County officials are investigating safety procedures in Santa Cruz after a horrifying accident in Watsonville. A 61-year-old man who had worked for the county for over forty years was pulled into a woodchipper right in front of his coworkers. The victim, who has yet to be named, was part of a crew clearing brush on Paulson Road. The county’s Mental Health Crisis Team was dispatched to the scene to comfort and provide counseling to the crew and other eyewitnesses of the incident.
Santa Cruz Parks and Rec to Bear the Brunt of Budget Cuts
Like most cities in California, Santa Cruz is struggling to cover its deficit, the result of rising costs and lower revenues. Though every department is taking a hit, one department, more than any other, is learning what it is like to survive through a recession. The Parks and Recreation Department has seen its budget cut by 60 percent and its staff cut by 50 percent since 2002.
Santa Cruzs Party Palaces
At first glance Kasey Peck has it made. An undeclared freshman, he lives a block from UCSC with five other guys in a big ranch-style house on the upper Westside. Five young ladies in an almost identical situation live right next door. The only problem: he and the girls next door live in homes that have been flagged by the Santa Cruz Police Department as “loud and unruly” party houses. The designation stems from at least one wild night apiece that most likely involved lots of people, lots of ruckus and eventually lots of police, one of whom it is certain wrote a doozey of a ticket, not just for breaking the city’s noise ordinance but for throwing a legally defined “loud and unruly gathering.
UCSC Conservation Strategies Win Award
Acterra, a nonprofit environmental group based in Silicon Valley, awarded UCSC with its 2010 Business Environmental Award in recognition of the school and students’ efforts to promote sustainability and environmental stewardship.
No Ready Solution for Budget Gap at Hand
The new fiscal year is just three weeks away, and the Santa Cruz City Council is still trying to figure out how it will close a budget gap that could grow to $3.7 million. Negotiations with the police union and the SEIU are not getting the results that city leaders had hoped for and talks are now underway to consider increasing the sales tax or the utility user tax.
Santa Cruz Poets, Santa Cruz Inspiration: Dona Stein
In this month’s installment of Local Poets, Local Inspiration, longtime Santa Cruz resident Dona Stein pays tribute to a familiar Beach Boardwalk landmark.
Ten Questions for Danny Keith
The proprietor of Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop and the man behind the nonprofit Grind Out Hunger was just nominated to be a People Magazine All-Star. He shares some details about his existence with our humble publication.
MS-13 Gang Leader Arrested in Santa Cruz
Jose Abrego-Galdamez, 30, suspected of leading the MS-13 gang, was arrested in Santa Cruz on Thursday, and now faced deportation to El Salvador. MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, may not be one of the largest gangs in Santa Cruz, but it is considered to be one of the most violent. Last Thanksgiving, the gang, which deals in heroin, meth, and marijuana, shot a man 12 times at point blank range at the Santa Cruz levy.
Santa Cruz Hatchery Accused of Animal Cruelty
Compassion over Killing, an animal rights group based in Washington DC, documented a series of abuses against newly hatched chicks and ducklings at the Cal-Cruz Hatchery in Santa Cruz. When the DA’s office refused to take up the case, the group released a video of the abuses on YouTube, hoping to win support for its cause.
Who’s Financing the Campaigns?
With the primaries right around the corner, MAPlight.org, a Berkeley-based nonprofit, is trying to figure out where the money is coming from to fund State Assembly and Senate candidates’ campaigns. Some of their findings are surprising.
