Morning Lookout: Rallying around Ráine, record-breaking wildfires

By Tulsi Kamath

Source: Lookout Santa Cruz

Good Morning! It’s Monday, July 12 and it will be a mild day with intermittent clouds and a high of 73. However, it will be on the warmer side elsewhere, the National Weather Service warns.

Meanwhile, wildfires rage on in other parts of the state in what is turning out to be a record year — with twice as many acres burned since the start of this year than for the same time period last year. Now with hot and dry climates, the peak danger is back and if you haven’t yet, you should make sure you and your family are prepared for the worst in case it happens. To that end, we have built a comprehensive and extensive wildfire resource center that has everything you need to be ready.

To your headlines:

A surf tribe rallies for Ráine: ‘When your baby is diagnosed with cancer, you need extra family’

Ráine Huszar has battled her way under more closeout waves than any other 1-year-old you know.

Before she had even turned 1, Ráine Huszar had undergone 14 rounds of chemotherapy, each round lasting three weeks, and tallied more than 16 hospital admissions. “Sharing her story, our story, has brought a lot of awareness to childhood cancer,” her mother said. Now, a slice of the Santa Cruz surf community has embraced the family’s plight by dedicating all proceeds from the Sharks Cove Surf Classic as a fundraiser for Ráine. Read more here.

Checking in with Humble Sea about a Felton timetable ... and why they’re purchasing another brewery

(Courtesy of Humble Sea Brewing Co. )

A week after opening their new Pacifica taproom up Highway 1, Humble Sea’s owners are inching closer to a Cremer House opening in their hometown and getting set to purchase the former site of Uncommon Brewers on River Street in Santa Cruz. Read more here.

Ready to be jazzed once again? Iconic Kuumbwa poised to welcome audiences back in September

Tim Jackson, the Kuumbwa’s co-founder and executive director.

The Kuumbwa Jazz Center will have been dark for a solid year and a half in September, but the longest pause — by far — in Kuumbwa’s 45-year history is finally coming to an end. On Sept. 13, the nonprofit jazz club will welcome celebrated saxophonist Joshua Redman, a longtime regular at Kuumbwa, to do two shows. And yes, it will be for a paying, in-person audience. Read more here.

‘No Snapchat filter’ can do this: Our resident caricature artist walks you through life at the Boardwalk

Where the artistry happens at the Boardwalk. Visiting artist Candy Briones hard at work.

Lookout’s Laurel Bushman wasn’t sure how her return to drawing random humans along Main Beach would go. Now she knows — and at least there are relationships and learning lessons that she will take with her on her journey into the writing world. Read her personal essay on being a caricature artist at the Boardwalk during an odd summer.

Around the state...

California hit by record-breaking fire destruction: ‘Climate change is real, it’s bad’: California is off to another record-breaking year of wildfires as the state enters its most dangerous months, with extreme heat and dry terrain creating the conditions for rapid spread. One thing everyone agrees on is that climate change is a factor that cannot be ignored. “The exceptional fire weather this year and in recent years does not represent random bad luck,” said a Syracuse University professor who specializes in the study of wildfire distribution. Read more here.

A screenshot of one of Caitlyn Jenner's campaign ads in her race against Gov. Gavin Newsom

Newsom faces court showdown over recall as Caitlyn Jenner is grilled over her record: The recall campaign targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom heated up Friday in California’s state capital, with a courtroom showdown to determine whether the governor can identify himself as a Democrat on the ballot and gubernatorial hopeful Caitlyn Jenner fielding pointed questions at her first full-fledged news conference. The judge is expected to issue his ruling today. Read more here.

It’s not the San Andreas, but fault system that produced 6.0 quake poses big dangers: The magnitude 6.0 earthquake that rattled parts of Northern California and the Bay Area last week was a reminder that the Sierra Nevada area at the epicenter of the quake is capable of a destructive temblor and is seismically active. Read more here.

Supreme Court decision could mean increase in labor trafficking of farmworkers: In June of 2018, two Monterey County site inspectors visited a Salinas cannabis farm, where they encountered a small group of farmworkers who they suspected had been trafficked. It soon became clear the dozen or so Hmong farmworkers were living in substandard housing. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on private property rights has human trafficking experts worried that trafficked laborers will now be left without anyone looking out for them. Read more here.

Around the county...

UC Santa Cruz graduates establishing homeless shelter for students (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

CA approves money for wildlife crossings, trails in Santa Cruz Mountains (KSBW-TV)

Santa Cruz County Fair plans full return (The Pajaronian)

That’s it for today. If you’re enjoying our coverage, please tell your family and friends about our Lookout Newsletter & Text Center, where they can sign up for all the newsletters and alerts we offer. You can also keep tabs on everything we’re publishing through the day by bookmarking our website and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Have a great day!

Tulsi Kamath
Managing Editor