Santa Cruz Winery Hits White House Table + COVID Cases Soar

Happy Wednesday, Santa Cruz! Let's get you all caught up to start today off on an informed note.

First, today's weather:

Considerable cloudiness. High: 60 Low: 49.

Here are the top stories today in Santa Cruz:

1. Q&A: Chill Out Café's Storied Breakfast Burrito (Good Times Weekly)
2. Birichino Winery's Pinot Noir Served at the White House (Good Times Weekly)
3. Santa Cruz Tree Recycling: 3 Free Ways To Get Rid Of Yours (Santa Cruz Patch)
4. Highway 17 Lane Closure In Effect This Week (Santa Cruz Patch)
5. Few Santa Cruz arrests, citations for New Year’s Eve (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
6. Santa Cruz County sees near doubling of active COVID cases, increased hospitalization rates (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

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Today in Santa Cruz:

• Harbor Teacher Professional Development (8:30 AM)
• Capitola Book Discussion Group on Zoom (10:00 AM)
• Zoning Administrator Meeting - Santa Cruz City (10:00 AM)
• Rockin’ Pop-Up: Seasonal Changes of Sea Ice (online) (12:00 PM)
• Virtual Writers' Open Mic Night - Virtual Library (6:00 PM)
• Nature Journal Studio (6:30 PM)

From my notebook:

• Santa Cruz SPCA: "We only did one adoption the last week of the year, but it was a ✨BIG✨ one!! Let's all give a big congratulations to BLOSSOM who FINALLY found her forever home for the New Year!!! 👏🥳💥 And thanks to Loren Morse, Santa Cruz County Realt..." (Facebook)
• Santa Cruz Warriors: "Our first #SeaDubs Hardwood Classics Night is this Thursday! 🔥 The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a Hardwood Classics Blanket Presented by Ticketmaster 🎟️ bit.ly/3eOAJpi" (Facebook)
• Santa Cruz SPCA: "Introducing.........🥁 BRUNO! This dude was transferred to us from our partners at the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter recently and we're still getting to know him. Bruno's a big boy and an adolescent still even though he's almost 3. He..." (Facebook)
• Santa Cruz Water Department: "Did you know that the Water Department's water quality lab 🔬 is EPA-certified? Our water quality team performs hundreds of tests year-round and our monitoring program exceeds the state and federal requirements for testing. Learn more ab..." (Facebook)
• Santa Cruz City Government: "Pipeline installation on Laurel Street for the Pure Water Soquel project continues weekdays, 7 a.m.–4 p.m. from Pacific Avenue, moving toward Front Street. Early this month, the pipeline work is expected to reach the Laurel Street Bridge..." (Facebook)
• Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries: "Take a look at the future circulation desk at Garfield Park Branch Library, under renovation now. Your support brings these visions to life. Donate now to our Realizing the Promise campaign at fscpl.org/capitalcampaign-donate" (Facebook)

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Events:

• Befana: A Christmas Fable (January 6)
• Watsonville Taiko Winter Session Classes (January 7)
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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Wednesday! See you tomorrow for your next update.

— Courtney Teague