The irony about the Democratic budget that failed passage last week is that 45 percent of the proposals we voted on were the exact same proposals as those in the governor’s May revise.  Of the remaining portion of the budget proposed last week, at least 93 percent contained a portion of the governor’s budget proposals.  ( It may be ironic, but I doubt readers will applaud how aligned with the governor the Dems are. Best not to draw attention to the similarities, since most people seem to loathe the governor’s proposal right now.

Stimulus money funds Summer Youth Employment Program

JoAnne Allen was 15 years old when she got her first job working at a department store. Looking back, Allen, now the manager of Student Support Services at the Santa Cruz County Office of Education (CoE), is thankful for having been an employed teen.

All eyes await the fate of UCSC’s Community Studies Program

Forty years ago, at what was then a small, up-and-coming public university, a man by the name of Bill Friedland founded the Community Studies Department. It has since become a trademark of the school, UC Santa Cruz, and synonymous with its liberal atmosphere.

A local committee’s plan to fight bulk application in 2009

Randa Solick spent the fall of 2007 cringing at the visible effects that the State of California’s aerial pesticide spray over the Monterey Bay area was having on the life around her. The most painful to watch, she says, was how used to it her grandchildren got. “Everyday at preschool, the children stepped out of their ‘outside shoes’ and into their ‘inside shoes,’” she says. “Can you imagine if they had had to do that once a month, for three years?”

Scotts Valley says farewell to longstanding city councilmember while his replacement gears up to tackle the town’s key issues

There were seven candidates vying for three open seats on Scotts Valley’s city council this November. Councilmembers Randy Johnson and Dene Bustichi were re-elected, both with 23 percent of the vote, making retired police sergeant Donna Lind, who was close behind with 22 percent, the only newcomer in the victorious trio. She will be taking the place of Cliff Barrett, who has served on the city council for almost a decade.