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Thousands participate in 16th annual She.is.beautiful Santa Cruz race

SANTA CRUZ — The 16th annual She.is.beautiful race returned to Santa Cruz Saturday morning, drawing thousands of runners, walkers and supporters from Santa Cruz and beyond to celebrate female empowerment. The streets of Santa Cruz’s Westside were flooded with over 6,000 people of all genders and ages zooming by in glitter, butterfly wings or cowboy hats. People ran in Lululemon...

Stephany Estrada, left, gets a congratulatory hug Saturday morning from her mother Yeni after crossing the She.is.beautiful finish line at Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz. The streets of westside Santa Cruz were filled with 6,000 runners, walkers, dancers and skippers for what race organizers called an "inspiring, uplifting, and welcoming space for humans to come together to sweat their story in all the seasons of life." (Shmuel Thaler — Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The damaged Vistra battery storage plant in Moss Landing, seen June 26, 2025. (Courtesy EPA)

Rep. Jimmy Panetta introduces bipartisan bill to bolster battery storage safety

Monte Vista Christian sophomore Easton Alanis repeated as the mixed 50-yard freestyle champion at the CCS Swimming Championships at Independence High in San Jose on Saturday. (Sarah Smith - Santa Cruz Sentinel file)

MVC para swimmer Easton Alanis wins pair of titles at CCS Championships

A Pacific gopher snake undulates across the all-weather track at the East Field at UC Santa Cruz this week. The snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer) is a subspecies of the widespread gopher snake species and belongs to the constricting family colubridae. Pacific gopher snakes can be large, with hatchlings reaching up to 20 inches and adults reaching up to 7 feet in length. These spotted snakes are sometimes confused for rattlesnakes, but they are nonvenomous and are not pit vipers. Snakes use serpentine locomotion, also called lateral undulation, to change location. They move their bodies along an S-shaped path, bending in a way that generates a wave of muscular contractions. Rectilinear locomotion is a mode of travel in which the snake moves in a straight line. Besides the Pacific gopher, snakes commonly found on the UCSC campus include Northern Pacific rattlesnakes, a variety of garter snakes, California kingsnake, ring-necked snakes, forest sharp-tailed snakes and the rubber boa. (Shmuel Thaler — Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Photo | Pacific gopher snakes often found on UC Santa Cruz campus

Harbor High’s boys volleyball team, shown putting up a block against rival Santa Cruz on Thursday, were placed in the CCS Open Division for the CCS playoffs. Santa Cruz qualified in Division II. (Randy Luke - Special to the Sentinel)

Four county teams qualify for CCS boys volleyball playoffs

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Sports

Santa Cruz's Jesse Dueck attacks for UCLA's beach volleyball team against Stanford in the NCAA Division I championship at Gulf Beach Place in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Sunday. (Ross Turteltaub - UCLA Athletics)

Santa Cruz’s Jesse Dueck helps UCLA win beach volleyball national title | Local Roundup

Santa Cruz's Jesse Dueck helped the No. 3 seed UCLA's beach volleyball team win the NCAA Division I championship at Gulf Beach Place in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Sunday.

Local News

Photo | Jim Phillips hosts solo exhibit at R. Blitzer Gallery

Artist Jim Phillips, who created the iconic "Screaming Hand" skateboarding graphic, directs the hanging of his first-ever solo exhibition last week at the R. Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz. The show, titled "Jim Phillips: New Fine Art Prints and Classic...

Lifestyle

Yoga Kids Collective owner Niki Langsam, left, and student volunteer Zoe-Ana Rivera pose at their yoga booth. The two taught yoga poses to kids on Kids Day in Santa Cruz. (Gabrielle Gillette — Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Annual Kids Day brings free activities, local discounts for kids in Downtown Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ — Kids ruled the streets of Downtown Santa Cruz on Saturday for the Kids Day celebration. Kids Day is an annual event put on by Downtown Santa Cruz, Abbott Square and publication Growing Up in Santa Cruz, focused...

Record ocean heat off California coast echoes ‘The Blob,’ killing seabirds and reshaping weather outlook

Historically warm waters in 2014 caused strandings of malnourished birds, sea lions along beaches, worsened drought
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Santa Cruz Sentinel

MVC para swimmer Easton Alanis wins pair of titles at CCS Championships

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