After a year of heavy rainfall, Boulder Creek faces a paradoxical water crisis. Despite abundant natural resources, private utility Big Basin Water Company is grappling with infrastructure failures traced back to the 2020 CZU fire, leaving faucets dry and costing some residents thousands of dollars.
Civic Life
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The Shapers: Ceil Cirillo’s get-it-done talents and people skills helped form much of the post-earthquake Santa Cruz we know today
In the debut of Lookout’s series The Shapers, profiles of the people who have shaped and continue to shape Santa Cruz County’s unique culture and spirit, Wallace Baine focuses on Ceil Cirillo, who not only was a driving force behind rebuilding downtown Santa Cruz but also threw her weight behind the landmark Tannery Arts Center.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Who are the ‘Shapers’ of life as we know it in Santa Cruz County?
Wallace Baine introduces a new Lookout series on highly influential and consequential people who have made an outsized impact in Santa Cruz County. Come back Sunday for the first installment of “The Shapers,” and send us your nominees.
Posted inLatest News
‘They’re clearing out the homeless people’: San Francisco gets ready for arrival of world leaders
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are to meet next week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. San Francisco will be in the spotlight.
Posted inEducation
UCSC students, supporters block campus entrance in Palestine protest
A protest called “Shut it down for Palestine” saw more than 300 demonstrators block the UC Santa Cruz campus entrance Thursday morning into the afternoon.
Posted inEnvironment
Desperate for water, a desert city hopes to build a pipeline to the California Aqueduct
Plans to build a $200 million water pipeline across the Mojave Desert to supply the city of Ridgecrest are angering environmentalists, farmers and miners.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Despite fears, election day in Shasta County comes off with little conflict
Protesters mostly stayed away from the vote count by Registrar-Recorder Cathy Darling Allen, who had vowed to follow state law and use voting machines.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘It’s a different world and a different political landscape here without Glen Schaller’
Longtime labor and voting champion and community activist Glen Schaller died unexpectedly last week, three days shy of his 67th birthday. Political figures throughout the region say the impact of his work is reflected every day in the lives of people and policies of Santa Cruz County.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter has too many pets and too little staff; we need action now
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter population is exploding with mistreated, unwanted, abused and abandoned pets and too few staff members and volunteers to care for them, volunteers and staff write. Most of the issues, they say, stem from bad shelter management and inaction. Volunteers and staff, united here under their union, insist they are burned out and frustrated by poor leadership choices. They have created a petition to get action for themselves and the animals in their care.
Posted inLatest News
‘Prompt action’ on fire insurance has yet to help California homeowners
While state regulators craft new regulations and consult with the insurance industry, many Californians are paying extra-high premiums — or going without insurance entirely.