Hello, one and all. It is Tuesday, April 29, and after a foggy start, the forecast calls for a mostly sunny day around Santa Cruz County, with 80 degrees possible in the warmest mountain spots.
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Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s debate over its ethnic studies curriculum is drawing attention from Santa Cruz County’s top education official, Hillary Ojeda reports. In a letter to PVUSD’s governing board, Superintendent Faris Sabbah wrote that trustees “appeared to invoke anti-Semitic tropes” during a contentious meeting earlier this month.
UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive has joined hundreds of higher education leaders in signing a group statement opposing Trump administration policies, Max Chun reports. The move follows months of executive orders attempting to exert increasing control over universities and strip away funding.
Wallace Baine introduces us to Olive D. Wilson, a second-year student at Santa Cruz High School who has self-published two novels and is aiming to get a third on shelves by this summer. Wilson’s burgeoning writing career grew out of something all too real for contemporary teens – the pressure to succeed.
And in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, a former employee of Janus of Santa Cruz writes that, while the organization does a great job treating addiction, the same can’t be said of caring for its employees. Holly Rowan Chandler cites an enormous pay gap between Janus’ CEO and staff on the front lines.
Plenty more in the Tuesday headlines, including May Day protests around the county, overnight closures coming on Highway 1 and a recall for a local apple juice giant – please, read on.
County superintendent of schools warns PVUSD of ‘antisemitic tropes’ during ethnic studies debate
Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah recently wrote a letter to Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s governing board, warning the trustees about his concerns that trustees’ comments “appeared to invoke anti-Semitic tropes” and about violations of laws governing the board’s actions. Here’s more from Hillary Ojeda.
Olive Wilson’s plan? To publish a trilogy of novels, all before her junior year in high school
Santa Cruz High sophomore Olive D. Wilson has self-published two novels with a third on the way. The former basketball star writes fantasy novels about teens facing intense societal pressures. Wallace Baine makes introductions.
DAILY DIGEST
Tuesday’s coming into view, so keep it tuned to Lookout as we cover it all. Coming a little bit later is the latest in Santa Cruz County food & drink news, in the form of Lily Belli on Food – just one of the many newsletters and breaking news alerts you can sign up for here. Connect with Lookout on social media to keep up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Bluesky, and hit the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to download the Lookout Santa Cruz app and take our award-winning local coverage along wherever your Tuesday takes you.
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Enjoy your Tuesday, and thanks as always for reading.
Will McCahill