Morning Lookout: Scotts Valley layoffs, transcommunality at Soledad prison and a lecturer’s winding path

Hello again! It’s Monday, April 10, and the forecast calls for sunny skies around Santa Cruz County, with highs from the upper 60s into the mid-70s.

If you’d prefer a solo dip in the Lookout pool as we start a new week, dive on in.
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We go first to Scotts Valley, where sporting goods company Vista Outdoor is closing the facility that’s been home to Bell Sports and Santa Cruz-founded Giro Sport Design. As Max Chun reports, it’s part of an effort to consolidate the company’s brands under one roof in Irvine, and one that comes with an unclear number of local layoffs.

Campus is the next stop, for a pair of stories. Kaya Henkes-Power is along with the latest in our How I Got My Job series, charting an unusual path to higher education for UC Santa Cruz creative-writing lecturer Steve Coulter. Ahead of a Tuesday lecture, meanwhile, Hillary Ojeda talks with emeritus professor John Brown Childs about his concept of transcommunality and how he has brought it to men incarcerated in Soledad.

The Monday headlines also include Wallace Baine on Santa Cruz’s place in the cosmos and, in our Community Voices opinion section, a piece about what might happen if we brought the Founding Fathers forward in time to rule on how we’re applying the Second Amendment. Shall we have a look?

Vista Outdoor to lay off workers, close Bell/Giro facility in Scotts Valley

(Via Vista Outdoor)

Cycling-focused Giro and Bell Sports are among the brands being consolidated under Vista’s outdoor sporting goods operation at Fox Racing headquarters in Irvine. The number of local layoffs is unclear, though one employee wrote on LinkedIn that she was among “several hundred” affected. Max Chun has details.

➤ HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Make your voice heard with a letter to the editor and read what Santa Cruzans are saying

UCSC creative writing lecturer Steve Coulter charted unconventional path to academia

(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

Steve Coulter, UC Santa Cruz creative writing continuing lecturer, spoke with Lookout about what it’s like being a lecturer, busking in Europe and what the future holds for writing with the advent of ChatGPT. Read what he told Kaya Henkes-Power for our How I Got My Job series.

➤ HOW I GOT MY JOB: Plumbing to tech, cider to industrial design, find the whole series here

Much to digest as we launch into a new workweek, and there’s more coming: Stay tuned for the next edition of In the Public Interest, Christopher Neely’s weekly newsletter covering Santa Cruz County politics and policy. You can get that sent directly to you by subscribing here, and that link will also get your signed up for our other newsletters, plus breaking news alerts via email and text. Another great way to keep tabs? Why, follow Lookout on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, of course.

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Now get out there and attack this Monday with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind!