Killer Cars, COVID & Copyright

At its meeting Jan. 11, which also happened to be the 75th anniversary of the city’s incorporation, the Capitola City Council received a comprehensive review of the Dec. 28 winter storm event damage.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recipe for digging the state out of a multibillion-dollar budget hole has “strengths and weaknesses” while his revenue projections are “plausible, but optimistic,” the nonpartisan analyst’s office said.

UC Santa Cruz will provide a ”first of its kind” bachelor of arts in Creative Technologies beginning in fall 2024.

Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein says the challenges of doing a joint housing project with the University of California are delaying the groundbreaking of the complex planned for Cabrillo's Aptos campus.

A sports bar along the Capitola Esplanade will be closing amid a years-long feud between the business owners, the landlord and his son.

State funding that has helped fuel a second look at dozens of Santa Cruz County convictions over the past two years may be eliminated in the coming year’s budget.

A former UC Santa Cruz deputy development director claims a retaliatory firing after she complained about a scheme by a consultant to mislead and pressure campus donors. Officials call the claims “absurd.”

Carbon capture is having a moment. Companies such as Chevron Corp. are building technology to capture carbon dioxide from smokestacks while others are working to yank the greenhouse gas out of the air.

Like the redwoods that survived the devastating CZU fire of 2020, the McHenry family is resilient. That fateful August conflagration ruined a promising crop at Beauregard Vineyards.

It’s nice to have a little something to look forward to. Or in this case, a dozen somethings, starting with three special cases.

Bruce Jaffe, a 40-year county resident and longtime Soquel Creek Water District boardmember, is running for the soon-to-be vacant 2nd District seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors.

Bay Area rooftop-solar businesses are reeling from a statewide change that gutted compensation for homeowners returning surplus power to the electrical grid, causing applications for new solar to plunge to a 10-year low.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case related to whether cities and towns can ban camping on public property. The high court could overturn Martin v. Boise, a 2018 federal court decision that keeps western cities and counties from blocking public camping when sufficient shelter space is unavailable.

California’s projected budget deficit of close to $38 billion likely means some cuts are coming. Among them, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed ending the California State Park Adventure Pass, which offers free access to some state parks for fourth graders.

Pea Soup Andersen’s, a Buellton, Calif., restaurant just shy of its 100th birthday, closed suddenly. The restaurant's other location, near Interstate 5 in Santa Nella, remains open.

Sacramento attorney Mark Merin has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of a man who died in May after being held at the county jail. Other inmates have died in recent years, and the jail is under a federal consent decree to improve its health care.

Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism found that hate crimes rose 12.9% between 2022 and 2023. The spike follows a particularly stark increase in crimes against Jewish people.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for a March 19 primary to elect a replacement for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who resigned from Congress in December. If a candidate doesn’t win outright, a runoff will be held on May 21.

Caltrans has set a Jan. 25 deadline for tech companies to show how generative artificial intelligence might reduce traffic congestion in the state. This follows an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September related to this type of AI.

New rules took effect Jan. 1 permanently protecting the most fragile deep sea corals off Southern California. Simultaneously, more than 4,500 square miles of ocean waters are now reopened to fishing after more than 20 years of closures.