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Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz County 2026 primary election results in charts: Final tally set for June 26

By Max Chun

Find the results for all local races in Santa Cruz County’s 2026 primary election here. Lookout will continuously update this page as new results come in.

Credit: Trinity Rose

Weekender: Desserts, dads and farmers market’s 50th

Your cheat sheet for eating well and going out in Santa Cruz County this Father’s Day weekend.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Police determine suspicious device found at Watsonville High to be ‘nonexplosive science experiment’

By Hillary Ojeda

Watsonville police officers were investigating a suspicious device found on the Watsonville High School campus Thursday morning.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

UC Santa Cruz senior graduates after five years of ‘good trouble’

By Hillary Ojeda

UC Santa Cruz graduate Airielle Silva was honored with the John R. Lewis Good Trouble Award after five years of student leadership and activism. As she addressed fellow graduates at commencement, Silva reflected on her advocacy work while urging the university to continue addressing longstanding Black student demands.

Credit: Natasha Leverett / Lookout Santa Cruz

From opera to orchards: Inside the immigrant stories and resilience fueling 50 years of the Aptos farmers market

By Ruth S. Intress

Celebrating 50 years, the Aptos farmers market – held Saturdays at Cabrillo College – captures not just the bounty and hard work of dozens of vendors but also comes with a wealth of stories from those manning the stands and working behind the scenes.

Credit: Darius Mohsenin

OPINION: Santa Cruz’s rental inspection and code enforcement is a Trojan horse for city overreach

By Darius Mohsenin

Santa Cruz’s rental inspection program was created to protect tenants from unsafe housing, but property owner Darius Mohsenin argues it has evolved into a system focused more on permits, paperwork and minor violations than actual habitability. He contends that inspectors increasingly rely on bureaucratic enforcement rather than practical safety expertise, allowing complaints to trigger sweeping property inspections and costly citations. He urges the Santa Cruz City Council to refocus the program on genuine health and safety issues instead of what he sees as regulatory overreach that raises housing costs and strains relationships with property owners.

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Best of Santa Cruz County events, June 19-21

Here are some events you may be interested in this weekend:

Friday, Jun. 19

Saturday, Jun. 20

Sunday, Jun. 21

Add an event to our calendar

Max Chun is the general-assignment correspondent at Lookout Santa Cruz. Max’s position has pulled him in many different directions, seeing him cover development, COVID, the opioid crisis, labor, courts...