Lookout Santa Cruz

Earlier this year, Mexican-born, Texas-raised visual artist Victor Quiñonez had his new exhibition, which speaks to being an immigrant in America and to the harm U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has caused, pulled from two different galleries in Texas. It is now set to come in September to UC Santa Cruz, where Quiñonez hopes his art can continue to make an impact in a state and gallery that is more understanding of its impactful message.

For more than 25 years, parents, physicians, researchers and farmworker advocates have warned about pesticide exposure in the Pajaro Valley. So why haven’t Santa Cruz County’s healthcare institutions taken a stand? Local activist Kevin Norton asks why major hospitals and healthcare organizations have remained largely silent on an issue affecting many of their patients — and argues that preventing disease should begin long before someone enters an exam room.