Officially, 150 jobs were added to Santa Cruz over 2009, with 86 of them in the final quarter. County officials are more optimistic, saying that as many as 362 jobs were either created or saved last year through the county’s departments alone—and that this doesn’t count small businesses that benefited.
Articles by Danny Wool
Santa Cruz Prosecutor Says: No Hoodia, No Diet Pills
A Santa Cruz prosecutor discovered that the weight-loss supplement DEX L-10, touted for its Hoodia Gorodoni, had about as much Hoodia in it as a Coke bottle. Prosecutor Kelly Walker took the manufacturers to court to prevent Breakthrough Engineered Nutrition Inc. from selling their pill in California.
The Exotic Is Among Us
When travel writer Eric Hansen wrote Orchid Fever in 2000, the Columbus Dispatch commented that “The exotic, it turns out, is among us.” As it was in Santa Cruz this weekend. Botany, obsession, and plant-politics converged in Soquel for the Santa Cruz Orchid Society’s Orchid Show. “You can get off alcohol, drugs, women, food, and cars,” says Joe Kunisch, a commercial orchid grower from Rochester, New York, “but once you’re hooked on orchids, you’re finished.”
Local Groups March to ‘Take Back the Streets’
Last night, some 70 members of women’s and neighborhood advocacy groups joined with community leaders and the local police department in a protest march against violence.
County Names Poet Laureate
The SantaCruz.com team poet commemorates a momentous occasion in Santa Cruz letters.
Two Dead in Apartment Complex Shooting
The SCPD is investigating a double homicide at a lower Ocean apartment complex at Canfield Avenue and Barson Street on Saturday. It was the second and third murder in Santa Cruz so far in 2010.
Thousands Lose Power in Storm
PG&E reported that 18,300 customers in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were without power yesterday as a result of the storm, and the worst is yet to come today. Fallen trees knocked down power lines and blocked highways, including Highway 9, where a 120-foot cedar tree kept traffic backed up. Winds are reported to have reached up to 47 miles per hour. Storm surges along the beaches resulted in waves of up to 18 feet, and Capitola closed its Esplanada and wharf.
Prop 8 Trial Focuses on Economics, Mental Health
In the courtroom yesterday proponents of gay marriage pointed to the loss of revenue resulting from Proposition 8.
Water Problems Plague UCSC Expansion Plan
Has the Santa Cruz Water Department fully studied the implications of a proposed expansion of the UCSC campus? Some members of the county’s Board of Supervisors are not convinced it has.
Santa Cruz Flips for Fungi
For weeks and months, the status of marijuana has been in the local news. For a welcome shift, attention this weekend switched to ‘shrooms, as Santa Cruz celebrated its Fungus Fair. Over 300 varieties of local fungus and mushrooms were on display at the event, but that’s just a tiny sliver of the 3,000-5,000 varieties available locally.
