A Clamtastic Culinary Competition: The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s 42nd Annual Clam Chowder Cook-off
What’s the secret to the best bowl of clam chowder? Ask any chef at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk 42nd Annual Clam Chowder Cook-off and you’ll get a laugh, maybe a knowing smile — but no answer. Celery, perhaps. Onions and potatoes, obvious staples. Bacon...
Poco a Poco: Little by Little, Agricultural Workers Rebuild After Winter Storms
Drive deep into Watsonville on a road off CA Route 129, turn right and you will find a nursery that welcomes you with this sign: Blue and Green Nursery – Watsonville, CA: Open to the public everyday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunup to...
Concerns Rise Over Potential UCSC-Cabrillo Joint Housing Complex
Housing is housing. Even if it’s halfway across the county, right? In a Jan. 17 vote, the Cabrillo Governing Board voted to approve the final draft of a proposed housing complex with 271 units that could house 624 students. The catch is that it would...
No Roof and Drenched: How the Unhoused Endured the Storm
It’s 45 degrees, and it’s pouring. The light of a sunless day is waning. Kazoo, a member of the unhoused community, begins to realize that his tent is not going to cut it — it’s not an all-weather tent. Hearing word of an open shelter...
Between Drought and Deluge: California’s Negligence of the Climate Crisis
A glimpse of the past. A snapshot of the same destruction 40 years apart. Jeff Lantis, co-owner of The Sand Bar in Capitola, held up a photo of the 1982 Santa Cruz storm. The waves crashing against his restaurant back then were just as violent...
Federal Aid incoming for Storm Relief
Federal aid is on the way. President Joe Biden approved a Major Disaster Declaration for Santa Cruz County on Jan. 14, following the damage caused by a series of massive atmospheric rivers that have ravaged the state since the storm made landfall on Dec. 27....
From City Council to County Board, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and Justin Cummings race for District 3
After working together on Santa Cruz City Council for two years, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and Justin Cummings know each other well. This midterm election season has the two city representatives facing each other for a county supervisor seat. Only 500 votes separated the two candidates in...
What the Closure of the Benchlands Means for its Residents
Steven Bailey has been living in the Benchlands, a city-sanctioned houseless encampment in San Lorenzo Park, for the past two years. Soon, that won’t be the case. In the eyes of the City of Santa Cruz, an eviction notice needs to be served. “They look...
Three Candidates, One Seat: The Battle for District 4
Santa Cruz’s fourth City Council District spans all the way from the bottom of the Upper West Side on High Street to the Beach Flats near the coast on Beach Street, and also encapsulates the city’s downtown area. Ensuring that community voices are heard is...
Seat Up for Grabs: District 6 City Council Election
The streets of Santa Cruz are filling up fast with RVs parked for days on end with nowhere to go, houseless camps residing in public spaces, and worried residents wondering if they’ll be able to make rent next month. With these concerns at the forefront...