The rape of an elderly woman last week and the murder of a local high school student by gang members seem to have people on edge. About 30 protesters interrupted a City Council meeting last night, waving signs and demanding that the city do something to address public safety.
School Trustees to Vote on School Lunch Plan
Santa Cruz City Schools trustees will be voting tonight on whether to approve a new school lunch program. The proposed program will feature food prepared from scratch from locally grown produce. The decision will come earlier than planned because a transition period, during which lunches were provided by Revolution Foods of Oakland, was found to have been misbudgeted.
School Fundraisers Brings in $332,000
Deborah Berkson of Santa Cruz turned down the chance to drive her son to school in a brand new Prius. The winner of this year’s Drive for Schools fundraiser decided to take the cash prize—$25,000—instead.
Silicon Valley’s Power Play
The electric car—quiet, fast and clean—has captured some media attention since the release of the sleek Tesla Roadster 18 months ago. But it’s not a new idea. Some of the first cars ever built, going back to the 19th century, were battery-powered. And the contemporary push to break away from the internal combustion engine dates back more than 40 years.
Too Much Junk
LAST Saturday, on 350 Day, the International Day of Climate Action, which forward-thinking people everywhere celebrated with carbon-neutral acts of faith in a sunshine-powered future, I was awash in a sea of smelly detritus from the past, flailing around in musty tides of old shoes, T-shirts, plastic Christmas decorations, screws, Tupperware, plastic soap caddies, collectible figurines.
The Campaign for Sensible Transportation Sues Caltrans
Paul Elerick explains why the Campaign for Sensible Transportation filed a lawsuit in Sacramento last week challenging the $22 million widening of Highway 1.
Aptos Elder Abuse Case Goes National
Looking back, James “Pops” Lee’s loved ones say they now read a lot more into things that, at the time they were happening, seemed like nothing special. Lee’s son Bob dwells on the first time he met Fenita Caldwell, a medical supplies saleswoman in her early 40s who lived down the street from his father on Dolphin Drive in Aptos. “She seemed like a sweet lady, professional, highly educated,” he says. “She said, ‘Oh, I love old people.’ I look back on that.”
Did Fire Crews Spark the Loma Fire?
With the 6oo-acre Loma Fire now contained, and residents returning to their homes, investigators are trying to figure out what actually caused the blaze.
School Lunches And Obesity
Another alarming statistic about the kids of Santa Cruz: according to the Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project, about one in five kids between the ages of 4 and 20 is overweight.
Pot and Booze on the Rise in Santa Cruz
When you don’t want to hear the answer to a question, you probably shouldn’t ask it. That’s a lesson that the California Healthy Kids Survey should consider, now that it has released the finding of its new poll of 6,200 fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders.
