What’s up, Santa Cruz County? It is Thursday, May 7, and morning fog is forecast to dissipate under sunny skies and temperatures as high as the lower 80s in the toastier mountain locales.
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Live Oak School District’s groundbreaking farm recently celebrated its first harvest year with a dinner in the fields, and Lily Belli was on hand to document what’s been a successful launch. The site grew 17 varieties of vegetables and herbs – a total of 4,800 pounds of produce – and welcomed more than 1,500 students from kindergarten through eighth grade, and will host free camps for district students this summer.
A pair of candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for seats on Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s governing board, Hillary Ojeda reports. Mads Realmuto is using his advocacy for his daughter with special needs as a springboard, while Pajaro Valley High senior Eriberto Estrada aims to improve the lot of students and staff, including his mother, a PVUSD elementary school teacher.
The coming Democratic primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives is the topic in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, with activist Unhae Langis writing that in a time of rising cost of living and escalating war spending abroad, Santa Cruz County voters who don’t support military spending would be better served by picking challenger Sean Dougherty over incumbent Rep. Jimmy Panetta.
Speaking of primary voting, the latest Lookout candidate forum of this election season happens Thursday evening at Hotel Paradox in Santa Cruz and will feature mayoral candidates Ryan Coonerty, Gillian Greensite, Chris Krohn, Ami Chen Mills and Joy Schendledecker; the candidates for Santa Cruz City Council District 4, incumbent Scott Newsome and challenger Hector Marin; and the candidates in District 6, incumbent Renee Golder and challenger Gabriella Noack. Get more information and RSVP for free here.
Now, let’s get to the day’s headlines.
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From field to lunch tray: Live Oak’s thriving school farm grows thousands of pounds of produce for students
Live Oak School District celebrated the first full harvest year of its campus farm, which produced 4,800 pounds of organic fruits, vegetables and herbs used in school meals and educational programs across seven schools. The project, built on a former baseball field, combines nutrition, hands-on learning and food access, with students helping prepare fresh meals while the farm also donates surplus produce to local families. Lily Belli has the story.
A parent and a high school senior are running for Pajaro Valley school board
Parent advocate Mads Realmuto and graduating Pajaro Valley High senior Eriberto Estrada have announced campaigns for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board, challenging incumbents Misty Navarro and Daniel Dodge Jr., respectively, in the November election. More here from Hillary Ojeda.
DAILY DIGEST
If your thoughts might be straying toward the end of the workweek, not only are you not alone, but Lookout also has a newsletter for that. Hitting inboxes later today, Weekender is your cheat sheet to going out and eating well all over Santa Cruz County, one of the many free newsletters and breaking news alerts you can sign up for here. For breaking news notifications and games in addition to all of our local coverage, download the Lookout Santa Cruz app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and give Lookout a follow on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and/or Threads to stay current via social media.
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Be good out there – thank you for reading.
Will McCahill