A Feb. 3 meeting of the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission is likely to be heated. Why? Commissioners are slated to discuss foreclosing the Felton line for freight trains — which the line hasn’t been used for in years — as a way of moving a rail-trail plan forward. But the owners of the line, Roaring Camp Railroads, are against this idea and are rallying supporters to stop it.
Santa Cruz
Posted inLatest News
What’s railbanking, and why are Santa Cruz transit experts discussing it?
The Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission’s meeting Feb. 3 will include an informational agenda item dealing with “railbanking” and “adverse abandonment” of the Felton Line. What do these terms mean and how will they affect the future of transit and trails in the county?
Posted inCOVID 2022
COVID-19 updates in Santa Cruz County: Infections, hospitalizations, deaths and demographic data
New Leaf Community Markets brand manager Lindsay Gizdich said the store is moving from Pacific Avenue in order to have…
Posted inCity Life
BOLO Best Bets: Get all jazzed up as the calendar heads to February
Your place to go for things to do in Santa Cruz County.
Posted inCity Life
Pranksters, LSD and the Dead: Ken Babbs was there at Santa Cruz County’s most famous (or infamous) party
Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady and the crew immortalized in “The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test,” not to mention the band that became the Grateful Dead, got the party started at Ken Babbs’ Soquel digs. And it’s all in Babbs’ new book, which he’ll discuss in an upcoming Bookshop Santa Cruz event.
Posted inUncategorized
Santa Cruz council moves 130 Center St. project forward
A 233-unit mixed-use downtown development unanimously approved by Santa Cruz’s planning commission faced an appeal in November, but while those community concerns led to further delay, UCSC students and advocates rallied together to push the project forward, leading to unanimous approval by the city council.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
How Santa Cruz County’s public schools have avoided the higher absence rates, sickouts seen elsewhere
While Santa Cruz County public schools have taken on the burden of teaching students in person during a pandemic, they’ve managed to avoid challenges such as sickouts and abnormally high absence rates seen in other parts of the country.
Posted inCOVID 2022
Vaccine update: Rates, where to find a COVID shot or test; wait, cost and turnaround times
While Santa Cruz County public schools have taken on the burden of teaching students in person during a pandemic,…
Posted inEnvironment
Official count confirms monarch butterflies are back, in a big way
The nonprofit organization that monitors monarchs during their wintering months in the West announced Tuesday that butterfly populations have jumped from 2020-21 numbers by more than a hundredfold, from an all-time low of less than 2,000 to almost a quarter-million.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Strike averted: County, union reach last-minute agreement, narrowly avoiding walkout
Hours before some 1,600 Santa Cruz County workers were set to strike, union and county officials came to a tentative agreement that avoided the picket line. The full membership of SEIU 521 still needs to ratify the agreement, and a vote is scheduled for later this week.