A look inside the City of Santa Cruz’s recycling center reveals uncomfortable truths about America’s plastic waste crisis, where nearly a third of recycled items ultimately end up headed to the landfill.
William S. Woodhams
William S. Woodhams is a newsroom intern at Lookout. He is a native of Santa Cruz where he grew up on the Westside. In 2024, he wrote for Good Times and Santa Cruz Local, covering housing development, the chaos at Live Oak School District and the pro-Palestinian protests at UCSC, among other stories.
Currently, he attends UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He hopes to write about the unknown heroes and eccentrics of the area because after leaving and coming home, he believes it is the people who make Santa Cruz special.
Posted inLatest News
Downtown Santa Cruz library to break ground Aug. 20
The downtown library mixed-use project will officially start construction with a groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 20. Shovels were expected to hit the ground in June, but a series of delays pushed the timeline into August.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
Supervisors vote to delist Watsonville’s Redman-Hirahara House, clearing path for demolition
Santa Cruz County supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to delist the Watsonville mansion from historic registers after years of deterioration, with plans to salvage materials.
Posted inCapitola & Soquel
After another pedestrian hit on Capitola’s Bay Avenue, residents demand faster safety fixes
After six pedestrian accidents since 2017, some Capitola residents are demanding immediate safety fixes on Bay Avenue as city officials work toward a $5 million plan to build roundabouts.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Judge blocks Planned Parenthood cuts but Santa Cruz office to stay closed
The downtown Santa Cruz Planned Parenthood office, which abruptly shut its doors last week, will remain closed despite a federal judge restoring Medicaid reimbursement to the organization nationwide.
Posted inLatest News
Historic route change marks 53rd Wharf to Wharf race as 16,000 runners navigate altered course
A historic route change forced by Murray Street Bridge construction couldn’t dampen spirits as Santa Cruz County’s’s popular annual Wharf to Wharf race adapted, drawing 16,000 runners to the six-mile oceanside route on Sunday and maintaining its community charm.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Santa Cruz Planned Parenthood clinic abruptly shuts down amid Medicaid cuts
Santa Cruz’s downtown Planned Parenthood clinic closed suddenly Thursday, one of five locations shuttered by the organization’s Mar Monte affiliate after a federal court ruling allowed most Medicaid cuts to the health care provider to take effect across the country.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville pledged not to cooperate with ICE. A controversial license plate reader may be undermining that promise.
Police in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville scan thousands of license plates daily thanks to a surveillance network that is used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the state, including at least one that has been found to be searching on behalf of federal authorities.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
County health care leaders decry ‘backward’ Medicaid cuts
The bill President Donald Trump signed on July 4 is expected to cut more than $1 trillion in Medicare and food assistance spending over the next decade and leave more than 11 million people uninsured nationwide, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz County property value reaches record $64.7 billion
Home sales and new construction helped boost the assessed value of real estate in unincorporated parts of Santa Cruz County by $3.6 billion for the year, or nearly 6%.