Bonnie Lipscomb named as Santa Cruz’s new Deputy City Manager.

Santa Cruz County bank is getting a new name!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Immergo Launches Alpha Program inviting Occupational and Physical Therapists to revolutionize rehab.

Goodles makes Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Food 2025 list.

Ambient Photonics and Verdagy Listed on America's Top Greentech Companies of 2025.

With the help of Joby, NASA has successfully tested a new portable airspace management system (PAMS) designed to enable 24/7 aerial firefighting operations, even in low-visibility conditions.

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (the MAH) faces potential significant challenges due to a recent Executive Order issued by President Trump on March 14th. This order proposes the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the sole federal agency dedicated to supporting American museums and libraries.

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. 

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.

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

Ready to test ride a SwellCycle board? Sign up fast for this amazing new experience in surfing.

A decade-long rail trail project in Santa Cruz has spiraled into a costly, unrealistic infrastructure fiasco. With $1 billion needed just for bridge repairs and a final price tag nearing $5 billion, it exemplifies how progressive ideals without pragmatic governance fuel public frustration — and inadvertently, MAGA’s political momentum.

Hope is more powerful than fear –– That’s why Rising Worldwide, Santa Cruz’s international anti-human trafficking organization is hosting Rising at the Rio, a night of entertainment to fundraise emergency support for local and global survivors of human trafficking.  

Join us on April 2 at the stunning Chaminade Spa & Resort for an evening of cutting-edge insights, dynamic discussion, and top-tier networking at Beaches, Books, Budgets, and Bots. This exclusive event brings together leading innovators and thought leaders to examine how political instability is shaping our communities and the world at large.

Santa Cruz Works is thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership with the renowned Chaminade Resort & Spa, offering exceptional benefits exclusively for our valued Santa Cruz Works Partners.