Lookout PM: The latest in food and drink news, superior court judge candidates, and a spotlight on a mayoral and a supervisorial campaign

Lily Belli on Food: Too Good To Go’s foodie win-win; Scotts Valley, Felton farmers markets returning; NYT’s local faves

Lily Belli test-drives a national app that helps restaurants cut down on food waste and gets customers big discounts, notes the return of a pair of Santa Cruz Mountains farmers markets and relays the local attractions that got New York Times shout-outs recently.

Defense and immigration attorneys vying for Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge seat

By Hillary Ojeda

Immigration attorney Alisa Thomas and criminal defense attorney Bryan Hackett are competing for an open Santa Cruz County Superior Court judgeship in the June election. The candidates share a commitment to impartiality but differ in professional experience and their views on diversion.

Joy Schendledecker, embarking on second mayoral campaign, wants voters to have robust choices at the ballot

By Max Chun

Joy Schendledecker, having run for Santa Cruz mayor and city council in 2022 and 2024, respectively, says that the issues keep bringing her back to electoral politics. She wants voters to have a choice of candidates with diverse opinions when they cast their ballots.

‘It’s not about us versus them’: Supervisor candidate Elias Gonzales wants to build long-lasting relationships to create change in South County

By Tania Ortiz

District 4 Santa Cruz County supervisor candidate Elias Gonzales spoke with Lookout about his campaign and how he’ll approach issues including affordability, immigration and battery storage.

California blocks Trump administration from withholding homelessness funds

By Marisa Kendall / CalMatters

California for now has prevented the Trump administration from changing priorities in homelessness funding to favor temporary shelters rather than long-term housing.

OPINION: Drowning in plastic: How modern farming is reshaping the Pajaro Valley

By Woody Rehanek

Former farmworker, teacher and local activist Woody Rehanek is stunned when he looks out at the Pajaro Valley and considers the miles of plastic blanketing lush local farmland. He dubs our age “the Plasticene,” for the millions of pounds of farm plastics in use. Recycling, he writes, lags far behind the scale of the problem. Here, he traces how modern agriculture fuels a growing tide of local pollution and then points to a different future, one rooted in soil health, organic practices, and change underway at a few forward-looking companies.