LosGatosObserver.com

When Lara Marotta decided to open Twist last summer, “with no money and Facebook,” it was all about the clothes. In the Pacific Avenue storefront where she used to run Galla Cabana before selling it several years ago, her concept for a high-end consignment store stocked with designer labels began to take shape. Sophisticated Ralph Lauren dresses and Gucci jackets would hang next to playful Free People sweaters and shimmering Bebe halter tops, carefully chosen fashion pieces at a fraction of the original price. With slide show.

Beaches throughout the county were closed Saturday following an 8.8 magnitude quake in Chile.

Peter Meehan remembers when the only two companies making organic chocolate were Newman’s Own Organics, the company he co-founded in Aptos with his business partner Nell Newman, and the Switzerland-based Rapunzel. In what some might consider an unfortunate if principled decision, Rapunzel was sweetening its chocolate with molasses rather than refined sugar. “It was a very challenging piece of chocolate to eat,” Meehan recalls.

How bad does a pesticide have to be before the California Department of Pesticide Regulation locks it up and throws away the key? We’ll soon find out. Last week a scientific review committee released a report on the fumigant methyl iodide, created by chemical company Arysta as an alternative to methyl bromide in strawberry fields.

Humans having made such a mess of things, it’s natural to suspect animals know something we don’t about almost everything. So in honor of the cosmic alignment that has the Year of the Tiger beginning on Valentine’s Day, we turned to the animal kingdom to see what wisdom we might glean from the swimming- flapping-prowling set on the subject of love.

Car lovers, hang on to your driving caps: this Labor Day weekend, Surf City will play host to the first Santa Cruz Concours d’Elegance at Chaminade, drawing gorgeous luxury automobiles and muscle cars from all over the Bay Area like a giant magnet of cool and giving Pebble Beach one less thing to lord over everyone else.

When Chris La Veque was still working at restaurants, he’d go in on his days off and practice his newfound hobby of making sausages, mixing meat with herbs and spices as inspiration led him. “I wasn’t even clocking in because I love doing it so much,” he says. “It’s my passion.”

The SantaCruz.com team poet commemorates a momentous occasion in Santa Cruz letters.

MediaNews watchers, take note: more mergers are on the way for the conglomerate that owns the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the San Jose Mercury News and dozens of other papers.

It’s nothing like the rest of Remy Le Boeuf’s work. Here in his hometown, the 23-year-old sax player is best known as one half of the formidable jazz duo formed with his twin brother, pianist Pascal. That work has been hailed by the New York Times as reaching for “the gleaming cosmopolitanism of our present era.” But during his jazz studies at the Manhattan School of Music, which awarded him bachelors and masters degrees, Remy had a little side thing with classical composition. This Friday, his piece The Third Elegy, a contemplative, Eastward-looking number for cello, violin, bass clarinet and vibraphone, receives its world premiere as part of the New Music Works concert Night of the Emerging Composers.

One of the greatest challenges facing China is a dearth of fresh water for its burgeoning population.

In 1994, the only city in the United States with a 10-minute play festival was Louisville, Ky, home of the innovative Actors Theatre of Louisville. In 1995, Santa Cruz became the second.

Ben Lomond Park was once a popular attraction, especially because of its swimming hole.

According to the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 17 percent of U.S. children between the ages of 2 and 19 are classified as obese. But some areas of the U.S. are more obese than others.

Santa Cruz County has a $12.9 million deficit that it must close in the next 18 months. The County’s Chief Executive Susan Mauriello warns that welfare offices and their associated nonprofits can expect to face even deeper cuts than they did last year. In 2009, the county slashed its budget by 6 percent

Redwood City resident Cole White, 24, turned himself in to the police yesterday after a judge signed a warrant for his arrest.

Santa Cruz City Council could debate a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries as soon as Jan. 12.

At least one mountain lion is on the prowl in the Carbonera and Branciforte Creek watersheds. Local residents report that a goat was killed on property belonging to George and Suzanne Purnell in mid-December, and a 200-lb. sheep belong to Christian and Vicky Culver just three days later. Fish and Game Lieutenant Don Kelly, who oversees the area, says that the attacks are surprising because of their proximity to areas inhabited by people, but that this could be attributed to changing weather.

Customers at the 7-Eleven on Ocean Street and Broadway were concerned Friday morning to find the store open but no shopkeeper inside.

Recently there has been a large movement towards installing synthetic turf. This new generation of Astroturf, often called eco turf, is being touted as the newest in green landscaping. To be sure, there is an impressive list of ecological concerns that this turf addresses, including the elimination of the need to mow, water, install irrigation, control weeds, fertilize or haul away grass clippings. It won’t get muddy and it’s wheelchair accessible. So what’s not to like?

The owner of Bingo! Dog Training talks life, pups, and staying awake while reading.

County School District Superintendent Michael Watkins hopes to spend another four years in office, improving local students’ access to technology. He may be facing a challenge, however, from former Santa Cruz City Schools Superintendent Alan Pagano. Though he has not officially entered the race, Pagano says that there are steps he wants the county to take to make education more efficient and cost-effective. Among them is the reconfiguration of the county’s 10 school districts.

Thieves in Santa Cruz have found a new target—the catalytic converters under cars that limit their exhaust output.

Santa Cruz City Council members joined the homeless community and the staff at the Homeless Services Center to remember the 47 homeless people who died this year.

It was one for the record books, this 2009. Oh, sure, there were bright points: the inauguration, some entertaining scandals, the inauguration, Giants slugger Pablo “Kung-Fu Panda” Sandoval, the inauguration. But for the most part, when we look back at 2009 we prefer to contemplate what might have happened rather than what actually did.

From the first bars of the Christmas medley that opens Scrooge, the audience understands that it’s in for one plum pudding of a theatrical experience. The chorus members, swathed in bonnets and frock coats straight out of a Dickens storybook, set about the cheerful business of caroling, converging in picturesque groups on the generous stage of the plush new Crocker Theater. Leslie Bricusse’s score hews closely to the traditional melodies, at least here, and director Andrew Ceglio, a master of the witty grace note, trains his comic impulses toward wholesomeness in the opening pantomimes. This adaptation of A Christmas Carol, we are given to understand, will not be sly or ironic but warm-hearted and nostalgic.

A buxom aspiring female Santa Claus in a quilted down jacket swaggers out of room C1 in the Civic Center where I’m next in line for my “Rent-A-Santa” interview.
“Ho ho ho,” she says over her shoulder, giving me an unnerving sidelong glance, a sort of knowing sneer tinged with Christmas spirit. She’s warring with me for the job of Santa Claus.

A new study says the Earth’s temperature is even more sensitive to increases in carbon dioxide than previously believed.

After a very difficult 2009, there is some good news on the horizon for small businesses in Santa Cruz.

A 26-year-old man was stabbed twice outside a Pacific Avenue nightclub early Saturday morning in what police are calling a gang-related incident.

Opponents of the Arana Gulch bike path suffered a setback yesterday when the California Supreme Court rejected their appeal to stop the project. 

Police have arrested Reid Nottoli, 25, in a major gun and drug bust near Watsonville.

The County Administrative Office has informed department heads that they must prepare for another 20 percent cost reduction in next year’s budget.

“Do I sound all right?” Rachel Williams asked the audience at a recent show at Fernwood in Big Sur. The crowd’s loud, affirming cheers made the self-conscious singer-songwriter blush like a schoolgirl caught passing a note.

The City of Santa Cruz has reached an agreement with California’s Department of Fish and Game to pay $25,000 for blocking up Majors Creek.

Despite California’s reputation for crunchy clean, granola lifestyles, almost one out of every three teens living here is either overweight or at risk of becoming so.

UCSC astronomer Steven Vogt and his team have recently discovered six new planets circling nearby stars.

Sure, it’s been cold recently, but was that snow in downtown Santa Cruz? Actually, it was 25 tons of shredded ice, which blanketed the intersection of Pacific Avenue and Cooper Street. Still, it was snow-like enough to bring kids out in droves—and bring plenty of adults to release the kid inside them too. The Downtown Association’s annual Snow Night, originally scheduled for last Tuesday but cancelled due to inclement weather, was a success.

County homeowners stand to benefit from a new state program that will help them become energy efficient, and even install costly solar panels to reduce energy costs. The new program, CaliforniaFIRST, signed onto by the Board of Supervisors, enables property owners to finance such improvement to their homes through their property taxes.

California Department of Public Health and public regulators are warning people against eating wild mussels harvested off the Santa Cruz coast.

The air in Watsonville just got a little cleaner, and the people to benefit most are kids.

The SCPD arrested two gang members on Pacific Avenue Sunday night after they allegedly challenged the driver of a car to a fight.

Last night, millions of people across the United States went to the phones to decide whether Ellenore Scott, 19, could really dance.

Cabrillo College adjunct anthropology instructor Allan Lonnberg points out that UCSC isn’t the only Santa Cruz college that’s suffering.

The sign on Pacific Avenue says “No Skateboarding” and “No Walking Dogs.” It doesn’t say “No Smoking” … yet. That’s an excuse used by most of the people caught lighting up on the street, months after the city passed its strict no-smoking ordinance. They simply didn’t know. As for the policemen patrolling the street, they spend their time telling people about the new law or, at best, handing out warnings. Tickets for smoking are much rarer, and are handed out on average about once a day.

Just two years ago, recruiters across the United States had to beg people to join the military.

They won’t believe it in Peoria, but Rhan Wilson isn’t making fun of Christmas. True, his show An Altared Christmas, now in its fifth year, puts carols in a minor key to comic effect—a dolorous “O Christmas Tree,” an ominous “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” a distraught-bordering-on-unhinged “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”—but the producer of the highly entertaining musical variety show says he is not, in fact, mocking the holiday. He’s making fun of what people have done to it.

Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties won an important legal victory on Wednesday in their lawsuit against 10 major pharmaceutical companies.

County health officials have reneged on their policy of providing the swine flue vaccine only to the groups most at-risk.

With the first annual Woofy Awards right around the corner, it’s time to take a look at the most common canine in dog-happy Santa Cruz, the fearless chihuahua. They’re “Tiny, but mighty,” as Chloe the Chihuahua described herself in the 2008 hit “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” and they’re just about everywhere. California has more chihuahuas than it knows what to do with, and has even begun exporting some of them out of state. In Santa Cruz County alone, animal shelters in Watsonville and Live Oaks took in more than 400 abandoned chihuahuas in 2008.

Peter Nichols, an outspoken teacher at Pajaro Valley Unified School District, has launched his own show on community television.

Police believe that gangs were involved in the shooting of a 17-year-old teen in Watsonville last night. The boy, who has not been identified, remains in critical condition. The incident occurred just before 8:00 pm near Jefferson and High streets. He was apparently stopped by gang members and an altercation ensued, in which he was shot at least seven times in the chest. Police are still looking for suspects in the case.

“We’re in grave risk,” warned City Manager Dick Wilson during his mid-year budget update yesterday. He expects that next year’s revenue will not increase, while expenses increase, and the State of California eyes every possibility to close its own budget gap (estimated at one-quarter of the state budget). With all the low hanging fruit already picked, Wilson is recommending cutting retirement benefits for new municipal employees, and asking them to work until they are 60 or to receive fewer benefits if they retire at 55.

The high cost of living coupled with a lack of jobs means Santa Cruz County is the hardest hit in the greater Bay Area.

A teen handed his social worker a pipe bomb (without the pipe) yesterday at the county’s Emeline offices.

Jabriel Levi Grisell, 20, of Scotts Valley was arrested by the SCPD for stabbing two men during an argument last weekend.

The owner of the Alimur Mobile Home Park in Soquel has long been pressuring the county to allow him to sell of his property so that it can be converted into a condominium style arrangement.

In the 18 months since he was appointed President of the University of California system, Chancellor Mark Yudof has never once visited the UCSC campus

People passing the St. George Residences on Pacific Avenue looked up last night expecting to be shocked by the two Nazi flags hanging in one unit’s windows.

Not too long ago, kids used to spend most of their free time running around outdoors, playing sports and riding their bikes.

Students at the Baymonte Christian School in Scotts Valley filled 351 shoeboxes with much- needed items such as soap, toothbrushes and washcloths, along with treats like candy and toys.

For Zachary, a homeless man living in Santa Cruz Harbor, Krusty the Cat is the closest thing to family. So when Krusty came down with a severe eye infection, the community rallied to help.

People passing by the Residences at the St. George were shocked by what they saw this Thanksgiving on Pacific Avenue.

The Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project is planning to release 23,000 steelhead trout into the San Lorenzo River and Scott Creek, four months ahead of schedule this year. The fish are normally released in April. At the same time, 1,000 coho salmon have been transported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s laboratory at Terrace Point.

Despite all the talk about curbing violence in the city, Santa Cruz police faced a bloody holiday weekend that left one man dead and two men in the hospital in two separate incidents.

Three UCSC graduate students wrote an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel defending student actions in the recent campus protests.

Santa Cruz City Schools trustees have a tough job ahead of them in coming weeks: trimming their $60 million budget to the tune of $3.4 million.

Ricky Maurice Howard, owner of Howard’s Piano Moving, moves pianos with a surprising amount of elegance.

The royal family of Hawaii paid tribute to Santa Cruz by donating a bronze plaque honoring the three princes who first surfed here in 1885. According to the story, three Hawaiian princes visited the coast that year while on vacation from St. Matthew’s Hall military school in San Mateo. When they saw the waves, they ordered three 15-foot, 100-pound surfboards to be made for them from the local redwoods. They paddled them out of the San Lorenzo River, and surfing history was made.

Just two days ago SanJose.com reported that Murdoch and Microsoft are planning to take on Google. They could be joined by the Denver-based MediaNews Group.

Visitors to Dominican Hospital and Rehabilitation Services will have to undergo H1N1 screening starting this Monday in an effort to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Santa Cruz has an old/new mayor as of Tuesday night. City Council unanimously picked Mike Rotkin to replace Cynthia Matthews. It is the fifth time Rotkin has served as mayor, breaking all previous records. Rotkin is now completing his sixth four-year term on city council, over a period stretching back more than 30 years—according to city statutes, councilmembers must take a two-year break after serving for four terms. Ryan, Coonerty, 35, who was chosen to serve as vice mayor, quipped, “Mike’s been on the council almost as long as I’ve been alive.”

Santa Cruz’s historic Salz Tannery is latest recipient of federal stimulus funding. About $4.7 million will be used to renovate the Beam House and Tanyard Center, and convert them into a high tech incubator for local digital media companies. The total cost of the project is $6.7 million, covered largely by a $1.9 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. A performing arts center is also scheduled to be built on the site, which already has 100 affordable housing and working units.

City leaders in Santa Cruz hosted a brainstorming session last night in an effort to come up with ideas to curb local violence.

It was the biggest protest against the UC fee hikes, gaining national and international attention. For a while, CNN even featured the story of UCSC’s protesters’ occupation of Kerr Hall on the front page of its website. Then came Sunday morning, and the press was banned from campus for 45 minutes. According to eyewitnesses, including several faculty members, the police arrived in full riot gear and forced the students out of the building. Some were injured. Anthropology professor Mark Anderson was taken away on a stretcher.

With winter ahead, fewer people will be heading to Santa Cruz’s state parks to hike and camp, and that’s a relief for the local rangers. Faced with a 10 percent budget cut, parks such as Big Basin and Henry Cowell will have to trim their budgets by $14 million and deal with less staff because of a state-enforced three-day-per-month furlough.

Police are still investigating what caused the crash of a light aircraft in an orchard just outside Watsonville Municipal Airport.

It’s no secret that Santa Cruz is faced with budget problems.

There may soon be a new charter school in Watsonville, the Escuela Xochitl Tonatiuh. The school, proposed by Teresa Robinson of Los Gatos, is planned for 85 students and would be intended to help middle-school students avoid getting involved in drugs and gang violence.

Last week, architect Cove Britton sued the county to restore a planning appeals board that was disbanded earlier this year after just a few meetings.

When UC’s Board of Regents met in UCLA yesterday to vote on a 32 percent fee hike for students, they gathered behind closed doors in a windowless room.

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency lost the chair of its board yesterday with the sudden resignation of Dennis Osmer. He later compared the role of chair to that of a circus ringmaster, and noted one boardmember, John G. Eiskamp, as being particularly troublesome.

Watsonville’s city council selected Luis Alejo to serve as the city’s next mayor. Alejo, the son of migrant workers, was born and raised in Watsonville and is running for the the 28th District Assembly seat being vacated by Anna Caballero.

Santa Cruz is hoping to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, but that does not mean that it will be imposing new taxes on them, at least for now. In addition to state and federal taxes, the dispensaries currently pay a 9.5 cent sales tax to the city. It has been suggested that an additional tax be paid by the dispensaries, in part to limit the number of nonlocals who come to Santa Cruz to buy marijuana. According to some estimates, only 25 percent of the customers at the city’s two dispensaries live in the City of Santa Cruz. Another 50 percent live in the county, while 25 percent come from out-of-county.

The SCPD has taken the initiative in the fight against crime.

Poverty is up; giving is down. That, in a nutshell, is the central theme of Second Harvest’s campaign to provide food for the needy this Thanksgiving.

It all began in the 1980s, when the Santa Cruz City Council began to speak out against immigration raids.

For some people, Friday night is a chance to get out and party. For many students at UCSC, particularly in the departments of Science and Engineering, it used to be a chance to get some work done at the library.

A debate is brewing in Santa Cruz County between supporters and opponents of a passenger rail line to run along the 32-mile Union Pacific line.

Peak wildfire season in Northern California ended at 8am today, and Calfire will begin the transition to its winter staffing in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. The state’s burn suspension in the Bay Area will also end at that time. Wildfire season officially began on June 1.

Jon Stewart opened Wednesday night’s show with a reference to UCSC’s latest job posting for an archivist for its Grateful Dead collection.

Santa Cruz City Council decided on Tuesday to hike the fees on some restaurants serving alcohol, depending on how much alcohol they sell and how late the restaurant is open.

Generally, the opening of a new Safeway is no big deal. But the company’s top brass turned up in Santa Cruz this week to check out the mammoth new Safeway at the Almar shopping center.

Local residents planning to attend a local swine flu vaccine clinic at Cabrillo College next Saturday should start making alternate plans.

After several years of flat conditions, the O’Neill Cold Water Classic blew up big this year. Photographer Dina Scoppetone caught the highlights; view the slideshow here.

The County Sheriff’s Office will be asking the state for $275,000 to help it crack down on local marijuana growers and traffickers. The money would allow the Sheriff’s Department to add an officer to its narcotics team and cover the cost of a part-time prosecutor. Sheriff Phil Wowak added that the funding is especially crucial this year because of county budget cuts, which prevented him from hiring 20 new deputies.

The SCPD has released a sketch of a man suspected of attempting to kidnap a 23-year-old woman as she walked back from a bar to the restaurant where she worked.

It could be much worse, but a new report by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership named Santa Cruz as California’s 23rd most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians.