About 75 people of diverse religious beliefs gathered around the Town Clock in downtown Santa Cruz to deliver a message of respect for religious diversity. The gathering included representatives of all the major religions in Santa Cruz, including several Christian denominations, Muslims, Jews and Baha’i.
Rally to Protest Religious Intolerance
“Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen” (“Where they have burned books, they will end up burning people”). These words, by German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, have a prophetic air about them. They were recalled in April and May 1933, when the Nazi-backed German Student Organization called for “action against the un-German spirit,” by publicly burning (they called it “purging”) books deemed antithetical to the “new German spirit.” We all know how that ended.
Group Wants To Keep The Porch Light On
Just last month, Paul Krugman wrote an op ed piece in The New York Times describing how cities across the U.S. are cutting back on street lights in a desperate attempt to save money. It’s certainly true of Santa Cruz, where in many neighborhoods the only street lights are at intersections, leaving the rest of the block in the dark. This, say local residents, is conducive to car thefts and home invasions.
The Bedbugs Are Coming to Santa Cruz County
There’s been an increase in the number of bedbug infestations in Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz Environmental Health Services Department. The problem, says the Department, is that it lacks the authority to regulate bedbug infestations, and the bugs, while annoying, are hardly a priority.
Santa Cruz Screams For Gourmet Dairy Dessert
It started with Kelly’s at the beginning of summer, and soon came Mission Hill Creamery. Late last month the Penny Ice Creamery opened its inviting doors, and that made three artisanal ice creameries in one small seaside town. Already grateful fans of unforgettable handmade ice creams are giving thanks. The difference between these painstakingly created, intensely flavored, utterly smooth and creamy concoctions and the mass-produced stuff—even Haagen-Daaz—is evident from the first rhapsodic lick.
Interview: Bluesman Jimmie Vaughan
When he was a kid, Jimmie Vaughan used to take the bus to the music stores in downtown Dallas and stare through the windows at the guitars, dreaming of the day he’d buy his own Fender Stratocaster. When he turned 14, he left home to join a band. Once he’d earned enough money to get his dream ax, he took to rewiring the pickups and monkeying with the frets, trying to get just the right Latin-tinged blues sound he was looking for.
Flight Of The Condor
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a really big bird! It’s a California condor! Last month, there were only 384 critically endangered California condors left in the world, with only 188 of the majestic birds left to soar in the wild. Thanks to captive breeding, the majestic species is slowly making a comeback. On Sept. 25, two condors will be released into the wild at the Pinnacles National Monument.
Tandy Beal Takes On ‘The Biggest Trick In The Book’
The old Cabrillo Theater is empty except for a dozen dancers hanging out stage right and a few scattered observers in the first five rows. The house lights are on and the duffel bags and bottles of water perched on the front of the stage confirm that this is a rehearsal. Nevertheless, when the music cues and three dancers begin moving in slow motion across the stage as if blown by a lunar wind, the magic takes over. We’re in Tandy Beal’s world now.
Environmental Panelists’ Abrupt Dismissal Raises Questions
Most Californians have probably never heard of the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants. Of the countless boards of scientists and researchers in state government and academia, the SRP is neither the most powerful nor the most glamorous. Its members—decorated University of California researchers all—are, nonetheless, tasked with checking the work of state-run environmental agencies like the Air Resources Board and the Department of Pesticide Regulations to determine what risk certain airborne industrial chemicals have of making people sick. An important job, most would agree. So when five of its nine members were abruptly dismissed from the panel last month, many with nothing more than a two-sentence “thanks for your service” letter, a lot more people started paying attention to the SRP and who’s on it.
Santa Cruz’s Carbon Footprint Plan Unveiled
Santa Cruz’s climate change action coordinator, Ross Clark, is turning to the local community to help make the city’s action plan for climate change a success. After spending three years studying the city’s carbon footprint, Clark produced an 80-page plan that would reduce emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2020 while continuing to promote economic growth. He plan was discussed by city council at its Tuesday meeting.
