Santa Cruz County officials and nonprofit leaders were rushing Tuesday to understand the local implications of President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze. Millions of dollars for local programs are under threat from the pause, which has been temporarily blocked by a judge.
The Trump presidency and Santa Cruz County
News and opinion coverage of reaction in Santa Cruz County to the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president, plus news from around California via Lookout’s content partners.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We Santa Cruz religious leaders cannot remain silent – we do not support Trump’s deportation plans
The 35 faith organizations that make up the Santa Cruz Faith Network cannot remain silent in the face of newly reelected President Donald J. Trump’s plans to deport undocumented immigrants, writes Pastor Scott Newman, a member of the group and a pastor at Santa Cruz Bible Church. “As faith leaders,” he writes, “we commit ourselves to educating those affected about their rights and to help them find ways to protect their families.”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Why Trump’s conditions on L.A. fire aid put California Republicans in a tough spot
All the talk about attaching conditions to California’s federal disaster aid have placed the state’s Republican members of Congress in a quandary: Do they fight for speedy, unconditional relief dollars for wildfire victims in their home state? Or do they fall in line behind President Donald Trump?
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Amid national ‘sanctuary cities’ concerns, Santa Cruz City Council ponders what to do – privately
Santa Cruz, a sanctuary city since the 1980s, has traditionally recommitted to the policy when deportation rhetoric from the White House has ticked up. The city has so far kept quiet under the new Trump administration – and in mid-January held sanctuary city discussions behind closed doors.
Posted inLatest News
Trump is bound for L.A. — threatening to withhold fire aid and keeping Newsom out of the loop
The Trump administration apparently opted not to coordinate at all with Gov. Gavin Newsom while planning the president’s planned Friday visit to fire-ravaged Los Angeles. Just how awkward will this be?
Posted inLatest News
Trump’s order won’t halt California’s offshore wind leases. But will it derail the industry?
President Donald Trump’s order has no immediate effect on offshore wind leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. But it sends a current of uncertainty through the fledgling renewable energy industry, which relies on federal and state support.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
An approach to immigration, not Trump’s
UC Santa Cruz history professor Grace Peña Delgado is writing a chronicle of the U.S.-Mexico border and in the summer, she and Lookout photographer Kevin Painchaud spent time documenting stories at one Arizona spot along the border, a place locals call the “End-of-the-wall,” because it’s where 34 miles of steel columns dividing the land abruptly end. Building barriers won’t stop immigration, she writes: “Robust climate action, economic investment in vulnerable areas and more expansive legal pathways for asylum-seekers offer a more sustainable path than building walls that funnel families into even deadlier routes.”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Trump takes step to overhaul Delta water deliveries to farms, cities
President Donald Trump is aiming to override new Biden-Newsom water delivery rules that have widespread support among Southern California cities and some Central Valley farmers.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Trump is back – and you would be surprised how many Santa Cruzans support his agenda
Ben Lomond resident, businessman and local political activist Tom Decker celebrated Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. In the fall, Decker wore a Donald Trump hat for two months around Santa Cruz County, hoping to engage in conversations about policy. He expected opposition, but mostly he found tacit support. Now that Trump is the 47th president, Decker outlines three Trump policies he supports – on immigration, taxes and oil – and says we should all feel good about our future.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We need comfort, not conflict, amid L.A. fires: Here’s a lesson in nonviolent communication for Trump, Musk and more
Santa Cruz therapist Lisa Herendeen is stunned by the harsh rhetoric and blame game circling the Los Angeles fires. What we need is empathy, she writes, and leaders who understand the merits of nonviolent communication. She just finished a training on this and she applies nonviolent communication skills to the political moment – and to the angry language she hears coming from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and others. Where are our leaders, she wonders. She longs for public rhetoric that raises us all up. She is even nostalgic for the Terminator.