Local news in the classroom: Weekly roundup 9/2/25
Happy (day after) Labor Day! As we mark the holiday honoring workers’ rights and contributions, this week’s newsletter highlights stories that connect directly to themes of labor, energy, and community decisions – issues with both local and national impact, and rich potential for classroom discussion.
Remember, high school educators and students in Santa Cruz County receive free Lookout memberships, giving full access to our reporting, perks, and member events.
This week’s highlighted stories:
Verve Coffee workers in Santa Cruz, San Francisco push to unionize on Labor Day
Why it matters: Unionization efforts are resurging across the country, from Starbucks to Amazon warehouses. This local story provides a timely way to explore labor movements, workers’ rights, and how national trends show up in students’ own community.
In the classroom: Ask students to research a recent strike or union drive nationally and compare it to the Verve effort. What challenges and successes do local workers share with others across the U.S.?
Why it matters: Energy policy and renewable infrastructure are pressing topics nationwide, as communities balance local regulations with the demand for clean energy.
In the classroom: Connect this to national conversations on climate change and energy independence. Students could debate: Should local governments have more control over large-scale energy projects, or should state and federal needs outweigh local rules?
Local news makes learning personal. By tying current events into the classroom, students see how decisions at every level ripple into their daily lives. Check out even more stories below.
Current events to use in your classroom
Here’s a roundup of recent articles you could use in your classroom. Explore the linked lesson plans below for simple ways to facilitate reflection on these local events. Interested in more stories? Browse all our recent coverage here.
LOCAL NEWS
Historic horse stable, home to rescue animals, faces eviction as UCSC moves to acquire coastal property
By Hillary Ojeda
After five decades serving local horse owners and rescue animals, Coast Road Stables faces displacement as UC Santa Cruz and The Conservation Fund move forward with plans to purchase the 200-acre coastal property just north of city limits. With leases set to end by June 2026, boarders say they’ve been left in the dark — and are now scrambling to find alternatives for their animals, many of which are elderly or medically fragile.
Carmageddon: City council’s Murray Street Bridge rescue plan could take years, with uncertain benefits
By Max Chun
The Santa Cruz City Council’s plans to fix problems caused by the lengthy Murray Street Bridge closure could face a long, costly road ahead, city officials say, with no guarantee they will significantly ease congestion.
What Watsonville can teach Washington: Civic power comes from people, not the National Guard
By Jacob Sandobal
Jacob Sandobal, a Watsonville native and University of San Francisco politics major, is interning for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this summer and has watched as National Guard troops fill the capital.
CALIFORNIA NEWS
America’s economy runs on data. What Trump’s firing of a top data chief means for California
By Levi Sumagaysay / CalMatters
Economists and others worry about politicizing jobs and inflation data after President Donald Trump’s firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and his nomination of a partisan replacement.
Immigration agents signed up to recruit at a California university. Then the protests started
By Mikhail Zinshteyn / CalMatters
Social media swirled with rumors that ICE would be among the employers at a job fair at Cal Poly Pomona, something the university said is not true. Still, the campus postponed the event over concerns about Customs and Border Protection’s participation.
EDUCATOR RESOURCES
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Make sure to get your free access for a full year and utilize our resources on our Educator Page.
Check out our Discussion Guides
Lookout’s discussion guides help students critically evaluate news and social media by providing strategies and vocabulary to analyze information. They also offer ready-to-use questions and lesson plans to engage with local news and can be used for any article.
Lookout believes that all students deserve to know deeply about the place they live in. For all High School students in Santa Cruz County, Lookout offers free student memberships. Encourage them to sign up.
We’d love to visit your classroom! Lookout staff can come to your classroom and lead a workshop about various different things from journalism to elections. These workshops last the length of one class period and are a great way to get your students engaged in different aspects of learning. Reach out if you are interested.
Thank you for all the hard work you do in the community and for supporting our educational programs, helping the younger generations learn media literacy skills and become invested community members and democratic citizens. If you’d like to learn more about our school programs, get more involved or have any questions, please reach out to me jamie@lookoutlocal.com.
Best,
Jamie
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