Happy Tuesday evening, folks.
We’ve got the latest news on how the second booster rollout might go and the latest signs of food and drink events coming back to life here in the near future. If you’re in the 50+ crowd (almost but not quite for me) one might be good before embarking on the other.
To those headlines and plenty more we go …
Ready for a second booster? You’ll have to wait just a little while
What we know: The FDA and CDC approved a second booster for people ages 50 and older or immunocompromised, but the shot won’t be available quite yet. Here’s what we learned on Tuesday. Max Chun with the details.
Infectious Omicron BA.2 now dominant in U.S., with coronavirus spring rise likely
What will it mean? The highly infectious BA.2 Omicron subvariant is now the dominant version of the coronavirus circulating in the United States, according to federal estimates, a development that is triggering fresh concerns of a potential springtime wave. More from the LA Times here.
One of the most far-reaching vaccine mandate bills in California will not move forward
Here it stops: The bill would have required employees and independent contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment unless they have an exemption based on a medical condition, disability or religious beliefs. More from the Times here.
Hop’N Barley returns, fundraising for Ukraine, and my new favorite pickle
Lily Belli on Food: Here’s some good news for beer lovers — the Hop’N Barley Beer & BBQ Festival will return July 9 to Skypark in Scotts Valley. Since 2009, the locally run beer extravaganza has filled Scotts Valley with craft suds, two stages of live music and barbecue, and for the first time since 2019, the festival will be back in full force. That and much more from Lily here.
Transitional kindergarten comes with benefits to families, difficulties for administrators
Welcome to the TK challenge: California’s transitional kindergarten program is expanding to include all 4-year-olds by 2025-26. Santa Cruz County school officials say this is going to be a challenge, but that it will have an overall positive impact on families and schools. Hillary Ojeda with the story.
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- Community Programs Operations Director at Ecology Action
- Accounting Manager at Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County
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Santa Cruz’s true-crime classic
He wrote the book: Nine months after the publication of “Murder Capital of the World,” his book on Santa Cruz’s serial-killer history, author Emerson Murray is pursuing offers to make it into a documentary and engaging with fans online. Wallace Baine with all the details.
A Ukraine soldier’s story: In the face of Russian bombs, ‘It’s my country. It’s my city’
One man’s story: To many, the targeting of a landmark square in Kharkiv’s densely populated city center, less than a week after the invasion’s start on Feb. 24, marked the crossing of a frontier: a clear signal that in this war, nothing was out of bounds — not homes or hospitals, not schools and shops, not cafes and parks. More from the Times here.
More from here & elsewhere
➤ Fatal Santa Cruz crash trails neighborhood concerns (Sentinel)
➤ Santa Cruz O’Neill Sea Odyssey relaunches catamaran classroom (Sentinel)
➤ New community center aims to change youth outcomes (Pajaronian)
➤ 16-year-old Watsonville girl critically injured in cockfight massacre that killed 20 in Mexico (KION)
➤ Single buyer snaps up entire Pacific Grove block of 15 historic homes (KSBW)
That’s it for a Tuesday night. We’ll crest the Wednesday hump together tomorrow.
Mark Conley
Deputy Managing Editor