Legislators have authorized an audit of the California office responsible for addressing the state's HIV prevention efforts and care for people living with HIV and AIDS. It comes several years after the California Office of AIDS was rocked by a fraud scandal that saw two former employees plead guilty to federal charges.
In the News
This year marks a somber milestone for California's biodiversity—the 100th anniversary of the last known sighting of a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the wild in the state. In recognition of this significant loss, the California State Senate has unanimously passed a resolution declaring 2024 the "Year of the California Grizzly Bear."
Find the full article here: https://www.oneearth.org/year-of-california-grizzly-bear-2024/
The city of Marina is to receive a $1 million funding allocation from the state of California’s Department of Aging, with the help of Sen. John Laird, for the construction of a senior center in the city.
MOSS LANDING, Calif. — A celebration for $1 million of state funding for the Elkhorn Slough climate resiliency project was held Monday.
The grant was secured by California State Assembly Member Dawn Addis and California State Sen. John Laird, who both understand that Highway 1 will be increasingly impacted by coastal storm flooding and sea level rise.
“We know that sea level rise is going to hit it. We know that the highway is already a bottleneck,” Sen. Laird said.
It was October of 1989, and Santa Cruz City Councilmember John Laird was sitting at his desk in the Loma Prieta earthquake-battered downtown, somewhere amid a four-day power outage.
In one hand he held a hammer and in the other a towel filled with coffee beans.
“I swore before the next disaster that I was going to get a hand-crank coffee grinder,” he said.
Four decades, several key leaps up the political ladder and multiple natural disaster responses later, state Sen. John Laird still doesn’t own that coffee grinder.
624-bed joint Cabrillo-UCSC housing project closer to reality as state financial fix heads to Newsom
Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz students could be moving into a new housing project on Cabrillo’s Aptos campus as early as fall 2026, now that the California government has walked back a plan to force community colleges to issue bonds to pay for building new campus housing development.
State Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) recently announced over $20 million has been secured in the 2023-2024 state budget in the 17th District. This important funding for Central Coast communities addresses disaster recovery efforts, services for underserved populations, advances climate change priorities, and more, according to Laird.
Chances are, you've been on the California Coastal Trail without even realizing it.
If you could see the Pacific Ocean, smell the salty air, and/or hear the waves crash, your feet were likely touching the trail—but maybe you knew it by another name.