Good morning, folks. It’s Monday, March 16, and Mother Nature is turning up the heat around Santa Cruz County, with a heat advisory kicking in at 10 a.m. as temperatures are forecast to hit the upper 80s closer to the bay and lower 90s in the Santa Cruz Mountains – and hotter as the week goes on.
I WANT TO … Become a Lookout member | Download the Lookout app | Browse latest news | Get other Lookout newsletters | Solve a puzzle | Find local events | Advertise
Hillary Ojeda has the latest on UC Santa Cruz’s budget woes, with the school’s deficit for the 2025-26 academic year now projected to hit $81 million, a little higher than previously forecast. Administrators outlined a planned $99 million in cuts at a faculty senate meeting last week aiming to eliminate the deficit.
Max Chun returns with his traffic-and-transit-focused Carmageddon column, this week looking at the county’s plans for continuing improvements along Soquel Drive. The second stage of a project that combines new design features to make the major east-to-west artery safer for cyclists and pedestrians and more efficient for Santa Cruz Metro buses is moving forward, though county supervisors need to find an additional $5 million.
Jana Marcus has a review of “Matt & Ben,” a comedy imagining how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck came to write “Good Will Hunting” that’s playing through Sunday at Actors’ Theatre in downtown Santa Cruz. The debut show from Good Egg Productions delivers a night of genuine laugh-out-loud comedy, she writes.
The day’s headlines also include Cassidy Beach’s story on efforts to boost the age diversity of the Chinook salmon that return to California’s rivers – let’s go.
Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here to receive Morning Lookout in your inbox every weekday.
UCSC projecting a slightly higher deficit, still has $99 million in cuts coming
Officials at UC Santa Cruz say the campus now projects an $81 million deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, slightly higher than the previously estimated $79 million, driven by rising costs, higher-than-expected student aid spending and lower revenue from international students and federal funding. Hillary Ojeda has the latest.
Carmageddon: County takes another step toward more improvements for Soquel Drive
The next phase of work on Soquel Drive, from State Park Drive to Freedom Boulevard, is moving forward despite a funding gap of more than $5 million. Details here from Max Chun.
DAILY DIGEST
Lookout’s coverage continues Monday and through the week, so make sure you’re staying abreast of it all. Download the Lookout Santa Cruz app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to bring our mix of news and views along on your smartphone, and sign up here for breaking news alerts via email and for all of Lookout’s other newsletters, all free. On social media? Connect with Lookout on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and/or Threads.
Our content isn’t possible without community support, so if you’re not already, please consider becoming a Lookout member.
Thanks for reading, and may your Monday be a smooth one.
Will McCahill