Laurie Hilderbrand, a welding teacher from Soquel, has been named a winner of the 2024 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, which comes with $15,000 prize for her and $35,000 for her program at Soquel High.
briefs
Posted inLatest News
Stretch of southbound Highway 1 will close Monday night
Southbound Highway 1 will close at Park Avenue from 11 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, to 6 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, to accommodate work on north and southbound auxiliary lanes and bus-on-shoulder improvements between the Bay Avenue/Porter Street and State Park Drive interchanges.
Posted inLatest News
Two men killed in Watsonville shooting
Two 21-year-old men from Santa Cruz County died from gunshot wounds early Friday morning on the 700 block of Carlton Road just outside Watsonville.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz police charge two with vehicle theft, string of burglaries
The Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) has arrested two people and charged them with stealing a vehicle and carrying out a string of commercial burglaries in Santa Cruz in September. Police say they identified the two suspects, Gerardo Menchaca and Michelle Grieb, both 38, through surveillance video when they responded to a Sept. 28 report of vehicle theft on Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz County launches dashboard to track damaged roads
Santa Cruz County’s Department of Community Development & Infrastructure has launched a new dashboard for tracking and seeing the progress of repairs to county-maintained roads that have been damaged by severe storms over the past nine years.
Posted inEducation
Seniors will rally against Live Oak school bond issue
Representatives from local seniors organizations are rallying Thursday afternoon in Live Oak against a school district bond measure that would fund the development of workforce housing. They fear it will displace senior services. Live Oak School District is asking voters to approve the $45 million bond measure – Measure N – so it can develop 14 to 25 units of housing for district staff.
Posted inCapitola & Soquel
Capitola seeks ideas for strategic plan at community forum Tuesday
The City of Capitola will ask residents to weigh in on a strategic plan for the community at a public forum from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, in the Community Room at Capitola City Hall. City officials said they hope residents will “share their ideas for how they want Capitola to look and feel five years from now.” In addition to the in-person forum, the city is asking residents to complete an online survey, conducting stakeholder interviews, collecting data and asking residents to submit ideas online.
Posted inLatest News
Parents warned after man charged with sex assault of minors he met on social media
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning Monday for local guardians and parents of minors to be aware of the dangers of social media after they arrested a 35-year-old Watsonville resident earlier this month on charges related to the sex assault of minors.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta endorses ‘yes’ on Measure Q climate impact tax
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta has become the latest elected official to throw his weight behind Santa Cruz County’s Measure Q. The ballot measure would introduce a parcel tax of $87 to be collected annually and distributed across the county for a wide range of projects, from managing public lands and reducing wildfire risks to protecting drinking water sources.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
First funds from opioid settlement will go to Santa Cruz County nonprofits
The Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency’s Behavioral Health Division and Community Foundation Santa Cruz County have announced the recipients of the first $810,000 of the $28 million that will flow into the county over the next 18 years as a result of a lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers and pharmacies for their roles in the ongoing opioid addiction epidemic.