Right in the thick of award season, Santa Cruz NEXT is slowing down to appreciate Santa Cruz now, at least insofar as honoring current members who’ve done outstanding work here in the community, with the first annual NEXTies Awards. “We want to emphasize there are people here that are world–renowned, who are making a life here in Santa Cruz and enjoying every minute of it, and having a really positive impact on our community,” says Santa Cruz NEXT member and city councilman Ryan Coonerty, pausing before adding, “and we also hope that it’s going to be the best party of the year.”
Transportation Commission Irate at Blank Check to Caltrans
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is supporting Caltrans against a lawsuit aimed at stopping the construction of new lanes on Highway 1.
Santa Cruz Fire Departments Prepare for More Rain
After spending the summer battling wildfires in the Santa Cruz Mountains, firefighters are now getting ready to do battle against downed power lines and mudslides.
Sentinel Parent Company to File Chapter 11
MediaNews Group, publisher of the Santa Cruz Sentinel and the San Jose Mercury News, has announced it plans to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Local Trial Could Set Gay Rights Precedent
All eyes are on the Proposition 8 trial taking place in San Francisco, but another, local trial could also have a major impact on gay rights in the state. At stake is the fate of two infants, Max and Levi Smith-Quale, and who should have custody over them.
Santa Cruz County Preps for Flooding
El Nino storm conditions will harass the county for most of the coming week, and local officials are concerned. They are warning residents to take precautions to avoid flooding and mudslides, and have published a list of locations where local residents can get sandbag supplies.
Bogus Grade on Smoking Has Santa Cruz Leaders Miffed
The Sentinel reports that the American Lung Association gave Santa Cruz another “D” in its annual Tobacco Report Card, even though in 2009 the city passed a ban on smoking downtown and on the beach. The unimproved score has irked Santa Cruz city officials, who used the 2008 “D” grade as justification for the ban.
Santa Cruz’s Spendy Solar Program
As Santa Cruz’s much-trumpeted Renewable Energy Assessment District inches closer to implementation, its fate increasingly seems tied to the 9 percent interest rate participants would pay to join. The program, dubbed CaliforniaFIRST and administered by the quasi–public organization California Communities, would let homeowners purchase alternative energy systems like solar panels with loans financed by the sale of “special district”-issued bonds. The plan targets homeowners that lack enough home equity or good credit to qualify for a bank-issued loan.
Notes From Classical’s Underground
It’s nothing like the rest of Remy Le Boeuf’s work. Here in his hometown, the 23-year-old sax player is best known as one half of the formidable jazz duo formed with his twin brother, pianist Pascal. That work has been hailed by the New York Times as reaching for “the gleaming cosmopolitanism of our present era.” But during his jazz studies at the Manhattan School of Music, which awarded him bachelors and masters degrees, Remy had a little side thing with classical composition. This Friday, his piece The Third Elegy, a contemplative, Eastward-looking number for cello, violin, bass clarinet and vibraphone, receives its world premiere as part of the New Music Works concert Night of the Emerging Composers.
Prop 8 Trial Focuses on Economics, Mental Health
In the courtroom yesterday proponents of gay marriage pointed to the loss of revenue resulting from Proposition 8.
