At a meeting of the city of Santa Cruz Water Commission, the price for a new desalination plant was given as $99 million—and that was just the largest of several major water projects that the commission voted on for the next three years. The total cost of all the projects is $120 million.
Adventure Out: Keepers of The Flame
We muster at 10 o’clock under the redwoods outside Boulder Creek on a Saturday morning in February, 19 people shivering in our fleece and sweatshirts around a smoky fire. We are here to learn basic wilderness survival—how to keep ourselves alive in the elements in case someday, somehow, things go terribly wrong. With slide show.
Drunken Woman Rescued from Cliff
The excitement began on Sunday morning, when families living along the cliff near the Boardwalk trestle heard desperate calls for help.
Durbin Makes It Through
It took almost an hour for Ryan Seacrest to tell us that James Durbin made it through to the Top Ten of American Idol. It seemed as if they were toying with us. Sure, it was obvious, but then again, do you really trust the musical tastes of the American masses—the same people that bring us Justin Bieber? So we waited and waited and learned very little, except that Durbin likes heavy metal, and that he was in a photo shoot with People magazine and Country Living (can’t wait to see if they publish his brownie recipe).
Police Salaries Cut But Costs Up
The City of Santa Cruz successfully cut its salary base by 3.8 percent in order to meet its budget, the Sentinel reports. This meant more furloughs and positions remaining unfilled, forcing other city employees to pick up the slack. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the SCPD.
Traffic Stop Turns into Heroin Bust
It began as a routine traffic stop on Coral Street on Monday.
T.C. Boyle in Capitola March 7
T. C. Boyle poses difficult questions that he knows will involve answers that are entertaining and thought-provoking—but never clear. He’s an ardent researcher and an intuitive writer. He lives in the spectrum between the two and knows better than most that man and nature are a continuum. Where one ends and the other begins depends on who’s asking the question, and that’s where Boyle starts having fun. His new novel, When the Killing’s Done, is a powerful, bleakly humorous adventure that pits Alma Boyd Takesue, a National Park Service biologist, against Dave LaJoy, an animal rights activist.
Protests Continue at UCSC
About 200 students demonstrated in UCSC yesterday to protest proposed budget cuts that would drain the state’s universities of $1.4 billion. The administration, charged with making the cuts, expressed understanding for the student demonstration, with UCSC Spokesman Jim Burns saying, “The concern that students have about the impact that reduced state support is having on the depth and breadth of our academic offerings is completely understandable. We’re concerned, too, especially since we now must figure out how to make another $19 million in cuts.”
City Avoids Pink Slip Blues
Santa Cruz City Schools Superintendent Gary Bloom is very proud of the way the city’s school district has managed to keep its budget in check. Not one of the district’s 425 teachers will be getting a pink slip this year, and there is even money in the reserve fund.
Fashion & Style: Gone Native
Perched on the western edge of the continent, at the sweet spot between north and south, Santa Cruz catches a multitude of currents swirling through the stylistic universe. For our fashion issue this year we decided to explore three unique Santa Cruz looks arising from this fertile cultural meeting place. With slide show.
