Top o’ the morning to you, readers. Wednesday, Sept. 30, is here, and the forecast is for another mostly sunny, warm day around Santa Cruz County, with temps hitting 90 in the mountains and upper 70s by the bay. As a reminder, a coastal flood advisory remains in effect until tomorrow afternoon.
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Another nationwide wave of Starbucks closures is hitting Santa Cruz County, Jessica M. Pasko reports in her weekly look at local business, with the coffee giant shuttering cafes in Soquel and Watsonville. Her column also touches on the impact of the ongoing closure of Watsonville Community Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
A candidate for a seat on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District governing board was recently arrested and faces multiple felony charges related to his candidacy filing paperwork, Hillary Ojeda reports. The charges against Curt Wilcox include false affidavit as perjury, voter registration violation and false declaration of candidacy.
Journalist Miriam Pawel is out with a new book about the University of California system, and tells Wallace Baine that, when she first started doing research for her book, she didn’t quite comprehend just how different each of the UC’s individual institutions were. Pawel will talk more about “California Dreams: The Making and Remaking of the University of California” at Bookshop Santa Cruz this week.
Wednesday is the last day for public comments about proposed no-take marine protected areas along the Santa Cruz County coast, and in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, County Supervisors Justin Cummings and Manu Koenig argue that the proposals are too broad, lack scientific justification and would unnecessarily restrict local fishing access.
Let’s get to those last-day-of-September headlines.
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This week in Santa Cruz County: Two more local Starbucks stores close; looking at the toll of ongoing closure of Watsonville Community Hospital’s NICU
Starbucks locations in Soquel and Watsonville are among the 250 nationwide affected by another wave of closures at the coffee giant, Jessica M. Pasko reports in her weekly look at Santa Cruz County business. Her column also covers the impact on expectant families of the closure of Watsonville Community Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and local names, numbers and dates to know – read it all here.
What does UC Santa Cruz have in common with the rest of the UC? A new book explores the system’s complicated history
What makes UC Santa Cruz different from the University of California’s nine other campuses? Journalist Miriam Pawel’s new book, “California Dreams,” traces the UC system’s tumultuous history — and explores how UCSC’s distinctive identity emerged from a vision that quickly collided with the upheavals of the 1960s. Read more from Wallace Baine ahead of Pawel’s appearance at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
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Thanks for reading – be good, and I’ll see you next time.
Will McCahill