Greetings, all. It is Thursday, May 22 – another mostly sunny day around Santa Cruz County once morning fog burns off, with highs generally in the 70s.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest effort to push local jurisdictions to do more about homelessness is getting a mostly chilly reception from Santa Cruz County elected officials, Christopher Neely reports. Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, for one, pointed to recent declines in his city’s unhoused population and attributed Newsom’s moves to political ambition.
Another Newsom policy is under fire from local health officials, who tell Tania Ortiz that the governor’s proposal to freeze Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented residents will have dire impacts on health care around Santa Cruz County, particularly in area emergency rooms.
Some of those same officials have penned an op-ed in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, asking lawmakers to protect Medi-Cal from budget-cutting in Sacramento and Washington. “Reductions in Medi-Cal funding or enrollment, whether from federal actions or state-level budget decisions, would undermine the progress made in expanding health care access and would disproportionately harm our most vulnerable populations,” they write.
Wallace Baine – with a recommendation-packed Weekender newsletter just hours away – talked to comic novelist Alison Bechdel, whose latest work examines and spoofs progressives’ complicated relationship to money and wealth. Bechdel comes to the Rio next week.
To the headlines!
‘The governor is running for president’: Newsom’s homelessness critique finds few fans in Santa Cruz County
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants local jurisdictions to “take back the sidewalks” from homeless encampments; leaders in Santa Cruz County have largely pushed back against what they say is mostly talk from the state’s top political leader. More here from Christopher Neely.
California’s planned cuts to immigrant health care could overwhelm Santa Cruz County ERs, providers warn
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed freezing Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented residents ages 19 and older beginning next year, in addition to implementing other limits to coverage under the program. Santa Cruz County health care professionals say this will only discourage people from seeking preventative care and hurt the local health care system. Tania Ortiz reports.
DAILY DIGEST
If you’re in the long-weekend-can’t-get-here-soon-enough boat, you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on what’s still coming from Lookout this Thursday. As mentioned, that includes another hit of Wallace Baine, whose arts & entertainment-focused Weekender, replete with recommendations for things to do all over Santa Cruz County, is winging its way to inboxes within hours. Sign up here for that and all of Lookout’s other newsletters, plus breaking news alerts; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Bluesky are where you can follow our award-winning local coverage on social media. And you can take all of that coverage with you in the palm of your hand by downloading the Lookout Santa Cruz app in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
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Best of luck on whatever your Thursday brings – thanks for reading.
Will McCahill