Mornin’! Thursday, Feb. 5, is here, bringing more unseasonably warm temperatures, with 80 again possible in some parts of Santa Cruz County.
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A week after the partial reopening of the Murray Street Bridge, Lillian Schrock-Clevenger checked in on how businesses on either side of the key Santa Cruz connector are feeling. One harbor spot has seen more customers, Lillian found, but it’s still slow in Seabright. “All of the businesses around here are suffering,” one Seabright Avenue owner said. “We’re hanging on by a thread.”
Max Chun has an update from the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, where fixes from the 2024 collapse are almost done. About 40 feet of the section that was swept away is being restored, including a new sea lion viewing area.
With the Super Bowl happening this weekend over the hill, a variety of Santa Cruz County businesses are gearing up. From Corralitos Market & Sausage Co. to Pizza My Heart, Laughing Monk Brewing and more, Lily Belli found no shortage of local purveyors going all-in. And Watsonville Municipal Airport is getting a slice of all the inbound plane traffic, Tania Ortiz reports; it’s providing 24-hour operations, security and fueling services to meet the anticipated influx of visitors.
Pesticides in the Pajaro Valley are the topic in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, with retired teacher Woody Rehanek writing that he believes Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s unusually high rates of special needs students are linked to decades of pesticide exposure near schools and homes – and calling on local berry growers to chip in to avert big upcoming layoffs of district educators who support that student population.
The Thursday headlines also include efforts at a downtown Santa Cruz construction site to rescue a cat that might be trapped in a drain system – let’s take a look.
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Despite partial Murray Street Bridge reopening, businesses continue to hurt
H&H Fresh Fish Co. in the Santa Cruz Harbor has seen an uptick in customers since the city reopened the Murray Street Bridge to eastbound traffic last week. But businesses on the west side of the bridge continue to suffer almost a year into the three-year construction project, and say they’ve lost faith that the city is listening. Here’s what Lillian Schrock-Clevenger found.
Local kickoff: Santa Cruz County food businesses cash in on nearby Super Bowl
Santa Cruz County butchers, pizzerias and breweries are bracing for a busy Sunday as fans stock up for home watch parties for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara. From thousands of pounds of handmade sausage to a flurry of last-minute pizza orders, local food makers say football and sunny weather are a reliable recipe for a sales surge. Lily Belli sets the table.
DAILY DIGEST
Another busy morning, and no, Lookout isn’t slowing down. Still out there is Weekender, our cheat sheet to eating well and going out this weekend in Santa Cruz County – one of the many free newsletters and breaking news alert you can sign up for here. You can scoop up all of our award-winning local coverage, plus breaking news notifications, games and more, by downloading the Lookout Santa Cruz app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and get our mix of news and views in your social media feed by following Lookout on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
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Thank you for reading – be good, and I’ll catch you on the flip side.
Will McCahill