Hello! It is Friday, May 8, and after another cloudy morning, it should be mostly sunny and pleasant around Santa Cruz County, with highs in the 70s. Much the same, if slightly warmer, through the weekend.
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Thursday evening saw all the candidates for Santa Cruz mayor and the District 4 and District 6 city council seats together in one room for a Lookout forum, and Max Chun has our coverage from Hotel Paradox. Development was of course a major topic, as were homelessness and city budget issues.
With the safety of battery energy storage systems of much local concern between last year’s fire in Moss Landing and a project proposed for outside Watsonville, Rep. Jimmy Panetta is set to introduce legislation to get federal funds behind establishing safeguards, Tania Ortiz reports. The bill would would direct the Department of Energy to explore what causes battery storage systems to fail, and to recommend preventative measures to reduce the risk of fires like the one that erupted at Moss Landing.
The Friday headlines also include your cheat sheet to going out and eating well this Mother’s Day weekend – keep on scrollin’.
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Santa Cruz candidates discuss the city’s most pressing issues in last forum before primary
Homelessness, development, hurdles to local business and the city’s budget were among the topics as candidates for Santa Cruz mayor and city council Districts 4 and 6 joined a Lookout forum on Thursday ahead of the June 2 primary election. Here’s what Max Chun saw and heard.
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Panetta to introduce new legislation aimed at ensuring battery storage systems are safer
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta is pushing new legislation that would require the federal government to conduct research on the safety of battery storage systems in order to create proper safeguards. Details here from Tania Ortiz.
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Thanks for reading, today and all week – have an excellent Friday, and a safe, relaxing weekend beyond.
Will McCahill