As I write this, I’m just three weeks shy of my college graduation. My inevitable existential crisis, having started sometime in April, has been in a state of flux for weeks now — am I excited, nervous, nostalgic or just over it? One thing, though, is certain. For the remaining days of my collegiate career [...]

This Week in News reports on rising office vacancy, with 12.5 percent of office space in the county being vacant, mostly concentrated in the Scotts Valley area. It also takes a look at the Positive Parenting Program, an advocacy program that has sprung from the First Five Commission.

In our insulated shell on campus, the hardships faced by the unemployed may seem distant. But a closer glance reveals how royally screwed we really are.

According to a monthly data release from the Employment and Development Department of the California government, the Santa Cruz unemployment rate was 13.6 percent for the month of March 2009. This figure is 2 percent higher than the statewide average and 4.6 percent higher than the national average. The number has increased over the last few months and is higher than last year’s estimate for the period, at 8.3 percent. As a result, over 20,000 citizens are unemployed in Santa Cruz County.