Good morning, readers. It is Monday, Dec. 22, and the Santa Cruz County forecast is for on-and-off rain and lingering fog in some spots – with a stronger, windier system heading our way.
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Wallace Baine kicks off our Newsmakers 2025 series, checking in with locals who’ve made headlines over the past year. He traces Santa Cruzan Jackie Rogoff’s journey from picking up trivia as a pandemic hobby to a winning appearance on long-running TV game show “Jeopardy!”
Max Chun has his Monday Carmageddon look at local traffic and transit, this week reporting that the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission wants the public to weigh in on the agency’s long-term planning vision for future projects and guide for transportation funding decisions as far as 25 years down the road.
Lookout photojournalist Kevin Painchaud went under the big top in the Capitola Mall parking lot to capture this year’s show by the Flynn Creek Circus, with plenty of the high-flying acrobatics that are the Mendocino-based troupe’s calling card.
The Monday headlines also include Wallace Baine announcing his retirement, and you can read and hear it in his own words below. Let’s take a spin through it all.
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Newsmakers 2025: Jackie Rogoff’s encounter with fleeting ‘Jeopardy!’ fame
Santa Cruz’s Jackie Rogoff embarked on a “Jeopardy!” journey, never expecting she might win. But she did. Wallace Baine has her story in the debut of our Newsmakers 2025 series.
Carmageddon: RTC seeking public input on long-term regional plan
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is asking for public input on priorities for its draft 2050 regional transportation plan for the county before it heads to a public hearing at the commission’s January meeting. Meanwhile, county public health received state funding for a variety of traffic safety programs. More here from Max Chun.
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Thank you for reading – have an excellent Monday.
Will McCahill