Good morning, everyone! Monday, Dec. 8, is here, ushering in what’s looking like a pleasant week indeed around Santa Cruz County, with the forecast calling for mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s.
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Max Chun starts us off with his weekly Carmageddon column, taking a look at what comes next after the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission changed course on the Coastal Rail Trail with a vote to build three segments over the existing railroad tracks. Planners must now work with the state and with the Minnesota company that operates the rail line.
With Pajaro Valley Unified School District contemplating major staff cuts as it faces a $15.3 million budget deficit, educators and families with children in special education say layoffs would be particularly painful. “It’s so scary to me,” the dad of a Bradley Elementary first grader told Hillary Ojeda, “because already the district is not delivering enough services.”
Some local veterans are pushing for the Santa Cruz County Veterans Services Office to be made an independent agency, Mat Weir reports, and taken out of the county’s Human Services Department. “There’s been a diminishing of outreach and the availability of resources,” said one veteran as the group prepares both to meet with the county’s executive officer and to speak at this week’s meeting of the county board of supervisors.
The Monday headlines also include Wallace Baine’s story on just what The Catalyst – now proposed as the site of a new mixed-use downtown development – has meant to Santa Cruz’s music scene and various subcultures over the years … onward!
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Carmageddon: After major reversal on Coastal Rail Trail segments, what comes next?
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s decision to shift toward building three segments of the Coastal Rail Trail over the tracks means that the RTC and planners working on the project have their work cut out for them, both at the state level and with the other parties involved with the rail line. Read more from Max Chun.
PVUSD family, special education staff say proposed cuts will ‘devastate’ most vulnerable students
Parents and educators in Pajaro Valley Unified School District warn that proposed cuts to more than 40 special education positions will severely undermine services for the district’s most vulnerable students, who they say are already under-supported. District officials cite declining enrollment and the loss of pandemic-era funding, but families like the Realmutos fear the reductions will strip away legally required services and destabilize students who rely on consistent, specialized care. Hillary Ojeda reports.
DAILY DIGEST
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Thanks for reading, and may your Monday be a smooth one.
Will McCahill