Aloha, Lookout friends. It is Monday, July 21, and the weather week around Santa Cruz County begins much the way the previous one ended – morning marine layer giving way to mostly sunny skies, highs in the 60s and 70s.
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The completion of the “Whale Bridge” freeway overcrossing at Chanticleer Avenue marks the end of the current phase of Highway 1 redevelopment, Max Chun reports in his weekly Carmageddon feature. The next phases, which could last into the 2030s, include a new overcrossing and bridge work in Aptos.
The cancellation of a contract that brought local nonprofit Barrios Unidos to Pajaro Valley High School for mentorship has parents and teachers up in arms, Hillary Ojeda reports. Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials say the decision to terminate the contract was due to inadequate outcomes; Barrios Unidos supporters disagree and say the program was helping struggling students.
Carly Heltzel puts the spotlight on incoming Soquel High senior Ryder Walding, who’s headed to Hawaii this week to compete in a grueling 32-mile paddleboard race between the islands of Molokai and Oahu. “Molokai 2 Oahu, that’s like the Super Bowl of paddling,” says one local paddler. “To be honest, it’s kind of a crazy endeavor. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
The Monday headlines also include Wallace Baine writing on how local public media are facing big funding cuts – to those headlines we go.
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Carmageddon: First phase of Highway 1 redevelopment complete; next phases likely to carry into 2030s
The completion of the “Whale Bridge” at Chanticleer Avenue is the final piece of the first phase of the Highway 1 expansion project, and the next two phases will stretch well into the future. Max Chun scopes it all out.
At 17, Soquel High senior is taking on the ‘Mount Everest of paddling’ across Hawaii’s channel of bones
Ryder Walding, 17, will compete in the prone paddling world championships this Sunday. After a year of intense training, he aims to conquer one of the sport’s most grueling races: a 32-mile paddle from Molokai to Oahu in Hawaii. Carly Heltzel has the story.
DAILY DIGEST
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Have a good Monday, one and all – thanks for reading.
Will McCahill