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This morning, the head of Santa Cruz County’s largest health and human services nonprofit announced she is vying to replace Fifth District Supervisor Bruce McPherson on the Board of Supervisors, come next election. Monica Martinez, 41, currently the CEO of Encompass Community Services, says the...

While many are aware of the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District’s own charter school, which promotes non-traditional learning formats through Quail Hollow Homeschool, to Nature Academy all the way through Coast Redwood High School, local residents may be less aware the board also...

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has unanimously adopted an adaptive Artificial Intelligence Appropriate Use policy, becoming among the first local governments in the United States to encourage the use of artificial intelligence among staff while creating a framework to address concerns related to...

With sunshine interspersed with scattered showers forecast through Monday—and another storm on its way towards the Central Coast for early Tuesday—Santa Cruz Mountains residents can expect to see up to another eight inches of rain. While some Boulder Creek residents expressed relief at the sunbeams...

Just as the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District sorted out one inappropriate-behavior situation, another materialized. Trustees had voted to let teacher Eric Kahl resign, at their Sept. 14, 2021, board meeting, after learning he’d subjected female students to unwelcome sexual advances (in exchange, Kahl...

For the past few years, more often than not, you could find Alan Strong perched on a folding chair on break from his janitorial duties at La Placa Family Bakery, sitting under the redwoods, gazing out at the one-story restaurant with the fountain on...

The fallen branches have been neatly arranged along a rock border next to the La Placa Family Bakery parking lot as the sun streams down through the redwoods to the red translucent awning, but here along Highway 9 in Ben Lomond, the storms are...

In the months Roy Windom IV spent living in the same Boulder Creek house as Robert Brainard III, the man who was killed when a tree fell on his bedroom Feb. 4, they never really made a big deal about their names including Roman...

I have a cat named Archer. He’s a little too vocal sometimes but thankfully, he doesn’t chew on plants. If he did or if small children were about during the holidays I’d be sure to put some of my holiday plants out of their...

The year 2024 is going to be big when it comes to politics—not just on the national stage, but on the local level as well. In Santa Cruz County District 5, which covers the San Lorenzo Valley (north past Castle Rock State Park to the...