Santa Cruz County Elections & Politics Digest

In an announcement on July 29, Cabrillo College announced it's seeking nominations for the seat vacated by Martha Victoria Vega who has resigned.

The Scotts Valley Fire Protection District board of directors approved a $24.5 million bond measure to go before voters in the November election, to replace Fire Station 1 on Erba Lane.

There never was much of a chance that California Gov. Gavin Newsom would be running for president this year, even if President Joe Biden were to step aside.

California failed to ban private detention centers. Now, it’s focusing on their working conditions, for immigrants who toil for $1 a day.

The Republican hopeful brought in more cash than Democratic rival Adam Schiff for the first time this campaign during the latest quarter, but still has less to spend.

CalMatters launched Digital Democracy in April, and its impact has rippled across the Legislature.

California lawmakers met into the night on July 3 to finish the November ballot before heading off on summer vacation until Aug. 5.

Much is expected of the California voter.

Small and low-income school officials say the bond measure deal is unfair. The money is allocated through matching grants, so wealthier districts that can raise more local funds will get more money from the state.

In its June 25 meeting, the Watsonville City Council voted to advance two proposed changes to the city charter to the November ballot.

On June 11, Solano County elections officials announced the verification of necessary signatures for the California Forever sponsored initiative to amend the county General Plan to be on the November ballot.

The two-day CalMatters Ideas Festival wrapped on June 6 with more than a dozen events examining critical policy issues impacting the lives of millions of Californians.

California is hailed as a national leader for voting access. But visually impaired voters and their advocates say they still face unnecessary barriers, despite bills and lawsuits. Some election officials raise security concerns.

In a statement posted to the UCSC website on June 4, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive defended use of police to break up a pro-Palestine encampment in the interest of campus safety.

After University of California students were arrested or suspended for protests, student workers are striking at three campuses. The Office of President says the strike violates the union contract.

It’s time for the folks in California’s Capitol to play let’s-make-a-deal – or actually, many deals.

California lawmakers voted to offer an official apology for the state’s role in supporting slavery and moved several reparations bills but let others die.

In a decision released on May 23, a state labor board denied a request for an injunction against striking academic workers filed by the University of California.

On May 20, UCSC academic workers and students walked out of classes in protest of the UC system administration handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The job action starting today at UC Santa Cruz isn’t about pay, but instead is in response to how UC deployed police to clear pro-Palestinian encampments on campuses.

The state’s multibillion-dollar shortfall shapes which spending bills survived the ‘suspense file’ hearings by the Assembly and Senate appropriations committees.

More than half of the U.S. House supports a bill to extend the funds, but it can’t get out of committee.

At many universities across the country, graduation for the Class of 2024 will feel more like making it through airport security than a procession through a free-flowing campus green or a cheering stadium crowd.

The Scotts Valley Unified School District is looking into a bond measure on the November ballot to fund upgrades and improvements to classrooms and facilities.

Hundreds of UCSC students and faculty participated in a peaceful march to the Quarry where several dozen protestors set up tents.

A bill to rein in a proposed monthly fee on California electric bills would let California’s largest for-profit utility companies charge customers $24 per month — with fees as low as $6 for lower-income customers — as a kind of membership fee for the power grid.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new ad blasts GOP efforts to make it harder for people to leave states with abortion bans and seek treatment elsewhere.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant who grew up in California, is the first U.S. Cabinet official impeached in nearly 150 years.

Anti-tax groups in California have qualified a measure for the November ballot that would make raising state and local taxes much more difficult. It’s a showdown that’s been building for nearly five decades.

The Santa Cruz County clerk officially certified the March 5 election vote count on April 2.

Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. chose Oakland to announce his vice presidential pick on Tuesday, so it wasn’t too much of a shocker that his pick was Nicole Shanahan, a Bay Area tech attorney and philanthropist.

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit of an urgent priority: shutting down access to abortion pills for women across the country.