LOOKOUT PM: UCSC gender rankings; Belli on food
Happy Tuesday evening, everybody. The Lookout crew hopes your Valentine’s Day was a good and peaceful one, filled with the love of partners and/or friends.
Our mini-heatwave is over, and the weather is beginning to feel a bit more like mid-February. But it’s still beautiful out there.
Ahh... With that, let’s get to your headlines.
UC Santa Cruz first in U.S. for female leadership
Top of the class: With more than a third of the campus’ deans and tenured professors being female, UC Santa Cruz — and its female chancellor, Cynthia Larive — leads the nation in gender diversity, according to a new ranking. Lookout’s Hillary Ojeda has the details here.
➤ More UCSC news: Appellate court ruling a victory for UCSC in Student Housing West project, but two lawsuits ongoing
Masks staying on at Gayle’s, Rosie McCann’s to reopen, and Marco’s seltzer addiction
Lily Belli on Food: California is lifting its universal mask mandate, but not all restaurants are ready to say goodbye to face coverings. The current mandate was put in place on Dec. 15 in response to the surging Omicron variant, and was originally set to expire in January before being extended another month. Get more details on the food and drink scene here.
➤ More from Lily: All of her columns in one place.
➤ SERVING UP HOT, NEW JOBS: See all the most recent listings here.
Newsom nominates first Latina to California Supreme Court
High court pick: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday nominated to the state Supreme Court a San Diego appeals court justice who, if confirmed, would be the first Latina to serve on California’s highest court. Colleagues have praised Guerrero for her on-the-job dedication — so much so that she once finished a criminal hearing brief while in labor and en route to the hospital. Read more from our partners at the LA Times here.
Court could force UC Berkeley to cut 3,000 undergraduate seats, freeze enrollment
Go (away) Bears?: UC Berkeley could be forced to slash its incoming undergraduate class by one-third, or 3,050 seats, and forgo $57 million in lost tuition. The court-imposed freeze could have implications for other UC campuses, including UC Santa Cruz, although at Berkeley, the campus exceeded its own projected enrollment cap, a fact that might set it apart. See more of the details here.
LEARN MORE ABOUT STUDENT ACCESS
ICYMI: K-Squid proving that radio still has staying power
Still broadcasting: The tide seemed to be going out on radio when KSQD launched at 90.7 FM in 2019, amid growing audiences for Spotify and its ilk, but the community-focused station with distinctly local voices has proved Wallace Baine’s skepticism wrong and carved out a niche in Santa Cruz. See his thoughts here.
➤ More Wallace: Icons of Santa Cruz: The centurion of West Cliff Drive
Avocado spat with Mexico puts California farmers in spotlight
Cross-boarder concerns: A security spat between the United States and Mexico that threatens the avocado supply in the U.S. is putting the spotlight on California farmers, a major U.S. supplier of the fruit. The U.S. on Friday suspended all avocado imports from Michoacán, the only Mexican state approved for avocado exports, after a U.S. plant inspector there received a threatening phone call. More details here.
More from here & elsewhere
➤ Hotel, cup taxes to become ballot measures in Santa Cruz County (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
➤ As state efforts stumble, Santa Clara County and San Jose eye regulations on nitrous oxide (The Mercury News)
➤ SF District Attorney drops case against suspect allegedly linked to a property crime from rape exam DNA (San Francisco Chronicle)
➤ Monterey County deputies investigate first murder of the year (KSBW)
And that’s the way it was for this Tuesday night. See you back tomorrow.
Dan Evans
Executive Editor
