Four former hotel properties along Hwy. 9, including the “Toll House” property and the former “Wagon Wheel” motel in Felton, have applied for inclusion in a newly proposed “Permanent Room Housing Combining Zone District” under consideration by the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission.

At the last Scotts Valley City Council meeting on Jan. 23, council members discussed at length one of their most important goals for the new year — engaging and informing the community about the city’s dire fiscal outlook, and what needs to done to avoid a “fiscal cliff” that is clearly on the horizon.

Last Friday, marked the second payday that about 500 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at the San Jose International Airport did not receive a paycheck.

At their regular meeting on Jan. 16, the Board of Trustees for the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District received preliminary information on the feasibility of converting the mostly vacant Redwood Elementary School on Hwy. 9 into a “work force housing” development for teachers.

Last week, in the third meeting of the Board of Directors of the San Lorenzo Valley Water District since the “challenging slate” was elected as the board’s majority, the board voted 4-1 for a permanent ban on the use of glyphosate pesticides by the district, keeping a campaign promise that remained controversial right up to the board’s vote.