Quick Take:
Tom Brezsny of Brezsny Associates looks forward to the future to compile his top predictions for 2022’s booming real...
Happy Tuesday evening, everybody. It’s a chilly and windy one out there! At Lookout headquarters — and our various work-from-home locations — the heat has been on pretty non-stop today. The forecast calls for much of the same for the rest of the week, so bundle up and enjoy the sunshine — even if it’s not hitting as strongly these days.
But it does certainly look pretty lovely out there:
Let’s get on to your headlines:
Supervisors to study Greenway initiative before adopting it or placing it on the June ballot
Next steps: The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to study an initiative that, if passed, would change the county’s General Plan away from using the Santa Cruz Branch Line for rail and toward a bike-and-pedestrian path. The measure, which county officials certified Monday, must either be placed on the June ballot or adopted without a countywide vote after the report is completed next month. Lookout’s Max Chun gets us on track here.
➤ Explainer: What’s railbanking, and why are Santa Cruz transit experts discussing it?
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A new steward: ‘Gateway to Big Basin’ property sold to conservation nonprofit
Sale completed: The Sempervirens Fund announced Tuesday it had completed the $2.4 million purchase of 153 acres along Highway 236 in Boulder Creek, with the aim of donating the land to California State Parks and speeding the reopening of fire-scarred Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Read more on the details here.
➤ Earlier: Why a Boulder Creek land purchase has conservationists so excited
$500K grant to expand broadband access to as many as 4,000 low-income families
Expanding access: On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors announced an expanded partnership with Cruzio Internet, with the goal of providing low- and no-cost broadband to up to 4,000 households by the end of 2022. Our Grace Stetson has the details here.
➤ More information: Free broadband service is available to many Californians. Here’s how to apply
LEARN MORE ABOUT STUDENT ACCESS
ICYMI: ‘I love it, but I hate it’: Return to UCSC campus a mix of ups and downs
Back to class: Students who were back on the UC Santa Cruz campus on Monday morning expressed excitement, concern, encouragement and frustration. After two weeks of remote classes due to a surge in COVID-19 cases caused by Omicron, some students felt more options for remote learning should be available while others felt the university was doing the best it could. Lookout’s Hillary Ojeda looks into things here.
Why single-payer health care died in the California Legislature, again
No vote: A bill for single-payer health care in California didn’t even get a vote in the state Assembly after its author couldn’t round up enough support before Monday’s deadline. Advocates are incensed. Our partners at CalMatters get the details here.
More from here & elsewhere
➤ Wildfire survivors, advocates say PG&E safety certificate renewal gives utility ‘license to burn’ (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
➤ ‘Epidemic among the unvaccinated’ in a California COVID ICU (San Francisco Chronicle)
➤ Jimmy Garoppolo bids farewell to 49ers tenure: ‘Love you guys. See ya’ (The Mercury News)
➤ Cabrillo College students plug into outdoor resource (The Pajaronian)
And that’s the way it was on this Tuesday night. Have a pleasant evening all.
Dan Evans
Executive Editor