Report: Community ‘Polarized’ About SVUSD’s Push for Diversity
An educational consultant’s report has found diversity efforts at Scotts Valley Unified School District have been hampered by a “pervasive fear” of how parents would react to changes and the belief such initiatives would be “obstructed by vocal community disapproval and retaliation.”
Key findings of...
Environmentalists get $1M to defend Santa Cruz Mountains from wildfires
One of California’s oldest environmental groups has been tapped by California’s state fire agency to help protect Felton and Scotts Valley from wildfires.
The $970,000 Cal Fire grant to the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County will fund a vegetation management project called the...
Boulder Creek Could Get $3.5M In Upgrades
Boulder Creek is now in line for $3.5 million that could be coming from more than 2,800 miles away—Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C.—for a couple key improvements to the historic lumber town’s infrastructure.
On July 7, Congressional Representative Anna Eshoo announced $2 million for a...
County’s New Public Defender Office Begins Operations
SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County’s new Public Defender office began operations on July 1, and the department’s roughly 60 employees celebrated the occasion with a barbecue in the backyard of its May Avenue headquarters.
The new office includes an increased number of attorneys, in addition to...
LPRT Returns July 20-31 In Surf City Odyssey
When it comes to live parody musical theater, no other group brings it to life like Little People’s Repertory Theater (LPRT) in Ben Lomond. The Park Hall-based crew of kids and parent volunteers begin work the minute school adjourns for the summer, and spend...
Big Basin reopening next week
After nearly two years out of commission, Big Basin Redwoods State Park—the oldest State Park in California—is about to open to the public, once again.
It was closed after being ravaged by the CZU Lightning Complex fire, (97% destroyed), but on July 22, the proverbial...
New Film Honors CZU Survivors Two Years Post Blaze
In honor of the second anniversary of the CZU Lightning Complex, Mountain Community Theater (MCT) Director Peter Gelblum did something extraordinary to commemorate the event: he wrote a film about it.
Of the movie, entitled, “The CZU Fire In Their Own Words: Fighting Fires, Losing...
Ben Lomond FD Pancake Breakfast Raises $9,000
They have specially-designed new ones now, but the original red-and-white-striped shirts worn by the Ben Lomond Fire Protection District firefighters are actually authentic Australian rugby sweaters.
It’s what 21-year-old volunteer Mateo Corona was sporting behind the grill at their annual pancake breakfast fundraiser July 3.
“I’m...
Scotts Valley, Boulder Creek Deliver Classic Spectacles for Fourth
Last year, Scotts Valley was the envy of Santa Cruz County and South Bay regions, holding a Fourth of July parade when almost no other locale was able to pull one off. This year, as communities like Boulder Creek brought theirs back, now that...
Hop N’ Barley Fest Returns
Kombucha aficionados, beer guzzlers and funk fans take note, Saturday marks the in-person return of the Santa Cruz County Hop N’ Barley Beer Festival at Skypark in Scotts Valley.
Felton resident Patrick Grube, who started the event 13 years ago, says he’s looking forward to...
Scotts Valley graduate receives Teamsters scholarship
Violeta Dauksa of Scotts Valley has been named a recipient of a 2026 scholarship from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Scholarship Fund.
Dauksa is a...
