COVID-19

Covid-19 vaccinations for Santa Cruz County residents are being expanded to include workers in education and childcare, emergency services, and food and agriculture industries, the county announced today. Eligibility will be based on occupation definitions from the California Department of Public Health, according to the...

Santa Cruz County’s adjusted case rate recently fell below the state’s threshold (28 per 100,000 per day) needed to reopen in-class instruction for grades K-6, health officials announced at a press conference on Feb. 4. That means local school districts could start applying to the...

Late January the Vine Hill elementary PTA announced an online auction beginning Feb. 5 and continuing until the PTA’s first-ever virtual live auction on Feb. 20, hosted by Robert Aldana, Bobbie Ward and Garvin Thomas.  These two events form a part of the PTA’s fundraisers...

Jennifer Wadsworth and Mat Weir, Contributing Reporters If you ask beauty salon owners in Santa Cruz County, they’ll tell you the on-and-off lockdowns during the pandemic have been downright backward when it comes to their industry.  Deborah Riley, owner of Lavish Salon in Santa Cruz, says...

Some services, such as outdoor dining, can resume Outdoor dining and other services can resume after Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 25 ended the state’s regional stay-at-home order based on intensive care unit (ICU) capacity.  In its place, the state has returned to the Blueprint for...

When Covid-19 began to sweep the U.S.—and brought with it an economic recession—Cabrillo College officials expected a jump in enrollment that typically comes with a battered economy. But the college is now seeing a significant drop in those numbers, which it pins on the double...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—At least 5,600 doses of vaccinations for the novel coronavirus have been distributed throughout Santa Cruz County, a number that county health officials at a Friday press conference said has been significantly impacted by plodding distribution from the state. Overall, the county has...

By Todd Guild, Katie Evans and Christina Wise California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 30 released a plan under which schools could reopen as early as February. The plan, which streamlines the process of applying for a waiver to bring students back for in-person instruction, is...

CAPITOLA—Efforts to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom are picking up steam, with proponents having gathered 911,000 signatures since June 10. The all volunteer, grassroots group behind the drive—Recall Gavin 2020—has until March 17 to gather about 1.5 million signatures to qualify for a special election. Another group,...

After a greatly stressful year, 2021 will begin with many economic opportunities for small business owners in Scotts Valley.  The newest federal stimulus package, passed by Congress on Dec. 21, will begin to benefit small business owners and many others this January. The state has...