Santa Cruz County Explainer Articles

Critics of Joe Biden's student debt relief plan say that it causes inflation and is unfair to blue-collar workers. Do they have a point? Here's what the facts say about it.

President Joe Biden announced a plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for each borrower. Here are the details on who is eligible and how the plan works.

Fires, floods, earthquakes—California’s got it all. And CERT volunteers are ready to step in.

Hydroelectric is widely thought of as renewable energy that can help California achieve its climate goals. But the state doesn't even count large hydro plants toward its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity sources.

How local amateur radio operators can help in the next big emergency.

Wind power is essential to meeting California's goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2045. Moving wind farms offshore is the next step. Sites off of Morro Bay and Eureka will soon be leased by the federal government.

As the population of unhoused individuals and families in Santa Cruz has exploded, officials from the City of Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County tackle the issue.

Marin County created the state's first Community Choice Aggregator to deliver energy in 2010. Now, CCA's cover almost the entire California coast, with more than 200 communities choosing to take part in this new way of powering homes and businesses.

How a recent policy with bureaucratic-sounding name ‘Consumer Choice Aggregation’ delivers clean energy from renewable sources more efficiently to California consumers, potentially helping to roll back climate change.

If Clarence Thomas gets his way, the Supreme Court won't stop at revoking the right to abortion. Same sex marriage, contraception and gay sex are likely to be next on the SCOTUS hit list.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that after overturning Roe v. Wade SCOTUS must now overturn decisions allowing same-sex marriage and contraception. Here's why.

As California insurance companies have revoked the fire policies of thousands of homeowners, the state has taken steps to get them covered again.

The 2022 California wildfire season looks like another dangerous one, with the state's historic drought showing no signs of letting up. Here's what to expect, and some measures the state is taking to slow down the flames.

The links between homelessness and crime are complex, and the idea that unhoused individuals present a danger to their community seems to be exaggerated.

Gov. Newsom and the state legislature should consider allocating $40 billion of the state's $97 billion surplus to subsidize the building of low-income housing.

From long before it became a state, to the present day, immigration has shaped California—but they have often been treated poorly. Here’s how immigrants helped build California, through the state’s mixed history with immigration.

Crypto investors have seen more than half of their cryptocurrency value wiped out in six months. What is crypto, and what caused the great crash of 2022?

Before crypto, banking began moving into the digital world as far back as 1953. Here's a brief history of how computers and the internet changed finance.

California may soon shut down its last nuclear power plant, but Gov. Gavin Newsom who once championed the closure has had a change of heart. Federal funds may now keep the plant running.

Following the K-Street shooting, a freelance journalist's thoughts about reporting on the deadliest single episode of gun violence in Sacramento history.