Good morning! It is Tuesday, Nov. 10 – another warm one around Santa Cruz County, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures as high as the lower 80s in the toastiest mountain spots. A coastal flood advisory remains in effect until noon.
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With Thanksgiving getting closer in the window, Lily Belli put Lookout staffers to the task of taste-testing pumpkin pies from 11 major local bakeries and grocery stores. Appearance, crust, filling and flavor were all taken into consideration, and there were a pair of clear winners.
Another vote-count update is expected around 4 p.m. Tuesday from the Santa Cruz County Elections Department, with Hillary Ojeda reporting that about 8,558 ballots remain to be processed, and County Clerk Tricia Webber aims to add around 5,000 to the total today. We’ll be updating all our local Election 2026 coverage, which you can read for free here.
In Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, Kevin Norton writes about the spate of deaths in recent years on Santa Cruz County’s North Coast – where a 24-year-old woman went missing off Panther State Beach on Sunday – and how they’ve come despite years of warnings that growing crowds were overwhelming the area’s limited infrastructure and public services. “Santa Cruz County has two separate multiagency groups working on coastal access and safety,” he writes. “Yet, years of coordination have yet to produce a clear answer to a basic question: Who is responsible for making the North Coast safer?”
Before the headlines, another set of your local favorites on the Lookout List:
⭐ When you’re looking for the best of local Community & Events, like we were with this year’s Lookout List category, you run into the festivals and fairs celebrating wine, food, art and more. But you also celebrate the volunteer opportunities that keeps Santa Cruz County connected, even when there isn’t a party to look forward to.
➡️ Explore the winners in our Community & Events categories here, and keep an eye out as we announce our winners all week long.
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Lookout tasted 11 pumpkin pies in Santa Cruz County. These two are the best.
Lookout staffers taste-tested pumpkin pies from 11 Santa Cruz County bakeries and grocery stores, evaluating appearance, crust, filling and flavor to find the best options for Thanksgiving. In the end, two pies — one from a bakery and one available at many markets — stood apart. Get the results from Lily Belli.
OPINION: Years of warnings, mounting deaths: Who’s responsible for Santa Cruz’s North Coast?
At least 25 people have died along Santa Cruz County’s North Coast since 2021, including three women at Panther Beach this year. Meanwhile, 2026 witnessed steady growth for the local tourism industry. Kevin Norton writes that government officials warned of the dangers on the North Coast five years ago, and numerous agencies and organizations have worked through two separate groups to address coastal access and safety. Yet, people continue to die or find themselves in distress, and California State Parks says it still lacks the resources to keep pace with growing crowds. With so many agencies involved, Norton wonders, who’s accountable for preventing the next tragedy? Read his Community Voices op-ed here.
DAILY DIGEST
Plenty on tap today from Lookout, and plenty of ways you can stay current. We’ve got breaking news alerts via email – just the thing for the latest on Santa Cruz County races after this afternoon’s update from the county clerk – and a host of other newsletters, such as Lily Belli on Food, coming later today … all free when you sign up here. Breaking news notifications are just one great feature of the Lookout Santa Cruz app – get all of our local coverage, games and more when you download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Plenty is happening on our social media channels, too – find Lookout on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
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Have a super Tuesday – thank you for reading.
Will McCahill