Ahoy, readers. It’s Thursday, Feb. 26, and the Santa Cruz County forecast is for partly to mostly sunny skies and temperatures as warm as the upper 70s.
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Age and speed restrictions for Santa Cruz’s booming e-bike ridership were on the agenda at this week’s city council meeting, Max Chun reports, with councilmembers directing staff to include the city in existing pilot programs and to help support state legislation on minimum ridership age.
With University of California lecturers bargaining for a new contract, Hillary Ojeda reports on their role at UC Santa Cruz and across the system – despite teaching more than 30% of UC courses, many say they feel like an oppressed, second-class faculty.
A deadly strain of bird flu has struck northern elephant seal pups just 20 miles north of Santa Cruz at Año Nuevo State Park, Cassidy Beach reports — the first confirmed detection in the species and the first time the virus has been found in any marine mammal in California. The discovery has forced emergency closures at Año Nuevo and mobilized a rapid, multiagency response as scientists race to contain the outbreak.
And in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, Virginia Lieb, a resident of the Dominican Oaks retirement community in Live Oak, writes that a next-door development proposed under the state’s builder’s remedy law puts hundreds of older adults at risk. She worries that local officials are backing down under the threat of lawsuits from developers.
Let’s check out those Thursday headlines.
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UC lecturers are bargaining for a new contract. Who are they and what are they asking for?
Lecturers across the University of California system will begin bargaining March 5 for a new contract as they push for permanent job status, higher pay and stronger academic freedom protections, arguing that despite teaching more than 30% of undergraduate courses, they remain treated as second-class faculty. Hillary Ojeda digs in.
First bird flu cases confirmed in California’s northern elephant seals
Researchers have detected avian flu in a major breeding colony of northern elephant seal pups at Año Nuevo State Park. Swift detection has triggered an intense scientific response as researchers work to determine how the virus jumped species. Here’s more from Cassidy Beach.
DAILY DIGEST
Among what’s still coming from Lookout as Thursday moves along is our cheat sheet to eating well and going out around Santa Cruz County, a little package we call Weekender – one of the many free newsletters and breaking news alerts you can sign up for here. Download the Lookout Santa Cruz app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to outfit your smartphone with all of our award-winning local coverage, and stay current via social media by following Lookout on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and/or Threads.
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Enjoy your Thursday!
Will McCahill