Looking back at 2021: July-September

Welcome to Part 3 of our year-end look of the top headlines in Santa Cruz County. As summer peaked and moved into fall, our region saw a multitude of tragedies and joys — and Lookout was there to help you understand and work through them.

July 2021

As summer heated up, so did the drama in Santa Cruz. July saw the Black Lives Matter mural downtown vandalized — with the alleged perpetrators set to have their day in court shortly after the new year. The Delta variant began to show its head locally, and health officials (again) recommended masks indoors. Lookout also checked out issues at Capitola Beach as well as provided an analysis of the local home market. Click the links with the photos below for July’s big stories.

August 2021

August was a month full of tragedy and redemption. For the first anniversary of the CZU Complex fire, Lookout published nearly a dozen stories on the recovery, reconstruction and the everyday folks who make our area the special place it is. UC Santa Cruz students continued to struggle to find housing, and health officials went from recommending masks to mandating them. And, at the end of the month, a 17-year-old was stabbed to death at Aptos High School. Click the links with the photos below for August’s big stories.

September 2021

Following the tragic death on Aug. 31, Lookout trained its sights on giving you the full context and stories behind the Aptos High stabbing. But that wasn’t the only thing that happened that month: health officials, citing a decreasing case load, removed the mask mandate, Bonny Doon residents protested the potential placement of a sexually violent predator in their community, and Santa Cruz received an explosion of new murals. Click the links with the photos below for September’s big stories.

Coming tomorrow: October through December.