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Over four decades ago, Watsonville made national headlines when rank-and-file workers at Watsonville Canning, who had been on strike for eighteen months, triumphantly returned to work on their own terms. Strike leader Cuca Lomeli stated, “Perhaps up ahead, we can change the future in Watsonville.” 

This vision of Watsonville as a place that actually serves the people and reflects the interests of the working-class, Latino majority of this city is why Elias Gonzales, whose campaign slogan is “Securing Our Future Now,” is the most visionary and pragmatic choice for District Four supervisor.

The 1987 cannery strike victory strengthened democracy in Watsonville. We have the strike to thank for bilingual city council meetings and the election of the city’s first Latino mayor. The strike is also indirectly tied to the successful MALDEF lawsuit, Gomez v. Watsonville, that overturned a racist system of at-large voting in favor of district voting. Because of the refusal of the people of Watsonville to accept a broken and discriminatory electoral system that did not serve our interests, we have the power to choose a supervisor who genuinely centers community needs, who has worked tirelessly with our youth, and who will not trample on our future by allowing toxic lithium battery plants to be placed in our midst. 

Gonzales is the change that Watsonville needs. He has known the underside of the rock and used that knowledge to advocate for community needs. Having grown up in a one-bedroom apartment above Fox Theater and temporarily experienced homelessness with his family, Gonzales went on to earn two degrees from Cabrillo College and a BA from CSU Monterey Bay where he completed a capstone research project on Chicano youth and gang involvement in Watsonville. 

Guided by a commitment to give back, or as he puts it, “to pour back to my village,” Gonzales mentored local youth in his work with MILPA, an organization that cultivates next-generation leaders. 

Lourdes Barraza, mother to two teenaged children who participated in MILPA’s programming, observed Gonzales’s mentorship firsthand. 

“While at MILPA, Elias inspired our local teens to be leaders in their community utilizing Indigenous philosophy and practices,” she says. “He taught our community’s youth to recognize the value of their lived experiences.”

As community organizer, Celeste Gutiérrez states, “At the end of the day, he is accountable to the people. That is what sets him apart.” Community accountability is all the more urgent because district voting alone has not been sufficient to ensure that the people of Watsonville are heard. 

The historical relationship of Watsonville as “an economic and political colony” of Santa Cruz has meant that the interests of Watsonville have been subordinated to moneyed interests. It has also meant that resources, including low-wage labor, flow from south to north county. Geographically situated next to Santa Cruz yet worlds apart, Watsonville has served as the shadow reality to the fantasy of Santa Cruz as a fabled place of sun, surf, and “slow coast” lifestyle. “Why can’t we build jobs here?” Gonzales asks, “Why can’t we bring resources to Watsonville? Why does it have to be a jail?” 

As Gonzales points out, “Most of us are low-income field-working families that don’t have the time to come out and advocate for our needs. We have two families per household because we can’t afford it. How does a field worker who makes $30,000 live in this county? You need $150,000 to survive here.” This is why he has affordability as his top campaign priority. At a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing and working-class residents are being priced out of Watsonville, Gonzales is committed to expanding affordable housing and safeguarding and strengthening renters’ rights. 

Gonzales is also the sole candidate in the District 4 field to secure the endorsement of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers. As former interim PVUSD superintendent Murry Schekman states, “As I observed when I worked in the school district, Elias has shown himself to be an advocate of the young and an advocate of those who aren’t represented.” 

When hundreds of teachers, students, and the community turned out at school board meetings for nearly two years to fight for ethnic studies, Gonzales was there to advocate for a curriculum that reflected and honored the experiences, knowledge, and values of the Watsonville community. “We are 86% Latino yet our histories are not included,” he stated. “Our families have knowledge–educación we call it,which means values more than teachings.”

Gonzales’s two opponents have outpaced him in campaign donations. This is testament to his unimpeachable integrity–indeed, to the ethical commitments that are an explicit part of his campaign. As Gabriel Barraza, a local member of SEIU, states, “He has not taken money from wealthy people or corporations because he does not take money from sources that do not align with his values. He will not be afraid to take on the wealthy developers and big agriculture because he owes them nothing.” 

Today as we cast our ballots, let’s elect a true representative of the people, Elias Gonzales.  

•••

Pájaro Valley for Ethnic Studies and Justice (PVESJ) is a coalition of community organizers, teachers, ethnic studies practitioners, parents, and students who coalesced as a grassroots formation in the fight for ethnic studies in Pajaro Valley Unified School District. 

The old adage about Wolverine dating way back in the pages of Marvel Comics is that he’s the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn’t very nice. For 50+ years, the Canucklehead has proven that true time and again. Insomniac Games, makers of the upcoming Wolverine PlayStation 5 game, is not skimping on any of the claw-filled violence. During Sony’s State of Play, Insomniac dropped one of the bloodier gameplay trailers we’ve ever seen. In the extended look, Logan slaughters a bunch of Reavers in truly gory fashion. And we even see Jean Grey getting in on the action. Enjoy the Rated-M for Mature video below.

The stunning trailer showcases the game’s over-the-shoulder camera as Wolverine descends on the Mutant hunters attempting to make off with a small group of Morlocks (the most outcast of outcast Mutants). You almost feel bad for the hateful, biomechanically upgraded jerks as Wolverine goes to absolute town. I love that there appears to be a mechanic in-game that cleans off the blood from Wolvie’s costume in between kills.

Insomniac

The very end of the trailer has a quick montage of other parts of the game. These include Wolverine in his Patch tux, a scary looking ninja, a battle with Omega Red, Mystique stabbing a guy, Wolverine fighting a very Deadpool-coded ninja, and quite a bit of Sabretooth. Legitimately not sure what more folks could want from a Wolverine game.

What we don’t yet know is how much traversal this game will feature. We see a bit of our hero riding a motorcycle in-gameplay, as well as what looks like it could be a very large city to explore. Insomniac, of course, are the people behind the Spider-Man games, which had incredible traversal. But that’s a major part of Spidey’s whole deal. Not sure if that really needs to be there for Wolverine. It could be a lot more linear.

Insomniac

Between this, X-Men ’97 premiering next month, and Avengers: Doomsday this winter, 2026 is shaping up to be a very good year for fans of the X-Men. Mutant supremacy now, Bub.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

The post Gory WOLVERINE Gameplay Trailer Gives Us Angry Jean Grey appeared first on Nerdist.

California’s gubernatorial primary comes to a close Tuesday as voters choose from an extensive field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The end of the voting period, which began in early May, concludes a chaotic contest without a clear front-runner. Candidates tried to elbow each other out in the final stretch as each sought to convince voters that they were best prepared to lead the most populous state and one of the world’s largest economies.

California puts all candidates on a single primary ballot regardless of party, and the top two finishers advance to the November general election. About 60 candidates were on the ballot, most of them largely unknown to the state’s roughly 23 million voters.

On the Democratic side, top contenders include Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and U.S. health secretary; Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist; Katie Porter, a former member of Congress; and Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose.

The two most prominent Republicans are conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

The Democrats campaigned on fighting Trump administration attacks on the state’s liberal policies, while Republicans vowed to bring change after more than 15 years of Democratic leadership in Sacramento. But the through line of the race was how to tackle the state’s notoriously high cost of living.

Drivers were paying $6.08 per gallon at the pump as of the end of May, $1.65 higher than the national average, according to AAA. Meanwhile the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated that the typical home is about $775,000, more than double the national average. And Californians pay the second-highest residential electricity rates behind Hawaii, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Some candidates proposed suspending the state’s gas taxes, which total roughly 70 cents a gallon, while others floated subsidizing in-state tuition at public colleges. A few of the Democrats said they would eliminate private health insurance in favor of a government-run system with no premiums, while the Republicans vowed to increase oil and gas production and reduce regulations.

“The truth is that we’ve gone off track — we’ve got one-party rule,” Hilton said at a debate in May. “The results have been such a disappointment. It is time for some balance.”

Primary system creates uncertainty

Earlier in the race, Democrats worried about possibly being locked out of the general election even though they count 45% of the state’s registered voters compared to Republicans’ 25%.

The concern was that their relatively crowded field of candidates could split the Democratic vote enough for the two Republicans to advance under the single primary system, which was first used at the statewide level in 2014.

Two candidates from the same party have never made the general election in a California governor’s race, though it happened twice for U.S. Senate elections in 2016 and 2018.

Recent developments, however, have diminished Democrats’ fears as a few candidates emerged as leading contenders. In the race’s final days it was Hilton warning that Republicans could be locked out if they failed to coalesce behind him.

Candidates squabbled over their records

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s resignation and withdrawal from the race after sexual assault allegations were made against him left an opening for Becerra, who previously had struggled to gain traction.

Highlighting his long political resume, Becerra started raising more money and won the endorsements of powerful labor groups and Latino legislative leaders.

But that momentum also made him a target, and his rivals criticized his leadership as health secretary including his handling of an influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, when Becerra’s Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for shelters where they were housed. Some of them were criticized as having inadequate living conditions, and there were also concerns about authorities failing to thoroughly vet sponsors with whom some children were placed.

“The secretary has never met a crisis that he couldn’t ignore,” Mahan said at a debate in April.

Steve Hilton (left) and Tom Steyer speak during a break in a California gubernatorial debate hosted by CBS Bay Area and the San Francisco Examiner in San Francisco on May 14. Credit: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press, pool

Steyer’s campaign spent or booked more than $203 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio, according to tracker AdImpact. On the campaign trail, he was attacked over past investments in fossil fuels and private prisons at a hedge-fund he founded in the 1980s and left more than a decade ago. And some accused him of trying to buy the election.

“This race will come down to those who’ve earned it versus those who are trying to buy it,” Becerra told CNN in April.

Republicans, for their part, never coalesced behind a strategy to send both Hilton and Bianco to the general election, and the two fought to consolidate support. President Donald Trump’s endorsement in April of Hilton, a former political adviser to a conservative British prime minister, likely boosted him among GOP voters and diminished Bianco’s chances of advancing.

Trump on Monday evening again urged people to vote for Hilton, saying Democrats have done an “absolutely horrendous job” running the state.

“Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so!” Trump posted on his social media platform.

A final result could take a while

All California voters receive a mail ballot, and election officials count those that are received up to a week after Election Day so long as they are postmarked by then. That often results in a drawn-out count, with no winners declared until days or even weeks later.

It is the first time in over two decades that there has not been a political superstar in the governor’s race. In 2003, A-list actor and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger rocketed into office in a recall election that ousted then-Gov. Gray Davis; in 2010, former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown cemented a political comeback by winning nearly three decades after his first two terms; and in 2018, Newsom had already established a national profile after stints as lieutenant governor and San Francisco mayor and won easily.

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

The post California holds crowded primary in race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Even ransomware cartels make mistakes, and in this case, it was a biggie that could have landed the responsible crim in a Russian gulag: accidentally infecting a company located in a Commonwealth of Independent States country. In what threat-hunter Dominic Alvieri deemed the ransom “dumbass of the day,” Nova, the affiliate program for ransomware crew RAlord, on Tuesday issued an apology to Eriell Group, a major oilfield services company with headquarters in Uzbekistan and a corporate office in Moscow. Apparently, Eriell contacted Nova and notified the ransomware operators about an affiliate's mess-up. The affiliate has since been banned from the criminal operation, we’re told. In addition to issuing a “formal apology,” the ransomware gang promised to assist Eriell with the recovery process “free of charge.” The malware slingers claimed they didn’t encrypt any files, and pledged not to leak any of the stolen data. “Apparently, the first rule of ransomware club, you don't attack organizations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), is still very much in effect in 2026,” Recorded Future threat intelligence analyst Allan Liska told The Register. While cybercrime is technically illegal in Russia and other CIS countries, their governments often provide safe harbor for extortionists and other financially motivated crims - especially if they also happen to work day jobs as state-sponsored hackers - and local police look the other way unless the gangs infect any in-country organizations. Some crews, like the DragonForce cartel, VanHelsing ransomware-as-a-service group, and notorious LockBit operators, expressly prohibit their gang members and affiliates from hitting Russian and other CIS targets. We’re guessing that the Nova affiliate will be high up on all of these gangs’ do-not-hire lists for quite a while. Still, they aren’t the first cybercriminal, Russian-speaking or otherwise, to make seriously dumb mistakes. Earlier this year, notorious data-leak-and-extortion crew Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters claimed they had gained "full access" to Resecurity's systems and stolen "everything." Resecurity later offered its "congratulations" to the cybercrime crew, which had fallen into the threat intel team's honeypot – resulting in a subpoena being issued for one of the data thieves. Pro-Russian hacktivist crew CyberVolk got sloppy when they debuted a ransomware service late last year. They hardcoded the master keys - this same key encrypted all files on a victim's system - into the executable files, thus allowing victims to recover encrypted data without paying any extortion fees. While that mess-up worked in the victim orgs’ favor, another coding error committed by Sicarii malware developers makes it nearly impossible for companies to recover their files: the Sicarii encryptor generates a new cryptographic key pair during every execution - but then discards the private key, meaning there's no recoverable master key. Similarly, a programming mistake in Nitrogen ransomware prevents the gang's decryptor from recovering victims' files, again making paying up futile. Trellix VP of threat intel strategy John Fokker recently told us that he got so sick of seeing the security industry "glorifying threat actors,” that he and his team decided to troll the baddies, and started publishing the Dark Web Roast. “These are just individuals, they just use computers, and they just want to steal your data and make money,” Fokker told The Register. “They're not mythical. They don't have superpowers." And just like any other individual - or superhero - they sometimes slip up, and give the rest of us a moment of snarky joy. ®

Salesforce’s planned acquisition of Contentful should give its Headless 360 product – which CEO Marc Benioff gushed about during earnings last week – a much-needed shot in the arm, an analyst told The Register. Headless 360 takes the Salesforce logic and data layers and presents them inside other applications the user might be operating, such as WhatsApp, Slack, ChatGPT, or Claude. During the call last week, Benioff said it had seen rapid adoption, including a fivefold increase in usage among customers at Anthropic. But it came with limitations. “It lacked the enterprise-grade content layer to drive the customer facing digital experiences,” Forrester principal analyst Chuck Gahun told The Register. “Enterprise customers that wanted to build a marketing website around product listing and detail pages (powered by Salesforce B2B and B2C commerce), ended up relying on different software vendors. Now, Agentforce agents can query customer data, assemble and deliver content driven digital experiences that are dynamic.” It is also another step to move users off of the Salesforce UI, while preserving its unique data and functions. Gahun said that the headless strategy transitions Salesforce's place in the enterprise from a keeper of CRM records and customer data into a system of action where APIs and MCP server calls are able to produce results for business users. “Contentful was one of the strongest headless CMS vendors, with an API-first founding architectural principle. All content management and delivery platform capabilities were accessible via high-fidelity APIs, including an app framework to build, package and distribute frontend and backend apps that are customizable,” Gahun told The Register. Salesforce has been on a buying spree with the purchases of Convergence AI, Bluebirds, Regrello, Informatica, Qualified, Cimulate, and Momentum, all announced or closed within the last year. President and chief operating and financial officer Robin Washington told analysts in September that Salesforce has no plans to slow down M&A. “If we see other things out there that make sense, we're going to buy them,” she said. Gahun has been covering Contentful as a content management system for nearly four years. He said with Salesforce adding Contentful as the digital experience layer on top and with Informatica's customer and enterprise data, it has the potential to unlock better digital and customer experiences for Salesforce. “As digital content begins driving context for agents and answer engines, Salesforce now has a unique seat at that business logic table: powered by context, content, and data - flowing through its next gen enterprise agentic SaaS platform,” he said. The acquisition of Contentful is expected to close later this year, subject to regulatory conditions. Salesforce has not publicly disclosed the purchase price of Contentful. A spokesperson told The Register that it had no comment beyond its statement when asked for more information about the deal. In its statement, Salesforce said Contentful is trusted by 4,800 customers worldwide and gives users a single content layer across email, mobile and web for any use case. “Together, Agentforce and Contentful will move enterprises from static, channel-specific content to dynamic content orchestration – assembling 1:1 experiences at scale based on context, channel, language, and business rules,” Salesforce said. ®

As protests inside and outside of Newark’s Delaney Hall continue into their second week, federal, state, and local officials are vying over the future of the privately-run ICE detention center and former prison in New Jersey. 

This morning, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka held a press conference, calling for the facility’s closure and threatening further legal action against GEO Group, the company that operates it. A few hours later, the state of New Jersey also sued the private prison giant, seeking a court order for full access by health inspectors, who since Wednesday have lacked it.

ICE and Homeland Security agents beat and arrested dozens of protesters outside Delaney last week, until state police took over the area on Friday, eventually pushing protesters blocks away into a designated ‘protest zone’ as New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill implored activists to “lower the temperature.”

Baraka also pointed to conditions inside Delaney, referencing a detained person who had a miscarriage and was not given medical attention.

Beginning Sunday, under Baraka’s orders, the city of Newark established a curfew for the half-mile radius around Delaney Hall—and that evening, state police promptly tear-gassed and arrested even more protesters and members of the press than ICE agents had done earlier in the week. Meanwhile, people detained inside said they experienced physical violence from guards as retribution for speaking out. 

At a Tuesday press conference outside Delaney Hall, Baraka remarked that state police’s “training was not appropriate for what was happening in this area at the time” and objected to tactics that “kind of resembled what ICE was doing in the first place.”

Baraka announced that Newark municipal police, who the mayor contended are “more trained in de-escalation,” would be taking over the area. “I might say that we probably should have done that earlier, jumped in and had a louder voice,” he said. 

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to questions on why local government delayed involvement.

“I think it was escalated the minute ICE showed up on the scene,” Baraka, who was arrested last year while attempting to enter the facility, added. “We obviously thought that the interactions between ICE agents, Homeland Security, state police and residents were troubling.” He also pointed to conditions inside Delaney, referencing a detained person who had a miscarriage and was not given medical attention.

The city of Newark has been fighting in court for the past year to shut down Delaney Hall, alleging that GEO Group failed to get the proper permits to reopen the facility as a detention center in 2025. Now, Baraka said, the cities plans to expand that lawsuit to include safety violations. “This is not just…a code enforcement dispute,” Baraka said. “This is a dispute about human lives.”

Hundreds of Delaney Hall detainees have been engaged in hunger and labor strikes for nearly two weeks. They’ve turned down GEO Group–provided food and refused to work as janitorial, maintenance, and kitchen laborers within the facility—work for which they are paid as little as a dollar a day. They have four main demands: an end to coercive pressure from ICE agents to “self-deport,” a review of their immigration cases and habeas corpus petitions, an opportunity to speak with Gov. Mikie Sherrill in person inside Delaney Hall, and ultimately, their release from ICE custody.

New Jersey officials have largely not acknowledged these demands—including Baraka, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Sherrill, who has not met with immigrants inside Delaney Hall or fully funded their legal defense. Regardless, activists say their organizing inside and outside the facility has led to some victories. 

Cosecha New Jersey, an advocacy group in communication with people inside Delaney Hall, posted on Instagram that “an increased number of people have been released from detention,” since the strike began, including all pregnant people incarcerated there, “thanks to the urgency and pressure from families and the public.” About a thousand people, however, remain locked inside.

In a social media post Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security characterized New Jersey’s lawsuit against GEO Group as “frivolous.” 

“Just last week on May 28, four representatives of the New Jersey State Health Department arrived at approximately 11:00 AM,” the DHS X account posted. “They entered the facility and inspected the foodservice department.” That inspection, however, left out the medical unit, sleeping areas, and toilets, according to a press release from New Jersey’s Attorney General—and the state’s lawsuit stipulates that officials must be allowed to inspect the whole building.

“We believe that the way GEO Group opened up Delaney Hall was in contravention to municipal laws and state laws from the very beginning,” Baraka said in his Tuesday press conference. “We’re going to argue even further that this should be closed because of health and human safety.”

When Tulsi Gabbard announced she was stepping down as director of National Intelligence a little over a week ago, many let out sighs of relief that a Vladimir Putin apologist was no longer in control of the country’s spy agencies. But it was likely that President Donald Trump would replace her with someone even worse. On Tuesday, he confirmed that to be the case, when he announced that he was…

Source

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | Democrats devise plan to block Trump’s insurrectionist slush fund…

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If there is one place in Santa Cruz County where World Cup fever is expected to burn brightest, it may be Watsonville.

“Soccer in Watsonville is extraordinarily unique,” Watsonville Parks and Recreation Director Jason Hall said during a countywide World Cup kickoff press conference on Monday. “On any given day, all you need to do is drive through Watsonville and you’ll see people playing soccer. If you just close your eyes and listen, you’ll hear people shouting.”

Hall described soccer as the unifying force of the greater Watsonville-Pajaro region, stretching from Watsonville and Pajaro to Corralitos and beyond.

“I think that soccer is probably, if there’s going to be any sport that I would call the glue, for Watsonville, for that whole area, for that whole region,” hel said. “That whole region is really about soccer.”

Hall said the city’s recent investment in Ramsey Park — including new natural-grass fields and a World Cup-sized artificial turf field — reflects the community’s commitment to the sport. He said soccer helps teach teamwork and cooperation while providing opportunities for residents of all ages to come together.

That passion will be on full display during FIFA World Cup 2026.

Watsonville plans multiple watch parties throughout the tournament. At the Gene Hoularis and Waldo Rodriguez Youth Center, young people ages 11 to 17 will be able to watch every World Cup match. Organizers also plan to serve food tied to the countries competing in each game.

The city will also host an EA Sports FC 26 2-on-2 tournament sponsored by the San Jose Earthquakes. The 64-player, 32-team competition is open to the public, and winning players will receive a PlayStation 5.

The Watsonville events are part of a broader countywide celebration announced at a press conference attended by Santa Cruz County officials, the cities of Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Scotts Valley, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, United Way of Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz County Parks and Scotts Valley Parks & Recreation.

Even in a county better known nationally for surfing, skateboarding and redwood forests, local leaders say soccer has long been woven into the community’s identity.

“The game has become an intractable part of local culture,” Visit Santa Cruz County CEO Terence Concannon said. “It is more than a sport or an activity. It is a passion and a huge part of the culture. We see this throughout the county with all the soccer clinics and organizations that fuel that passion.”

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings said his connection to the sport began during the 1994 World Cup.

“That moment actually inspired me to become a soccer player,” he said.

Years later, while backpacking through Europe during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he experienced firsthand the public celebrations that accompany the tournament.

“In every city we went to, in every country we visited, we saw watch parties out on the streets, we saw watch parties in restaurants and bars, but most importantly, we saw so many people from so many different cultures from around the world coming together and having fun with one another and enjoying everyone’s company.”

Now, with several World Cup matches scheduled at nearby Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Cummings sees an opportunity for Santa Cruz County to welcome visitors from around the globe.

“So, this presented us with a great opportunity to be able to say, here in this soccer community, to the rest of the world, come over here, have some fun, come check out Santa Cruz.”

The county’s largest public celebration will take place at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

On June 26, the Boardwalk’s World Soccer Celebration begins with a watch party for Mexico’s match at Coasters Bar & Grill, accompanied by a mariachi band. The following evening, a free beach watch party for a United States match will be held in front of the Colonnade.

Additional events include another Coasters watch party for Spain versus Uruguay, followed by a beach screening of the soccer-themed film Kicking and Screaming.

Boardwalk Promotion and Special Events Manager Gladys Rodriguez said the celebration will also feature an exhibition by Leah Morales, the top-ranked female Footvolley player in the United States, along with a beach soccer showcase featuring members of the U.S. Beach Soccer National Team.

Elsewhere in the county, restaurants and gathering places are preparing for the tournament. Lúpulo Craft Beer House plans to show every match, Woodstock’s Pizza will open early for games and broadcast them on its giant “Mondo Matrix” screen, and Pono Hawaiian Grill is creating an island-style fan zone atmosphere with themed watch parties and specials.

Community events are also planned throughout the tournament. Santa Cruz County Parks and Scotts Valley Parks & Recreation will host a free youth soccer clinic at Anna Jean Cummings County Park and a family-friendly “Wacky Soccer Tournament” at Skypark in Scotts Valley featuring oversized soccer balls, costumes and a raffle for World Cup tickets. 

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has transformed its iconic red ball sculpture into a giant soccer ball and plans to host public watch parties, including one for the World Cup Final.

Taken together, the events reveal a side of Santa Cruz County that often receives less attention than its beaches and surf culture: a deep-rooted soccer community that spans generations, neighborhoods and cultures from Scotts Valley to Watsonville.

As Cummings put it: “Santa Cruz, yes, we’re a surf and skate town. But we also are a soccer town.”

•••

For a list of activities, visit santacruz.org/kick-off-santa-cruz/

After postponing a planned signing last month for an executive order addressing advanced cybersecurity AI models, President Trump has signed a largely similar version that’s just as questionably effective. The EO, signed in a private ceremony on Tuesday, directs various government agencies to take steps to protect their systems and data, as well as those of agencies they support, from cyber threats, while also facilitating access to advanced AI models that could help agencies bolster their cybersecurity defenses. The order also directs the Treasury Department to establish an “AI cybersecurity clearinghouse” that works with the AI industry and critical infrastructure operators to coordinate and deconflict the use of advanced AI tools for software vulnerability scanning, vulnerability discovery and validation, and remediation and patching efforts. Additional provisions are included to direct federal grant programs toward companies developing AI vulnerability detections, and to expand the US Tech Force's Information Cybersecurity Specialist hiring and placement pathways. Those elements are pretty cut-and-dried, but it’s the rest of the order that has raised eyebrows among policy experts who’ve weighed in on the order so far. Section three of the EO, Secure Frontier Model Deployment, is where the government’s AI model pre-release review scheme is outlined, and it is also where the most substantial change in the order compared to the earlier May draft appears. The version signed Tuesday directs various agencies to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish a “voluntary framework” through which the federal government would get access to “covered frontier models” for up to 30 days before their planned release to “other trusted partners” in order for the agencies to review them for potential cybersecurity risks. The May draft included a 90-day review period; the reduction to 30 days appears to be the most significant change between the two versions. Along with the review period, section three of the order also asks federal agencies to “develop and maintain a classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models,” which would also be used to determine which AI models qualify as covered frontier models for the purpose of the order. The EO also asks that the voluntary framework enable AI companies to "collaborate with the Federal Government to select trusted partners that will have early access to covered frontier models,” meaning that the Trump administration would effectively have a role in picking which companies get to participate in programs like Anthropic’s Project Glasswing for its Claude Mythos Preview. Want early access? You'd better be on our side The Register was contacted by various policy analysts about the EO, and while all agreed some sort of rule was better than nothing, a number of them shared their concerns. “The White House executive order on frontier AI models, while imperfect, is a step in the right direction to prepare the nation for the release of advanced AI systems,” Cato Institute policy analyst Juan Londoño said of the order. “The lack of clear specifications on which criteria should be used to determine what constitutes a 'covered frontier model,' and the government's involvement in decisions about which 'trusted partners' can access these advanced models, gives the executive a great deal of discretion,” Londoño added. “This could open the door to potential weaponization against companies that have any sort of conflict with the administration.” Former FTC chief technologist Neil Chilson likewise said that the order is better than the “current informal approach,” but hopes Congress will take action to establish some actual rules. Gaps in the order, Chilson said, “could be used to pick winners and losers, or to give short-term national security concerns excessive weight at the expense of longer-term national security, economic growth, innovation, and other national interests.” The Center for Democracy and Technology’s VP of policy, Samir Jain, likewise said that the EO takes necessary steps to address risks to critical infrastructure, and like others, he praised the choice to make the framework non-mandatory. That trusted partners element, however, raised his hackles, too. “The EO should not become a mechanism for the Administration to punish companies for political or other arbitrary reasons, and so we will be closely monitoring the details of its implementation as they emerge,” Jain said. The White House didn’t respond to questions for this story. ®

Disneyland Resort recently did a fairly major thematic overhaul to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, by including original trilogy characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in the land. In addition, they’ve added classic music cues from the films by composer John Williams. But the biggest new addition to Galaxy’s Edge, both in Anaheim and in Orlando, is the updated version of the attraction Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, which now includes the Mandalorian and Grogu. Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

Not only are those beloved characters joining the attraction, but riders will now have several new worlds to choose from. All are iconic and familiar worlds from the Star Wars films. Tatooine, Bespin, Coruscant, and the Death Star wreckage around Endor are now part of the story too. At a recent press event held at the Disneyland Hotel, we got to chat with Lucasfilm’s Senior Creative Executive Matt Martin, about bringing a new dimension to this Galaxy’s Edge attraction.

Nerdist: How long has this update to Smuggler’s Run been in the planning stages? And were there any initial ideas that maybe went by the wayside when you decided to finally pull the trigger and do it?

Matt Martin: I mean, we’ve been working on this for, I think, about a year and a half. Something like that. We discussed a lot of different planets. I think, at one point, I made a really long spreadsheet of kind of what planets might be good options and why. So there’s definitely a lot of discussion about the different locations that we could go to, things like that. Because there are so many planets in the Star Wars galaxy to choose from.

Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

You know, the nature of this sort of thing, you have to make choices. So, there were a lot of things that we discussed early on that eventually, we just went in a different direction. Because we had to look at what made the most sense for the story of this attraction. We had to kind of look at the type of gameplay we were going for, what would make it the most fun to do. What would make for the most fun locations, how they were diverse from each other, things like that. So some planets got left behind.

So, the original version of the ride isn’t really even that old. It’s only been around for seven years, but technology improves really fast. So, how do you feel that the improvement in technology helped you guys out this time?

Martin: Yeah, I can’t speak too directly to the technology, because it’s not really my field. But I can say that I think, just by the nature of us having the attraction for that many years, we were kind of able to see what things were maybe working better, and also what things needed improvement on the gameplay side of things, and we were able to kind of work to enhance some of that. So, like, the engineering role has been greatly expanded. You know, the piloting and gunner positions, they’ve both gone through a lot of improvements, so I don’t know what part the tech actually played into that, which is sort of the experience of watching people go through this and understanding the best way to make things better.

Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

How did you find an organic way to incorporate the Mandalorian and baby Grogu into the ride?

Martin: I mean, that was actually a really fascinating thing. Because, as you said, the Falcon is Han Solo’s ship. Mando has never really come into contact with Han Solo.

That we know of!

Yeah, that we know of (laughs). At least we haven’t seen it happen so far. But what worked out really well was we have this really convenient thing in the character of Hondo Onaka. Hondo really does, as a pirate, and as a businessman, he helps connect the dots. So, there was sort of a natural. We had to think, “Okay, well, what would happen if Mando came and brought the Falcon here?” Well, it’s only natural that Hondo would have gone and “borrowed” it.

After that, it was really about working in how Mando is doing missions for the New Republic. All of which is coming right out of the new film. Right. How do we bring that into it? So the New Republic has contracted Hondo. They need Mando to go babysit him, because no one trusts Hondo. And, of course, Hondo is the one who grabbed the Falcon! So there was a lot of thought about how to get all of that to work. But I feel like the linchpin ended up being the character of Hondo.

Do you have a new aspect of the ride that’s your personal favorite, and can you tell us what it is?

Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

Yeah, I mean, I think Coruscant in general is probably my favorite. This detail is pretty nerdy, but hey, you’re Nerdist! So yeah, in Corusant, you’re actually shooting an ion cannon, because you’re in the city. But tthere are people there. Otherwise, you’ll do real destruction [with a regular cannon.] So you’re shooting an ion canon. It’s really fun to shoot at some of the signs and things, and just watch the kind of electric sparks, having things turn off. So, you’re not really destroying the planet. But you’re definitely impacting it, and when you’re surrounded by it, you really get to see the effects of that. And it’s extremely cool.

The newly updated version of Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is now open for business at Galaxy’s Edge in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

The post Lucasfilm Talks Updates to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run appeared first on Nerdist.

Uber's cutback has occurred after the company had reportedly encouraged staff to use AI as much as possible.

Microsoft on Tuesday took the wraps off Adaptive Spec-driven Scoring for Evaluation and Regression Testing, an open-source framework for spinning up AI evaluations.

It seems like FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, who cosplays as a country singer, has been simply dying to follow in her beau’s footsteps. So she’s brought her very own, completely meritless defamation lawsuit against the press. What fun! Wilkins is suing MSNOW and reporters Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian for reporting in December 2025 about Patel giving Wilkins her very…

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If you’ve ever had the predicament about whether to get a free meal from your favorite restaurant on your birthday or go see your favorite band with all your friends, you might know a thing or two about luxury problems. (Note: It took me close to 15 minutes to come up with that incredibly lame parallel.) If you happen to be one of the most famous, popular, and in-demand movie stars in the world, your luxury problems might look a bit different. How can you star in a new movie by one of the best filmmakers alive if you also have to be the lead in your own superhero franchise? Tom Holland had an answer: do both.Universal Pictures

In a recent interview with GQ Magazine (via Variety), Holland said he had to have the “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman when faced with a massive first world problem. Christopher Nolan wanted him to be in The Odyssey, but that filming schedule would have conflicted with the shoot for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. What an “Ack ack” Cathy scenario. Naturally, Holland didn’t want to turn down the role of Telemachus, but he’s already Peter Parker! Miraculously (or maybe not), Rothman agreed to delay the fourth Spider-Man movie.

“I think one of the reasons why Sony were happy to move is because Chris has that reputation of, ‘This movie isn’t going to go five months over, and we aren’t actually going to lose Tom for two years,’” Holland said, nodding to how The Odyssey started on schedule and finished nine days early. “Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation.” 

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As Holland explains, however, the delay actually helped. At the time, the movie didn’t even have a director following series director Jon Watts’ decision to step down. “The Odyssey almost saved Spider-Man because we wouldn’t have had Destin [Daniel Cretton],” Holland said. “He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now. And I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any Spider-Man movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”

So, let that be a lesson. You too can have two incredible options happen if you have the clout of a bankable movie star and the heft of the best working director behind you. So to speak.

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17. Spider-Man: Brand New Day bows July 31.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

The post Tom Holland Asked Sony to Delay SPIDER-MAN So He Could Star in THE ODYSSEY appeared first on Nerdist.

Bug hunting has become a whole lot more exciting in recent months with both Anthropic and OpenAI touting their latest models (that also happen to be super-scary exploit machines). On Tuesday, as Anthropic announced a fourfold expansion to its Mythos preview program, Cisco jumped into the fray, praising the transformative power of AI - but without disclosing how many bugs the latest frontier models found. Cisco SVP Anthony Grieco in a Tuesday blog said that the advanced AI systems, including Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5-Cyber, scanned 1.8 billion lines of code in eight weeks looking for vulnerabilities in Cisco products - a task that otherwise would have taken the networking giant’s advanced security team eight years to accomplish. However, Grieco, who heads Cisco’s security and trust organization, didn’t say how many flaws Mythos and other frontier models uncovered, or if they have all been fixed. The company also did not respond to The Register’s questions about this. Grieco did say that “speed is only half the story,” calling the “real breakthrough” the “scale, quality, and impact” of the models’ findings. The 1.8 billion lines of code, written in more than 25 different languages, spanned Cisco’s portfolio, we’re told. Netzilla paired the models with a “human-guided harness,” and achieved a false positive rate of under 3 percent, Grieco wrote. “Rather than focusing on a specific scope for a security evaluation, we can assess entire code bases of a product. It’s like switching from a flashlight to a flood light to illuminate a dark room,” he said. “Because each finding is validated through a hybrid of AI and human expertise, our engineering teams are receiving actionable intelligence rather than a wall of warnings.” Meanwhile, Anthropic on Tuesday said it expanded Project Glasswing to about 150 additional organizations, bringing the total partner count to about 200. Project Glasswing is the AI giant’s controlled partner program for giving selected orgs access to Claude Mythos Preview. When it announced the new model and partner program in early April, Anthropic limited the preview to about 50 entities, claiming Mythos is so good at finding and exploiting security holes that all hell would break loose and the zombie apocalypse would hit should the model fall into the wrong hands. Since April, these select government agencies and corporate partners - including Cisco - have been using Mythos to find and fix bugs in their own products. Palo Alto Networks, one of the original Project Glasswing partners, said in May that after spending a month using frontier AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos, to scan more than 130 products across its three platforms, it uncovered 26 CVEs representing 75 underlying security issues. For comparison, the cybersecurity giant said it typically discloses fewer than five CVEs per month. At the time, a company exec forecast “a narrow three-to-five-month window for organizations to outpace the adversary before AI-driven exploits start to become the new norm.” The newly expanded Project Glasswing spans more than 15 countries, and, while an Anthropic spokesperson declined to name them or the new partner companies, it’s a safe bet that these are likely Western and/or “friendly” nations. So not China and Russia. Rubrik, a data security and management vendor, said that it was among the new Glasswing partners. The expanded list also reportedly includes the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), along with Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and SK Telecom, among other Korean companies. “The group covers several industries that weren’t well-represented in our initial cohort, such as power, water, healthcare, communications, and hardware,” according to a Tuesday Anthropic blog. “And many of the new partners are vendors - companies or nonprofits that maintain codebases that are relied upon by lots of other organizations around the world, including governments.” Each new partner must meet Anthropic’s security requirements before they gain access to Mythos, the company added. ®

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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

• BRONZE BEAR ARTS was registered at 3564 Felton Empire Rd., Santa Cruz, by Carl Achilles Deaton as an individual business on May 18.
• CHEF EVAN PRESENTS was registered at 1221 Old San Jose Rd., Unit B, Soquel, by Evan Edward Marcus-Rotman as an individual business on May 18.
• DANK DERMAL DEFENSE was registered at 690 37th Ave., Apt. A, Santa Cruz, by Daniel N. Kingsbook as an individual business on May 19.
• TOMATO TOMATO was registered at 117 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, by Tomato Tomato Santa Cruz, LLC, as a limited liability company on May 19.
• MIEL PILATES was registered at 4150 Capitola Rd., Suite I, Capitola, by Pilates Social LLC as a limited liability company on May 19.
• KINDPEOPLES was registered at 3600 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, by Ceneris LLC as a limited liability company on May 19.
• LOCAL MARKETING TIGER was registered at 320 Fall Creek Dr., Felton, by Liya Wendel as an individual business on May 19.
• ALOHA MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL, ALOHA MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL SANTA CRUZ CA, ALOHA MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL SANTA CRUZ was registered at 690 Calabasas Rd., Watsonville, by Victor Ohana Productions, LLC as a limited liability company on May 19.
• DAKOTA NDT was registered at 1500 Green Hills Rd., #107, Scotts Valley, by Dakota Ultrasonics Corporation as a corporation on May 19.
• CRUZ DRY GOODS, SANTA CRUZ DRY GOODS was registered at 2917 Center St., Soquel, by Tej Simran Blanchette as an individual business on May 20.
• FIX AUTO WATSONVILLE was registered at 44 E. Front St., Watsonville, by Ur 1 Stop Auto Body Inc as a corporation on May 20.
• LAW OFFICE OF BENJAMIN, LEIBROCK was registered at 2115 7th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Benjamin Pc as a corporation on May 20.
• TAQUERIA DON TACO was registered at 257 Center Ave., Unit C, Aptos, by Bella Flor De Maria Gonzalez Sanchez as an individual business on May 20.
• SC LABS was registered at 100 Pioneer St., Suite B, Santa Cruz, by PSCA Testing LLC as a limited liability company on May 20.
• SERENADE CHILDBIRTH SERVICES was registered at 3140 B Trout Gulch Rd., Aptos, by Sommer A. Halligan as an individual business on May 20.
• GLENWOOD CHILDREN’S CENTER was registered at 125 Bethany Dr., Scotts Valley, by Santa Cruz Reggio Preschools LLC as a limited liability company on May 20.
• PORTER STREET was registered at 2959 Park Ave., Suite E, Soquel, by Rachael Anne Shelton as an individual business on May 21.
• MATTISON LN. ROAD ASSOCIATION was registered at 2110 Mattison Lane, Santa Cruz, by Earl Leslie Magnone as an individual business on May 21.
• SAWYERS FORESTRY CO. was registered at 220 Mar Vista Dr., #54, Aptos, by Tyler James Street as an individual business on May 21.
• WESTSHORE SOLUTIONS was registered at 101 McMillan Court, Santa Cruz, by Christine L. Mantua as an individual business on May 21.
• INK REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT was registered at 1759 Pine Flat Rd., Santa Cruz, by Sidney R. Harger as an individual business on May 22.
• SANTA CRUZ ECLIPSE was registered at 145 Seaborg Pl., Santa Cruz, by Eclipse Soccer Academy as a corporation on May 22.
• YIELD TOOLS INC. was registered at 4575 Emerald St., Apt. A, Capitola, by Ytools Inc. as a corporation on May 22.
• NS CONSTRUCTION was registered at 72 Jeanette Way, Watsonville, by Josue Silva as an individual business on May 22.
• EL DORADO CREATIVE was registered at 1401 El Dorado Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jonas Davidson as an individual business on May 26.
• ELEPHANT SEAL SPORTS was registered at 1150 El Solyo Heights Dr., Felton, by Applied Emergence LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
• HUTCH’S HOME IMPROVEMENTS was registered at 1198 Pine Flat Rd., Santa Cruz, by Joshua Matthew Hutchison as an individual business on May 26.
• SWIFT FITNESS was registered at 2351 Mission St., Santa Cruz, by SCG Fitness LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
• BLUSH BEAUTY CO. was registered at 46 Brennan St., Watsonville, by Julie Ponce as an individual business on May 27.
• CARNE LLC, POINT BUTCHER SHOP LLC was registered at 21511 E. Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, by Carne LLC as a limited liability company on May 27.
• SCRATCH STUDIO was registered at 303 Potrero St., #02b, Santa Cruz, by Sara Josephine Czarnecki on May 27.
• 3 DOT was registered at 105 Winterwind Way, Watsonville, by Brynn Taylor Mitchell as an individual business on May 28.
• HOT ELEVATION STUDIOS was registered at 1440 41st Ave., Suite E, Capitola, by Stillhaven LLC as a limited liability company on May 28.
• SOQUEL CREEK REDWOOD was registered at 200 7th Ave., Suite 190, Santa Cruz, by Aden Dahar Cury as a general partnership on May 28.
• CESAR AUTO REPAIR was registered at 40 Linden Rd., Watsonville, by Julio Cesar Flores Sandoval as an individual business on May 28.
• RESILIENCE was registered at 67 Charles Dr., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Lindsay as an individual business on May 28.
• ReturnToMe LLC was registered at 9 Ortalon Ave., Santa Cruz, by Returntome LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
• BIG BITE SC was registered at 119 Laguna St., Santa Cruz, by Grace Wong St. Clair as an individual business on May 29.
• PACIFIC PERFORMANCE PEPTIDES was registered at 5000 Scotts Valley Dr., #2, Scotts Valley, by Pacific Performance Holdings LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
• TALLIE’S TAILORING, TRUE CRUZ was registered at 875 Monterey Ave., Capitola, by Tallie Adair Crawford as an individual business on May 29.
• SONS’ PIZZA CO. was registered at 1255 38th Ave., Spc. 58, Santa Cruz, by Jason Anstey as an individual business on May 29.

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

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The post Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of June 2 appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

The caveat is that one of the world's most famous living directors is using the tech solely for storyboarding.

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