Santa Cruz County News, Traffic & Weather


All the Santa Cruz News, Traffic and Weather, with directories of local Government, Community Groups & Nonprofits in one place!
Image caption: A map of the Santa Cruz County stretch of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail, known commonly as the Coastal Rail Trail, or the Santa Cruz Rail Trail.
The Santa Cruz Rail Trail

Updated information, including news and Explainers, about progress in building the 32-mile stretch of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail in Santa Cruz County.

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On Photography and Politics

A celebration of the work of an artist who devoted a career to preserving the wildlands he loved. Plus: News you can use, and a tasty recipe!

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Earth Day: Resilience vs. Disaster

Ee celebrate the efforts our fellow humans have made and are making to help heal our planet and connect us, while we simultaneously consider what we must do to protect our communities as the climate crisis worsens.

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Stewart Brand’s ‘Whole Earth’ and its Place in the Universe

Meet the hippie intellectual who changed the world with the first published photograph of our entire planet.

Image caption: West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, following a storm in January 2023. Throughout the state, communities are being forced to budget for disaster.
Budgeting for Resilience

California communities are focusing resources in response to the effects of climate change and other challenges.

Image caption: Gov. Gavin Newsom tours a Chinese electric-car factory in October, 2023.
How California Helped Clean China’s Bad Air

A Tesla lobbyist, an LA-based environmental group, and Gov. Jerry Brown brought a rule minted in Sacramento to Beijing, and helped launch China’s EV industry.

Image caption: Gov. Jerry Brown meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at an economic summit in LA in February, 2012. Since being named Chinese president later that year, Xi has earned harsh criticism for human rights violations, and praise for his environmental policies.
California's Power Beyond its Borders

A Tesla lobbyist, an LA-based environmental group, and Gov. Jerry Brown brought a rule minted in Sacramento to Beijing, and helped launch China’s EV industry.

Image caption: Davis is in California. Davisville is off the charts.
Davisville

We take a look, or rather a listen, to Davisville, a radio show and podcast on low-power but high-energy KDRT 95.7, broadcast out of Davis, California.

Image caption: California has a goal of 6 million heat pumps cooling and heating buildings by 2030.
6 Million New Heat Pumps: Essential to California's Climate Future

Heat pumps, an energy-efficient way to both heat and cool homes, are a necessary element of California's climate goal of net zero carbon emissions. Here's what they are, how they work, and how to get one.

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Bill to Mandate ‘Science of Reading’ in California Classrooms Dies

A bill to mandate use of the method will not advance in the Legislature this year in the face of teachers union opposition.

Image caption: The O Lot Safe Sleeping site at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024.
Is San Diego Homeless Camp Ban ‘Successful’?

A new bill would make it illegal for homeless residents to camp in certain places, such as near schools, throughout California. Its authors say such a ban has had great success in San Diego. But a closer look at that …

Image caption: Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow, left, and CalMatters senior editor Dave Lesher review a Digital Democracy page in the CalMatters newsroom on April 3, 2024.
Digital Democracy Ramps Up Accountability of CA Legislature

In an analysis of more than 1 million votes cast by current legislators since 2017, CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow and CBS Sacramento reporter Julie Watts found that Democrats vote “no” less than 1% of the time on average.

Image caption: The Douglas iris is a wildflower native to central and northern California and parts of southern Oregon.
Greetings & Spring Things from Santa Cruz

This week, a virtual visit to Surf City USA—a great place to experience the season of rebirth and renewal that's worth a drive from anywhere in our coverage area.

Image caption: A  total solar eclipse can offer a rare opportunity to see stars and planets during the day.
The Universe Winks

There is no scientific explanation for the conditions that make an eclipse inevitable. It’s a coincidence. Or a miracle.

Image caption: An online gallery of the murals of Santa Cruz County.
Santa Cruz Murals

Santa Cruz County is home to amazing murals. One amazing person is working to document them in one place.

Image caption: Felicia Van Stolk in her museum's front-yard garden.
A Native-Plant Garden Helps Transform a Neighborhood

On Hilltromper, a conversation with Felicia Van Stolk of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History about her Garden Learning Center.

Image caption: When walking around this spring, keep an eye out for the stunning Calochortus lily.
Natural Wonders of Santa Cruz ... Spring Renewal

The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History has some tips on what to see in the blossoming new season, from wildflowers to migrating shorebirds to humpback whales.

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Controversial Housing Law Could Get a Makeover

Some of California’s top lawmakers want to clear up, but also rein in, the “builder’s remedy.”

Image caption: Prop 1 includes funding that will build institutions to treat mental illness and addiction—hopefully nothing like what Randle Patrick McMurphy encountered in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'
Sandhill Cranes, Foster Kids, and Coercive Compassion

A type of resurrection involving big birds, and two efforts that offer help to individuals whose lives have been impacted by addiction.

Image caption: A magnificent Sandhill Crane in flight.
The Return of Sandhill Cranes

After being reduced to three or four nesting pairs in all of California in 1944, Sandhill Cranes have come back from the brink and are returning to Lake Tahoe.

California Local Pin Marker   Bulletin Board
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05/04/2024

Monday 5/6: CSUMB: All Out for Palestine

Main Quad, California State University, Monterey Bay

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05/03/2024

May 1 – 7, 2024

Highlights this week: Bratton... is back!...Greensite ...Gillian will soon return with her regular weekly piece... Steinbruner...Charter cities and counties, Soquel Creek Water.... Hayes... Advoca...

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From Grey Hayes
05/03/2024

Night shifts to dawn

At first darkness yields only very slightly and the first bird to sing is quiet, murmuring a few quizzical, uncertain, almost apologetic notes. A few minutes later, that same bird sings the same f...

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05/03/2024

W.E. O’Neil Construction Co. Unqualified to Bid on U.C. Santa Cruz Student Housing Project

W.E. O’Neil Construction Co. Unqualified to Bid on U.C. Santa Cruz Student Housing Project, Carpenters Union Alleges

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05/03/2024

Sunday 5/5: For Gaza, With Love

Quarry, UC Santa Cruz

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05/03/2024

Second Lawsuit Filed to Protect Hawaiian Petrels From Dangerous Lighting at Maui’s Grand Wailea

HONOLULU, May 2, 2024 — A coalition of conservation groups today filed a second lawsuit to protect Hawaiian petrels (ʻuaʻu) from dangerous lights used by the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui. Hawaiian ...

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