Barreto as an individual business on Aug. 13.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

MORE LOCAL COVERAGE

The post Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of Aug. 18 appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Opening statements are set to kick off Tuesday in a pivotal trial for Meta Platforms in a federal court in Oakland, where states are seeking billions of dollars in damages for social media harms to children.

The post Opening statements set to begin in Meta’s federal trial over child safety appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

This post is updated throughout the day to reflect the latest incidents. It was last updated at 6:31 a.m..

Here’s what’s happening on the roads this morning…

▼︎ new incidents

Road incidents as of 6:30 a.m. on August 18

• Alternating lanes are closed on Highway 9 at Riverdale Park in San Lorenzo Valley because of bridge work. The closure is expected to last until 6:59 a.m. on April 30, 2027.
   
• There is one-way traffic on Highway 9 at Cascade Avenue in San Lorenzo Valley because of ongoing work. This closure will last until 7:01 a.m. on Aug. 31.
   

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 Tuesday morning traffic: Highway 9 lane closures, one-way traffic in SLV appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Stockwell Cellars will close its Westside Santa Cruz tasting room Sept. 1 after a decade, as owners Eric Stockwell and Suzanne Zeber-Stockwell shift the business toward wine distribution and a smaller wine club-focused model. The move comes as the couple says the traditional tasting-room model has become less viable amid a broader downturn in wine consumption, rising costs and changes in how people spend their time and money.

The post Why Stockwell Cellars is closing its Westside Santa Cruz tasting room appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

New Santa Cruz company SH Theatrical makes an impressive debut with Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” a smart, well-acted and laugh-out-loud production led by Zed Warner, Chris Salem and Ward Willats.

The post Existential crisis has never been this funny: SH Theatrical takes on Stoppard appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

Like most Santa Cruzans, when I saw the plans submitted to the city for the Ace Hardware shopping center at Soquel and Seabright avenues, my reaction was instant: I hate it. 

If elected mayor, I will fight this proposal with every legal tool available.

The developer, Workbench, filed two concepts: a six-story building with either 173 senior residences or 281 affordable apartments, plus 5,000 square feet of commercial space. The city says the Soviet-looking renderings are preliminary, not a finished design. 

Good. Now is the time to say the massing and nearly everything about this project is wrong.

The proposal is several stories too tall for this neighborhood. The drawings show a structure pushed to the sidewalk, with no meaningful setback. One concept provides a mere 23 parking spaces for hundreds of residents and businesses. Pretending that nearly everyone will live car-free does not make cars disappear; it punishes residents and pushes them onto nearby streets, which in turn impacts residents and businesses in the neighborhood.

ELECTION 2026: Read more Lookout news and Community Voices opinion coverage of the race for Santa Cruz mayor

Even worse, the project would demolish an active and vibrant neighborhood center. The Bagelry, Ace Hardware, Akira, Real Thai Kitchen, Surecuts, Fog City Tattoo, CleanStyle Laundry Lounge and other businesses provide needed services, jobs, tax revenue and gathering places. They make the neighborhood walkable and unique. They give us character. Moving a small business is expensive and risky. Many businesses never reopen.

We desperately need affordable housing. But affordability cannot be a blank check for bad planning. If we destroy places that provide jobs, services and character, we have not created a healthy neighborhood or city. 

Santa Cruz is actually doing its part to address the housing crisis. We’ve earned some room to slow down, listen more to the community and get the next projects right.

California housing regulators require Santa Cruz to plan for 3,736 new homes through 2031 – nearly five times our previous allocation. Yet a CalMatters analysis shows Santa Cruz is permitting housing faster than the overall pace needed. We are at 197% of the required pace for very-low-income homes and 248% for low-income homes. Statewide, only 5.9% and 13.4% of jurisdictions are even on track in those categories.

To meet our allocation, I believe most large-scale development should be located downtown. Developments should be shorter than our tallest existing building – the Palomar – and well-designed. Underused parcels and surface parking lots should be the priority for development.

Downtown is walkable and close to jobs, transit, shopping and services. It can support more residents without forcing six-story monstrosities into Santa Cruz’s neighborhoods.

Outside of our city center, we should welcome well-designed, at-scale housing projects – including “granny” units and modest multifamily buildings – that fit their surroundings, provide reasonable setbacks and parking and minimize displacement.

One of the most important things we can do is join with other communities with a university to push Sacramento to count new UC Santa Cruz housing toward our allocation. Because UCSC housing doesn’t currently count, our community is being doubly impacted by its growth plus our state mandates. 

We also must require UCSC to build housing on campus before it adds more students. 

None of these changes will be easy. Since 2017, Sacramento has enacted 209 housing laws, taking away local power and discretion. Santa Cruz needs a mayor with experience navigating complicated state statutes and regulations – and who knows how to turn the authority we still possess into results.

State law has narrowed the city’s authority, but it hasn’t erased it. Santa Cruz can use regulatory power and incentives. When necessary, we should go to court. The next mayor’s job is to find every remaining point of leverage and use it to benefit our community.

I have experience doing exactly that. I’ve worked to bring disaster resources and relief from the state and federal government to our community, as well as hundreds of millions in grants for water, roads and bike routes. Over the years, I’ve successfully pushed back against policies that would harm minority communities, small businesses and nonprofits.

After public outcry over the Seabright project, my opponent, Ami Chen Mills, now says she opposes it. I welcome that. But her views on housing policy, as detailed by Santa Cruz Local, would increase development pressure on smaller neighborhoods while de-emphasizing new projects downtown. In a Facebook post from July 10, Chen Mills wrote that her housing policy is that Santa Cruz should “spread new housing throughout the city.”

It’s far past time to address the constant development pressure that is negatively impacting small neighborhood business districts, where height, traffic and parking impacts are hardest to absorb.

Santa Cruz mayoral candidate Ryan Coonerty. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

The choice is not between building housing and preserving Santa Cruz. The question is whether we grow according to a coherent plan that protects neighborhoods or scatter oversized projects across the city and fight over them one neighborhood at a time.

I support housing – especially affordable housing for local working people, seniors and families. Residents also deserve a city that protects local businesses, respects the neighborhood scale, and builds beautiful places that people will value for generations.

The Seabright project and several others proposed or being built on Mission Street, Water Street and Soquel Avenue fail that test. Santa Cruz can build the housing we need without losing the character and small businesses that make us special.

Ryan Coonerty is a candidate for mayor of Santa Cruz. He is a Santa Cruz High graduate and former county supervisor. 

The post Time’s up: Constant development pressure on Santa Cruz’s neighborhoods must be addressed appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

A strong reentry plan after time spent in jail can disintegrate over something as small as a phone, a bus ride or a $75 fee, writes Heather Rogers, Santa Cruz County’s public defender. She and her staff of 64 attorneys regularly solve complex problems, but public dollars often can’t cover these immediate, practical needs. That is why she has helped co-found the BRIDGE Foundation, a nonprofit designed to fill gaps in the system and help people overcome small barriers – like access to transportation or fees for an addiction program – that can keep them stuck in the criminal legal system. The BRIDGE Foundation is launching with a fundraiser Thursday in collaboration with the Homeless Garden Project.

The post What if $75 could help someone leave the criminal legal system? appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Furthur, the bus made famous in the 1960s by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, is leaving the Oregon farm where it has sat for the past 57 years and heading to San Francisco, where it will go on display as part of the Haight Street Art Center’s “Forever Grateful” celebration of the Grateful Dead next month.

The post After almost six decades on the farm, Ken Kesey’s Furthur bus leaves Oregon appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

A teenage lifeguard and the boy he rescued off Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz were reunited Monday at the White House as President Donald Trump honored both as heroes.

The post Santa Cruz teen lifeguard and boy he rescued are honored at White House after Trump saw dramatic viral video appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for its newsletter here.

Farmworkers, their loved ones and advocates lined up out the door of a California state legislative hearing room last week to urge elected officials to hold pesticide regulators accountable for failing to protect their communities from life-threatening chemicals. 

Women spoke of being sprayed while working next to fields treated by crop dusters and seeing coworkers caught in drifting pesticide clouds. They spoke of suffering from asthma and liver disease and watching family members die of cancer. They spoke of being exposed to pesticides while pregnant, having children born prematurely, with birth defects, autism, ADHD or other neurodevelopmental problems.

Children of farmworkers described working alongside their parents at age 11, sometimes with even younger kids, to help their families afford food and pay bills.

The details of their challenges differed but converged on a common refrain: California’s pesticide regulatory system is broken. 

PESTICIDES IN THE PAJARO VALLEY: Read Lookout’s news and Community Voices opinion coverage here

California pesticide regulators allow growers to use nearly three dozen chemicals that are not approved for use due to health concerns in scores of countries around the world, including nations in the European Union, Asia, Africa and Latin America. They have been “re-evaluating” the fumigant chloropicrin since 2001 after monitors indicated that air levels beyond treated fields and greenhouses could exceed safety thresholds. 

Chloropicrin, an industrial chemical so noxious it was deployed as a choking agent during World War I, is banned in more than 40 countries, but agricultural applications of the chemical were implicated in more than 1,000 pesticide-related illnesses in California between 2000 and 2015, according to a 2019 study in the journal Environmental Health.

California growers applied more than 49 million pounds of chemicals banned in other countries in 2023, the most recent publicly available data shows, including more than 8.5 million pounds of chloropicrin and more than 7 million pounds of the cancer-causing fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene, which is banned in 40 countries. 

The disconnect between California’s reputation as an environmental leader and its willingness to rely on pesticides many other countries reject as health threats has not gone unnoticed by the assemblymember who chaired the Aug. 11 hearing.

“We’re here today to learn about our state’s pesticide program and hear how the Department of Pesticide Regulation, or DPR as we’ll be calling it, tackles its mission of ensuring that pesticide use doesn’t come at the cost of human health or the environment,” said Assemblymember Damon Connolly, chair of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, which held the Joint Oversight Hearing with Senate Environmental Quality Committee Chair Sen. Catherine Blakespear.

California Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) chaired a joint oversight hearing on the Department of Pesticide Regulation called “Putting Public Protection First: Is California’s Pesticide Program Achieving Its Purpose?” Credit: Liza Gross / Inside Climate News

When the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 2113, it increased funding for the Department of Pesticide Regulation and initiated a process to prioritize and expedite safer products and implement a sustainable pest management program (SPM).

“It’s been two years since A.B. 2113’s enactment, three years since the state released the SPM roadmap and nearly a decade since the last oversight hearing on DPR,” he said. “Now is a great time to review the state’s pesticide program.”

Disproportionate burdens

DPR rarely removes even the most dangerous chemicals from the market because the lion’s share of its budget comes from fees on pesticide sales, panelists and residents of some of the state’s most productive farming regions told legislators. As a result, they said, California’s predominantly Latino and Indigenous agricultural communities are shouldering the burden of the $60 billion agricultural industry’s heavy reliance on toxic chemicals. 

Earlier this week, DPR announced that manufacturers of pesticides containing the weed killer paraquat-dichloride voluntarily withdrew their products’ registration. The agency noted associations between paraquat exposure and impacts and birth defects but ignored the growing body of evidence linking the herbicide to Parkinson’s disease. 

Angel Garcia, co-director of the nonprofit Californians for Pesticide Reform, testified that while he welcomed DPR’s announcement of paraquat’s voluntary cancellation, the European Union banned it almost 20 years ago. Garcia also expressed concern that existing stocks could still be used for two more years, citing paraquat’s links to acute poisonings and long-term neurological damage.

Garcia and other policy experts, health professionals and scientists called on regulators to phase out the most toxic pesticides, transition to safer alternatives, identify heightened risks from cumulative exposures and inform residents exactly where growers intend to apply dangerous chemicals so they can protect themselves and their children. 

“Exposure to pesticides is universal, and it begins before birth,” said physician and environmental epidemiologist Ana María Mora, referring to what she and her colleagues at the UC Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Community Health found in studies of mothers and children in the Salinas Valley.

The team found pesticide breakdown products in the urine of every pregnant woman at much higher levels than the U.S. average in the CHAMACOS study, which enrolled more than 900 mothers and children in one of the longest-running studies investigating pesticides’ effects on children’s health. They detected the chemicals in 97% of breastmilk samples and in nearly all dust collected from participants’ homes.

A sign at a Watsonville strawberry field warns of pesticide use. Credit: Liza Gross / Inside Climate News

Mothers with higher exposures during pregnancy bore children with poor working memory by age 12, more traits associated with autism by age 14, poorer lung function and signs of cardiovascular and metabolic disease as young adults. 

And the people who are suffering most from these harmful effects are primarily low-income, Spanish-speaking immigrants, Mora said. 

Compared with the residents of 25 California counties with the lowest proportion of Latino residents, people living in 11 counties with majority Latino populations were four times more likely to suffer an acute pesticide-related illness, said Jacob Sandoval of the League of United Latin American Citizens at a news conference before the hearing.

“These are people who are experiencing and suffering because of these pesticides,” Sandoval said. “They are farmworkers going to work every day to provide for their families. They are parents worried that their children may be exposed by playing outside.”

Social stresses can exacerbate these harmful health effects, Mora said, pointing to an analysis showing that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides like the insecticide malathion was associated with lower IQs in children facing challenges at home.

“Pesticides and social stress are like a double burden,” Mora said. “And they fall hardest on the children who can least afford them.”

Cumulative impacts

Legislators also heard from representatives of regulated industries, including manufacturers of consumer and commercial pesticide products, agricultural associations, pest management professionals and small farmers. They raised concerns that the state’s additional layer of scientific review can delay access to safer, more targeted tools for years, leaving businesses and farmers in California at a competitive disadvantage with those in other states.

“Before any insect repellent, disinfectant, or pet flea product reaches a California store shelf, it has already undergone months, often years, of scientific evaluation at the federal level,” said Christopher Finarelli on behalf of the Household and Commercial Products Association. As a result, he said, manufacturers can’t make reliable plans to introduce new products in California.

“Delayed access means delayed environmental and public health benefits too, and unfortunately, the challenges are only going to become even more complex,” said Taylor Triffo, legislative affairs director for the influential lobbying firm Kahn, Soares & Conway. 

Community members who flocked to the Capitol from nearly every major agricultural region in the state want to see DPR act faster, but only if it means getting safer products on the market and banning the most dangerous chemicals.

A farmworker in a Watsonville field. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Mora and several other experts emphasized that protecting workers and communities depends on evaluating cumulative exposures to these chemicals.

“We should evaluate these chemicals as classes, but also as mixtures,” Mora said. “Not one molecule at a time.” 

California law requires pesticide regulators and county agricultural commissioners to consider the cumulative impacts of pesticide use, said Timothy Malloy, emeritus law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. While DPR has ample information to identify and prioritize the most harmful cumulative exposures, he said, “it’s not doing that except in very limited circumstances.”

“Our people are dying”

At the hearing, DPR’s director, Karen Morrison, said she was “mindful” of community concerns and aimed to demonstrate how the department’s coordinated efforts and recent updates safeguard human health and the environment.

“Effective pest management is critical to protect the health of our urban and rural communities and the environment, provide stability to California’s healthy food supply, and to protect critical infrastructure,” Morrison said.

She said existing resources had limited her agency’s ability to implement sustainable pest management goals but that new investments authorized by A.B. 2113 would allow the agency to “expand the efficiencies, urgency and transparency of our work.”

That transparency does not include telling families exactly where dangerous pesticides are going to be sprayed near homes, schools, playgrounds and other places where children may be at risk. It doesn’t include clear information about how the state coordinates enforcement with county agricultural commissioners to ensure they respond to pesticide drift incidents, levy adequate fines for violations and enforce buffer zones consistently across California.

Democratic Assemblymember Nick Schultz, who authored a bill to phase out pesticides containing toxic PFAS “forever chemicals,” noted that DPR had identified paraquat as a pesticide of “high concern” in 2011, then only started to review its safety after the Legislature passed a bill two years ago that required it to do so. 

Schultz wanted the public to know that DPR requested registrants to submit scientific data by June 2026 to address newly identified gaps in DPR’s human health toxicology database, among other requirements. 

“Rather than submit the data to the department as requested, the manufacturers began voluntarily canceling registration of paraquat pesticide products in California,” he said. “I do think we should all be incredibly troubled that some of these folks in industry would not provide the data that’s requested and rather take the product off the market.”

Morrison said she was “very mindful” of the practice.

Garcia of Californians for Pesticide Reform urged Connolly and his colleagues to address what he called DPR’s structural conflicts of interest. He recommended higher fees on sales of the most toxic pesticides and reforming a policy that allows pest-control advisors to receive commissions on pesticide sales.

“As long as DPR’s budget depends on pesticide sales, as long as we refuse to account for the true cost to people and the environment and as long as we tolerate conflicted pest management advice, California will remain dangerously behind the curve,” he said.

At the news conference before the hearing, legendary farmworker activist Dolores Huerta joined the families urging the DPR to get rid of cancer-causing pesticides.

“In normal life if you gave somebody poison and they died, it would be called murder,” Huerta said. 

“Let’s get rid of some of these poisonous pesticides,” she said. “Our people are dying.”

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post California pesticide agency hopelessly captured by industry, critics charge appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office says UC Santa Cruz student Alli Singh, 19, was killed after the car she and another person were in crashed into the ocean off of West Cliff Drive at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz last Thursday morning. 

Singh was originally from Selma, in Fresno County, and was living in Santa Cruz as she was about to start her third year as a psychology major at the university. She was a John R. Lewis College affiliate, according to UCSC officials.  

Last week, UC Santa Cruz spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said in a statement that the university was “heartbroken” to learn that the victim was a UCSC student. 

“Our deepest condolences go out to the student’s family and friends during this difficult time,” he said. “We are providing support resources to those affected by this tragedy.”

Last Thursday at around 12:50 a.m., Santa Cruz Regional 911 received a call and units from several agencies responded. Rescue crews found one victim who escaped from the car and said Singh was still inside. Rescue swimmers extracted her from the car and she was transported to a medical facility where she passed away. The first victim sustained minor injuries.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post UC Santa Cruz student who died in West Cliff Drive crash identified as 19-year-old Alli Singh appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

This post is updated throughout the day to reflect the latest incidents. It was last updated at 7:01 a.m..

Here’s what’s happening on the roads this morning…

▼︎ new incidents

Road incidents as of 7 a.m. on August 17

• There is one-way traffic on Highway 9 at Cascade Avenue in San Lorenzo Valley because of ongoing work. This closure will last until 7:01 a.m. on August 31.
   
• Alternating lanes are closed on Highway 9 at Riverdale Park in San Lorenzo Valley because of bridge work. The closure is expected to last until 6:59 a.m. on April 30, 2027.
   

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 Monday morning traffic: Highway 9 lane closures in San Lorenzo Valley appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz has approved a $150,000 contract with the Davey Tree Expert Company for a new lidar-based inventory of its public trees, part of a broader push to grow the city’s urban forest to 3,000 more trees by 2030.

Santa Cruz’s Transportation and Public Works Commission will review the city’s road safety action plan at its Monday meeting. Staff are recommending that the commission request that the city council approve the plan, pursue speed limit reductions on certain streets and establish a road safety task force.