Lookout PM: Three up-and-coming local bakers, Black Student Union presidents lead anti-hate speech efforts in local high schools, RTC seeks to avoid litigation with current rail operator

Welcome to Monday night’s Lookout PM.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Three bakers on the rise: The new faces reshaping Santa Cruz County’s bread and pastries

By Lily Belli

Across Santa Cruz County, three emerging bakers are gaining attention for distinctive breads and pastries that reflect their personal stories and creative ambitions. From a sold-out Watsonville sourdough shop to eye-catching Capitola confections and a reinvented downtown café pastry case, each is helping redefine the local baking scene.

Black Student Union presidents lead growth, anti-hate speech efforts

By Hillary Ojeda

Soquel High student Ivory Woodson and Santa Cruz High student Amara Anderson are co-leading the development of a public service announcement addressing racial slurs in schools, just part of the impact they’re making as leaders of their schools’ Black Student Unions.

Carmageddon: Deal on separating from Progressive Rail could keep RTC out of court; eyeing contract with new rail operator in South County

By Max Chun

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission will consider a separation agreement with Progressive Rail in order to avoid a court battle following the RTC’s move to become the common carrier on the rail line. It will also consider entering a new contract with a new rail operator for part of the rail line in South County that still serves freight customers.

Credit: Natasha Leverett / Lookout Santa Cruz

Watsonville ‘No Kings’ protest follows Santa Cruz’s as 15,000-plus rally in county opposing Trump administration

By Tania Ortiz

About 3,000 protestors filled the environs of Watsonville’s downtown plaza Saturday afternoon, following a march through the streets of Santa Cruz that brought out about 12,000 Trump opponents in the third round of “No Kings” rallies.

Santa Cruz chapter of Singing Resistance unites ‘No Kings’ rally in song

By Cecilia Schutz

A new grassroots movement called the Singing Resistance emerged Saturday at Santa Cruz’s third “No Kings” rally. It’s part of a national trend, spawned from protests in Minneapolis.

OPINION: My great-grandparents were incarcerated during World War II: We can’t look away today

By Skyla Tomine

UC Santa Cruz student Skyla Tomine is terrified by the language she hears in the news, including the term “enemy alien.” It sounds chillingly familiar to Executive Order 9066, which forced her great-grandparents and other Japanese Americans into internment camps. The harm, she writes, is lasting. Many people she knows insist they would have stepped in to help her grandparents and others. It’s time, she writes, to prove it.

Sign up for your Neighborhood Roundup. Sent every weekday morning, receive a neighborhood-specific roundup of the weather forecast, local news, crime reports, road closures, permit applications, road closures, restaurant inspections, upcoming events and more.

Best of Santa Cruz County events, March 30-April 2

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

Monday, Mar. 30

After School Kids Classes | 3 p.m. @ Santa Cruz Maker Studios | $36 to $50
Knitting at the Library @ Felton | 12 p.m. @ Felton Branch Library
Spa Day Passes | 11 a.m. @ La Bahia Hotel & Spa – Santa Cruz | $54 to $544
Contact Improv | 8 p.m. @ The 418 Project
March is Hummingbird Month at the UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden | 9 a.m. @ UCSC Arboretum | Free
Repeats once more on March 30
Queering Swing: A 4 | 7 p.m. @ London Nelson Community Center | $70 for the series
Monday Evening Drop-In Figure Drawing | 7 p.m. @ Santa Cruz Art League | $25
Drop-In Figure Drawing: 3-Hour Long Pose | 10 a.m. @ Santa Cruz Art League | $25