A record-breaking number of voters cast ballots in the recent midterm election- in both Santa Cruz County, across the state, and nationwide. With 76.3 percent of registered voters in Santa Cruz County casting a ballot, compared to only 51.9 percent in the 2014 midterm election, last month’s voter turn-out was the highest for a midterm election in Santa Cruz County history, breaking the old record of 70.8 percent voter participation rate in 1982.
Within weeks after the shooting death of Stephon Clark in his grandmother’s Sacramento backyard in March, who was shot eight times by Sacramento police officers who apparently mistook a cell phone for a gun, Assemblymember Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, introduced Assembly Bill 931. AB 931 proposes sweeping changes in state standards for the use of lethal force by police. The bill seeks to overturn the basis for use of lethal force by police from what is considered "reasonable" to what is considered "necessary."
This election day brought attention to some key local races for city council, water district board of directors and approval of several different tax measures.
Citizens for Orderly Growth in Scotts Valley (CFOG) is a recently organized, “educational and collaborative” advocacy group that has every intention of becoming a grassroots force to be reckoned with in the face of “uncontrolled growth” in Scotts Valley, according to its organizers .