The Meaning of Christmas

A California icon dies, the A’s sign a deal to leave, and the drought is washed away.

At age 73, Fred Keeley is wrapping up the first year of what will likely be the final chapter in his nearly 30-year public service career. As Santa Cruz’s first directly elected mayor, he has worked to set the tone for what it means to have a full-time leader.

During the pandemic, Gary Butler and Denise Silva quietly opened a bookstore in Pleasure Point close to Capitola. Just two years later, Two Birds Books was named one of the country’s five best bookstores.

California's economy could use some holiday cheer. Here are 12 business needs for the coming year.

For more than 16 years, Watsonville’s Nature Center operated out of a small trailer at Ramsay Park—the only free, bilingual environmental conservation center in the Monterey Bay region.

This year, 122 unhoused people died in Santa Cruz County. While friends, family and community members gathered to pay respects, speakers also expressed the need for better access to housing, health care and harm reduction.

The Dungeness crab season will open in the northernmost regions of California in early January. The season remains closed in the Monterey Bay region until at least Jan. 11 due to the continued presence of humpback whales.

Bring on the cute Nepalese dumplings and deli sandwiches the size of a suitcase. Give me all the caviar in Carmel and hotdogs at the dump.

Since the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County completed work on its wildlife tunnel at Laurel Curve, smaller critters have been spotted using it to get to the other side of Highway 17. But this month, the Land Trust was able to capture a mountain lion on video.

Oakland entrepreneur Sanchali Pal’s new app, Commons, helps people track and reduce their carbon footprint by tracking how they spend money on food, utilities, clothes, furniture or travel.

Those looking for holiday cheer can push play on “Good News Great Joy” from Twin Lakes Church. The tune can be heard on Spotify, iTunes and other streaming sites.

As another year zips by, Edible Monterey Bay has your back, offering a tasty way to mark its passing. Sample the Best New Openings of the Year, from Salinas to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Erika Ziegenhorn has been ceremonially sworn in as the newest Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge, marking Gov. Gavin Newsom's fourth such local judicial appointment this year.

Under a new law, employees in California are guaranteed five paid sick days a year, two days more than previously. Worker advocacy groups say the benefit is needed, but business groups warn of additional costs.

In a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, researchers instead lay out a plan for what society might do to improve adolescents’ interactions with social media.

Prescribed burns, used to limit destructive wildfires, are growing in frequency at California State Parks. But as the smoke drifts into residential areas, it’s easy to see why many Californians are concerned about the health impacts.

A dark-sky movement to save birds from window strikes is sweeping the San Francisco Bay Area. Several cities have passed or are drafting laws restricting light pollution while making windows easier for birds to see.

Novelist Jonathan Franzen looks at how trap-neuter-release policies in feral cat colonies have troubling consequences for city residents, local wildlife and even the felines themselves.

State audits of the University of California and the California State University found both systems have failed to comply with decades-old state and federal laws mandating the return of Native ancestral remains and cultural artifacts. Only UCLA and Cal State Long Beach have returned a majority of their collections.

This past year, more than 1,000 bills went into effect, and most will become new laws in 2024. Plus, there are bills from previous years that are also scheduled to take effect after Jan. 1.

The Chico-based brewer has taken a more traditional approach to creating its non-alcoholic beer.

Sarah Grimes investigates reports of dead marine mammals up and down the coast. So when she began finding the decapitated bodies of harbor seal pups just a few miles north of Fort Bragg in 2016, she was on the case. Grimes wasn’t able to pin down the culprit until last year, with the help of a UCSC student.

The California Department of Water Resources has approved building a tunnel between the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The approval could signal a new wave of legal challenges to the long-running and controversial project.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe announced it is acquiring about 10,000 acres of land in Northern California for $14.1 million. As part of this, the tribe will remove dams along the Klamath River and restore salmon runs.

The 33-year old Mexican-born man—who from toddler age has been a permanent legal resident of California—has reported abuse, unsanitary conditions and threats of force-feeding before his release from immigration detention in April.

California fast-food workers will earn a $20 minimum wage in April. Other employers might have to raise their pay floor to recruit and retain staff.

The California Faculty Association has announced it will strike in January at the state’s 23 CSU campuses. It’s part of an ongoing effort by the group to obtain a 12% raise for the 29,000 professors and lecturers it represents.

An effort spearheaded by the Newsom administration and congressional leaders resulted in Congress authorizing and accelerating the transfer of seven C-130 aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard to CalFire, expanding California’s firefighting fleet.

Federal funding for domestic violence shelters and housing programs is declining. Advocates want the state to step in, but with a record projected deficit new spending is unlikely.

Google has agreed to pay $700 million and will make changes to its app store it has resisted for years in order to resolve a lawsuit over whether its app store is an illegal monopoly.