Morning Lookout: Soul-searching in Scotts Valley; post-Roe ripples continue
Hello, friends. Today is Monday, June 27, and the weather forecast for Santa Cruz County is typically June-ish, highs in the 60s and 70s near the coast as the marine layer hangs around while sunny skies send temperatures into the upper 90s in the hills.
And up Highway 17 is where we’re headed first this morning, as Mark Conley takes a look at soul-searching in Scotts Valley, where a city council meeting turned heated earlier this month over a move to fly the Pride flag outside city hall. “This should’ve been really easy,” former mayor Derek Timm, who brought the motion forward, told Lookout. “That it wasn’t shows that we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Meanwhile, shock waves from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade continued to ripple through Santa Cruz County, and after a rally drew hundreds to the county courthouse Friday, Sunday saw women of color lead a Womb Sovereignty Walk through downtown.
Friday’s news was on Wallace Baine’s mind, too; he finds some solace in West Coast governors presenting a united front, but sees grief in how divided we’ve become from fellow Americans elsewhere in these polarized times.
And in a Community Voices op-ed, Planned Parenthood nurse practitioner Jessica Dieseldorff writes about our new reality, both for those coming to California to get abortions and for those of us here.
Let’s have a look at Monday’s headlines.
Soul-searching in Scotts Valley: Flag flap highlights ongoing community issues around diversity and inclusion
The flag controversy — possibly equating a gay pride flag with that of the NRA or KKK — simply reflected Santa Cruz’s least diverse city coming to grips with new realities. An active Facebook group, with 230 members, is pushing forward on diversity and equity while Scotts Valley leaders candidly confront their city’s issues. Mark Conley maps it out.
➤ PREVIOUSLY: ‘I’m the one who had to bury my son’: Scotts Valley mom fights for change in wake of bullied child’s suicide (Lookout)
Roe v. Wade: Santa Cruzans march again, with women of color leading the way
Seeking greater representation than they felt was present at Friday’s courthouse gathering to protest the Supreme Court rolling back abortion rights, organizers brought together a crowd of around 60 to the downtown clock tower Sunday. The group continued to London Nelson Community Center for speeches and meditation before marching to City Hall. Here’s what Kevin Painchaud saw and heard.
➤ FRIDAY: Roe v. Wade decision: 600-plus Santa Cruzans gather at courthouse to oppose SCOTUS ruling (Lookout)
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America after Roe: Is the West Coast ascendant as we wonder about the United in the U.S.A. this July Fourth?
The “West Coast offense” pact among the governors of California, Oregon and Washington offers up an immediate and meaningful sense of unity, Wallace Baine writes, and with red states engaged in an enormous and ultimately self-destructive act of “get off my property” purification, he’d much rather wave the flag of that new alliance than the Stars and Stripes. Read Wallace’s full Sunday column here.
➤ MORE: From Friday’s Santa Cruz rally to the Supreme Court’s decision and opinion from near and far, find all of Lookout’s coverage of the battle over abortion rightsOne Friday in the new, post-Roe America: How losing abortion access changes us all
Soon, the Santa Cruz area’s Planned Parenthood’s offices will see 250 to 500 more patients per week, out-of-state refugees pushed west by Friday’s Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. But those are only the ones who have the money and connections to get to us. Jessica Dieseldorff, a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in Watsonville, writes about our new reality, both for those coming to California and for those of us here. Read her Community Voices op-ed here.
➤ MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: Here’s how to submit a letter to the editor and op-ed guidelines
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- Director of Finance and Human Resources at Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay
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- Box Office Manager at Santa Cruz Shakespeare
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ICYMI: Summer guide to food trucks and pop-ups
Forty food trucks and pop-ups now dot the Santa Cruz County landscape. Call it global food tourism — within 30 minutes. Lily Belli has the scoop on where to find dumplings, Cubanos, yakitori, adobo, tapas and so much more.
➤ MORE FROM LILY: All of Lookout’s food and drink coverage in one spot
Construction well underway on new student housing at UC Santa Cruz
Construction well underway on new student housing at UC Santa Cruz
California tax relief: What’s in the deal
After weeks of talks, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders have agreed on a tax relief plan that includes refunds of as much as $1,050. It is part of a $300 billion budget deal announced Sunday night. Our partners at CalMatters have the details.
➤ STATEWATCH: The latest in California politics from Lookout’s content partners
Around the county ...
➤ Scotts Valley performing space inches closer to opening (The Press Banner)
➤ Spirit of Watsonville parade to return in full force (The Pajaronian)
➤ Local history: The Westside circus colony (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
➤ Bicyclist killed in crash on Highway 1 near San Gregorio State Beach (San Jose Mercury News)
➤ California’s largest private landowner closes all forestlands to public indefinitely (SFGate)
That’s what you need to know this Monday morning. Keep tabs on what Lookout has in store throughout the day by bookmarking our website and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — and visit our Lookout Newsletter & Text Center to sign up for our other newsletters and all the alerts we offer.
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Don’t let a case of the Mondays stop you — get out there and make it a good one.
Will McCahill
Lookout Santa Cruz
