It’s Tuesday and we’ve got some breaking news on the local “return-to-in-person-schooling” front: A concerted effort to get the county’s kindergarten teachers vaccinated on Tuesday may lay the groundwork for a plan to get back to some on-campus schooling before the year is over. Cooperation between the County Office of Education, the majority of the […]
Mark Conley
Follow Mark Conley on: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Mark joins Lookout after 14 years at the Mercury News and Bay Area News Group, where he served as Deputy Sports Editor on a staff that covered three World Series, three Super Bowls, five NBA Finals, a Stanley Cup Final, six Olympic Games and three U.S. Opens over that span. He led enterprise coverage and special projects, and guided the Merc’s premium NFL and MLB magazines to five straight years of top APSE honors.Mark chaired a digital innovation committee and partook in the Table Stakes program that led to the newsroom’s establishment of a digital subscription team and a product development approach to coverage. He helped build brands around Pac-12 and high schools coverage via robust newsletters, social engagement, promotional deals and targeted audience content. Both coverage areas became top digital subscription drivers in the sports department — and the newsroom as a whole.Mark has lived in Santa Cruz County — Westside, Eastside, Midtown and now Capitola — for more than 20 years and has a passion for seeing journalism restored in the place he lives and loves.“This county is such a special place, and it’s as much about the people who choose to live here as the magical geography,” he says. “I’m looking forward to helping tell the stories of Santa Cruz County.”
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM: The vaccine news seems to be getting better for the 65-plus crowd
Happy Monday, friends. While talk continued elsewhere about the challenges of opening schools back up for in-person learning, there were no big advancements here in Santa Cruz County. Lookout will continue to monitor the situation as teachers insist on being vaccinated before they return to campus. The news was largely positive on the case positivity […]
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM | BREAKING: Teachers unite, saying vaccine needed before in-person learning can resume
Happy Friday, Santa Cruz people: We learned more today about a growing divide on the national, state and local levels between politicians, health officials and teachers as it pertains to a return to in-person learning. Here in Santa Cruz County, it’s a breaking story tonight. Teachers’ unions placed their collective stake in the ground with […]
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Vaccine showdown: Schools here can apply to re-open, but in-person classes unlikely until teachers get doses
In a remarkable display of unity, teachers’ unions from eight of the county’s 10 public school districts joined forces in a letter to county Health Officer Gail Newel on Friday, asking her to reconsider her stance on letting at least some teachers get the COVID-19 vaccine now.
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM: Possible ‘March surge,’ Sutter/PAMF opens vaccines to 65-plus
Hello, Santa Cruz people: I’m not sure where this week went, but here we are, almost back to another Friday. Today was nowhere as newsy as yesterday on the COVID front, but there were still some significant tidbits gleaned from Santa Cruz County health officials, who held their weekly press roundtable. Tidbit of Interest No. […]
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM EXCLUSIVE: 30K vaccines have been distributed here; counties voice unrest
Hello, everyone, there is no shortage of vaccine-related information today — which is something that has never been uttered in this space before — and it’s topping our most robust COVID PM newsletter ever. Let’s get right to the intriguing headlines: Santa Cruz County officials & others: ‘Enough already’ EXCLUSIVE: The public health chiefs of […]
Posted inVaccine Watch
Strong turnout for Santa Cruz County’s first farmworker vaccination clinic gives officials hope
Dignity Health Dominican Hospital, the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency and the California Strawberry Commission teamed up for the first vaccination of local agricultural workers Wednesday at Casserly Grange Hall in Watsonville.
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM: Trying to make some sense of the foggy vaccination situation
Happy Tuesday, everyone. It was a day for trying to find clarity in the mud that is vaccine distribution. And there were, of course, steps forward and backward in the process. Our content partner Cal Matters dug in deep on the issues that continue to plague the state, and those issues were reflected in the […]
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM: When, where and how will live music return?
We’ve made it through another Monday, folks, and that’s music to my ears. Now if only we could get back to some of the real music we love. Thankfully my good buddy and local music aficionado Wallace Baine is offering up some hope to those of us who fondly remember late nights out at places […]
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID PM: ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ … except on vaccine distribution
Happy weekend time, Santa Cruzans — we did it! It will be a nice few days to get outside and celebrate both the sunny skies and the cautiously sunny outlook for the local COVID-19 situation. As our Mallory Pickett ran through the county data today, as she does most days, there was little deviation from […]