1268836660 http://news.santacruz.com/curtis-cartier Santa Cruz News: Local news and information for Santa Cruz CA constantly updated. en curtis@santacruz.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-16T18:58:39+00:00 /2010/03/16/rangers_in_danger /2010/03/16/rangers_in_danger A standard-issue Santa Cruz park ranger uniform comes with a forest green shirt and slacks, hiking boots, a wide-brimmed hat and a tool belt containing a Leatherman multi-tool, a flashlight, a notepad, a two-way radio and a can of pepper spray. Nowhere in any pocket, holster or clip is a device designed to assist a ranger in a gunfight. So when Rangers Brian Watson and Gar Eidam stumbled onto an illegal campsite in the Pogonip last month and found $850 worth of heroin and a loaded .357 magnum handgun, they radioed in for help from the Santa Cruz Police Parks Unit. With slideshow. News 2010-03-16T18:58:39+00:00 /2010/03/16/police_raid_watsonville_stores_for_contraband /2010/03/16/police_raid_watsonville_stores_for_contraband Khalil Rahim didn’t know there was gang violence in Watsonville, because he lives in San Jose. At least that’s what he told the police, after they raided his discount cigarette store and confiscated brass knuckles and switchblades. News 2010-03-16T15:05:55+00:00 /2010/03/16/layoffs_furloughs_on_the_way_for_santa_cruz_county_schools /2010/03/16/layoffs_furloughs_on_the_way_for_santa_cruz_county_schools Over 23,000 pink slips are being sent to everyone who works in education across California this week. Almost no one is immune, regardless of whether they’re a principal or a janitor. Though final notices will only be sent out in the middle of May, just using last year as an indicator suggests that some 60 percent of the people receiving the pink slips will end up losing their jobs. News 2010-03-16T14:58:09+00:00 /2010/03/12/arana_gulch_path_back_to_drawing_board /2010/03/12/arana_gulch_path_back_to_drawing_board Those that listened closely Thursday evening around 6:45pm might have heard a dull thud that echoed around the county. That was the sound of several dozen jaws hitting the ground inside the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Chambers when the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously against the city’s Arana Gulch Master Plan and its controversial paved bicycle path, a decade and a half in the planning. News 2010-03-12T17:39:54+00:00 /2010/03/10/santa_cruz_city_council_looks_to_impose_stricter_codes_for_marijuana_dispen /2010/03/10/santa_cruz_city_council_looks_to_impose_stricter_codes_for_marijuana_dispen Tuesday evening, the Santa Cruz City Council voted to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city to two, effectively putting a moratorium on any new pot clubs. News 2010-03-10T18:22:09+00:00 /2010/03/10/uc-santa_cruz_students_mull_future_prospects /2010/03/10/uc-santa_cruz_students_mull_future_prospects Matthew Moore didn’t carry a sign at last week’s student protest at UCSC. With a walking stick in one hand and his dog’s leash in the other, he stood in a grassy field near the university entrance at High and Bay streets and watched while hundreds of his fellow students demanded the university lower its fees and restaff its departments. News 2010-03-10T11:00:54+00:00 /2010/03/05/downtown_santa_cruz_businesses_slowly_picking_up /2010/03/05/downtown_santa_cruz_businesses_slowly_picking_up There’s good news for businesses in downtown Santa Cruz. After two and a half years of recession— National Bureau of Economic Research claims that the downward trended started in December 2007—things are finally looking up. Downtown has suffered significantly in that time not only from the recession but also because of a negative image as a center for gang members and the homeless. Business 2010-03-05T16:22:39+00:00 /2010/03/05/rad_girls_punk_santa_cruz1 /2010/03/05/rad_girls_punk_santa_cruz1 Ramona Cash is a cute, punky looking brunette you’d expect to see modeling skirts and bikinis in a skateboard fashion catalog. Over coffee in downtown Santa Cruz, she parts a section of her professionally highlighted hair to reveal an inch-wide heart-shaped bald spot from where her friends precisely ripped the hair from her scalp. News 2010-03-05T15:59:10+00:00 /2010/03/04/students_protest_fee_hikes_at_ucsc /2010/03/04/students_protest_fee_hikes_at_ucsc Fed up with rising fee costs and slashed department budgets, UCSC students staged a massive protest on campus Thursday as students across the nation demonstrated against what many see as higher education becoming unaffordable.  With slide show. News 2010-03-04T23:40:01+00:00 /2010/03/03/fight_over_arana_gulch_bike_path_comes_to_a_head_in_santa_cruz /2010/03/03/fight_over_arana_gulch_bike_path_comes_to_a_head_in_santa_cruz On a sunlit winter’s day following a long and rainy week, Jean Brocklebank and Michael Lewis trudge through the soggy soil and tall grasses of Arana Gulch in Santa Cruz, talking about their group’s upcoming case before the California Coastal Commission on March 11. Suddenly Brocklebank stops and lays down the situation as she, and doubtless other members of the Friends of Arana Gulch, sees it. “This not a case of environmentalists versus environmentalists,” she says. With slide show. News 2010-03-03T11:00:32+00:00