When our institutions are under threat, the best response is action. In Santa Cruz, that means adopting a nonprofit—supporting it with time, money, or attention. With over 500 local organizations, there's one for everyone. Defend what makes this place special. Civil society survives when we choose to make it ours.
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CruzHacks 2025 is back and bigger than ever! Join 500+ innovators April 11–13 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium for 36 hours of nonstop hacking, $5K in prizes, and groundbreaking ideas. Don’t miss the public showcase Sunday at 2 p.m. Huge thanks to our amazing community sponsors!
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New Leaf Energy proposes a $200 million lithium battery storage site near Watsonville to improve power reliability. Following a fire at Moss Landing, locals raise safety concerns. The project requires extensive approvals and an environmental review, with Minto Road identified as the only viable location in Santa Cruz County.
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Amid tariff-induced economic uncertainties, Santa Cruz has historically shown resilience by spawning innovative startups during tough economic times. Companies like Looker and PayStand exemplify how recessions can spark creativity and groundbreaking business models.
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Beaches, Books, Budgets, and Bots brought together innovators, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs for an unforgettable evening of insight, tech demos, and dynamic discussion. From political impacts on education and climate to cutting-edge AI startups, the event sparked ideas, collaboration, and meaningful connections at the beautiful Chaminade Spa & Resort.
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Santa Cruz City Council has approved the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Workforce Development grant, unlocking a transformative opportunity for local youth and businesses.
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On March 29, 2025, Digital NEST marked a historic milestone—its 10-year anniversary—with a vibrant and emotional benefit celebration at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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Santa Cruz Works is proud to announce a tasty new partnership with TOGO’S of Capitola, Scotts Valley, and Watsonville—bringing more than just fresh sandwiches to our business community
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Santa Cruz Ventures has announced a pre-seed investment in Swellcycle, a Santa Cruz-based startup that is redefining how composite products are made—starting with surfboards.
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SpaceX and Jane Technologies have revealed plans to launch High Frontier —the first-ever cannabis dispensary in space. Designed to serve future Mars colonies and research the effects of zero gravity on cannabis cultivation, the venture promises to boldly go where no bud has gone before.
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In a city where startups meet surf breaks, one Santa Cruz company is paddling out with a truly next-level innovation. Meet SwellCycle, the startup behind the world’s first AI-powered, email-connected, fully 3D-printed surfboard —a ride designed for entrepreneurs who don’t want to miss a beat, even mid-barrel.
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Humans fear AI not for its imperfections, but for its unsettling similarities and potential superiority. As AI approaches truth more objectively than we do, it challenges our identity, forcing us to confront the myth of human intellectual supremacy.
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In late 2022, Satya Nadella made a wager that could define not just his tenure, but Microsoft’s identity for the next decade: a multibillion-dollar alignment with OpenAI and a wholesale reorientation of Microsoft around artificial intelligence. Will his wager pay off?
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Over the last two weeks, Google and OpenAI casually dropped a bombshell: multimodal image generation. Now, the same system that writes like Shakespeare after six espresso shots can also think visually.
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Sol Lipman, a successful tech entrepreneur known for ventures like 12seconds.tv and DRIVR, made an unexpected pivot from Silicon Valley to Santa Cruz’s downtown pizza scene. Alongside his wife Erica, Sol purchased Pleasure Pizza Downtown with a mission to reconnect with community in a tangible, day-to-day way.
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AI, advanced manufacturing, climate change, and electrification are driving global electricity demand. In the U.S., data centers and new factories are key contributors, though most new power comes from renewables.
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We are entering even harder times but we must continue taking deliberate action to reduce the use of fossil fuels and eliminate them as quickly as possible to prevent continued warming of the atmosphere and eventual collapse of Earth’s ecosystems that have supported life as we know it for thousands of years.
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A recent commentary in Lookout Santa Cruz reads like a eulogy for a progressive era its author helped define. But let’s be honest: that era was never as pure or effective as its champions like to remember.
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In a powerful letter to the community (Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 20, 2025), UC Santa Cruz faculty members Needhi Bhalla, Susan Carpenter, and Nobel Laureate Carol Greider raise urgent concerns about recent cuts to federal biomedical research funding by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk
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Ready to test ride a SwellCycle board? Sign up fast for this amazing new experience in surfing.
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