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Dec 2, 2024 | 
healthaffairs.org | John Maa |Michelle Zhang
Eons before Europeans arrived in North America, Native Americans cultivated the tobacco leaf for ceremonial activities and medicinal purposes for use during prayers and rituals. They presented the tobacco leaf as a gift to early explorers including Christopher Columbus, who carried it back to Europe.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
lookout.co | Lookout Santa Cruz |Max Chun |John Maa |Sabrina Adler
The Santa Cruz County Parks Department is planning a “collaborative initiative” to restore and maintain Freedom Lake in Watsonville that will remove invasive and overgrown non-native vegetation that has limited access to the lake’s shore.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
lookout.co | Lookout Santa Cruz |Max Chun |John Maa |Sabrina Adler
A new guide to the Redwood Loop Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park has been published. Written by a team of biologists and environmental scientists, it addresses the effects of the catastrophic 2020 fire on the park and the long-term changes to the landscape that it ushered in, including the impact on plants and animals in the park. Copies of the free trail guide can be downloaded at the Santa Cruz Mountains Bioregional Council’s website, www.scmbc.org.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
lookout.co | Lookout Santa Cruz |Max Chun |Mike Rotkin |John Maa
Across the 38 boards and commissions that advise on policy decisions throughout Santa Cruz County, 45 seats sit vacant, an issue that has slowed the work of some appointed bodies. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is responsible for filling the vacancies. Twenty-nine are considered at-large vacancies, which means any supervisor can nominate a person to fill the position; 16 of the total vacancies are tied to supervisor districts, and must be nominated by specific supervisors.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
lookout.co | Jessica Pasko |Lookout Santa Cruz |Max Chun |John Maa
Quick Take In Santa Cruz County business news this week, Jessica M. Pasko reports on the closure of popular brewery tour business Brew Cruz and on the City of Santa Cruz's search for a tenant for a new retail/restaurant space at 822 Pacific Ave. Each week, we’re taking a closer look at the movers and shakers, the growth of industries, and what’s really driving the Santa Cruz County economy.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
lookout.co | Lookout Santa Cruz |Max Chun |John Maa |Sabrina Adler
Soon, customers at cannabis dispensaries might be able to purchase flower, walk over a few feet to an on-site lounge and spark up. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday told cannabis division staff to draw up an ordinance allowing these kinds of on-site lounges. The supervisors are expected to take their first vote on the new rules on Dec. 10. If passed, a second vote would likely come sometime in January, with the lounges becoming legal 30 days later.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
lookout.co | John Maa |Sabrina Adler |Lookout Santa Cruz |Max Chun
Quick Take Dr. John Maa, chair of the California Advocacy Committee of the American Heart Association, and Sabrina Adler of nonpartisan nonprofit ChangeLab Solutions write that voters deserve to know the facts about what the beverage industry is doing to thwart the democratic process in relation to local taxes on sugary drink distributors – as Santa Cruz's Measure Z seeks to implement. Have something to say?
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Jun 19, 2024 | 
bradblog.com | John Maa |Patrick Byrne |Byron DeLear |Byron Donalds
By Dr. John Maa on 6/19/2024, 10:05am PT
California may be a progressive state. But when it comes to election recount laws, we remain in democracy's dark ages. In 2012, I requested the first ever recount for a statewide ballot measure (Proposition 29) in California state history. I later advised statewide recounts for Proposition 37 in 2012 and the Controller's race in 2014.
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Feb 25, 2024 | 
pressdemocrat.com | John Maa |A Physician
The Second Amendment wasn’t part of the original Constitution drafted in 1787. Instead, it was one of 17 amendments submitted to Congress in 1789, which were ultimately whittled down to the 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights. Our world has evolved greatly in the intervening years, including the lethality and deadly accuracy of firearms. Assault weapons loaded with multiple rounds designed for military use have replaced single-shot muskets. Yet the 27 words of the Second Amendment remain unaltered.
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Dec 6, 2023 | 
marinij.com | John Maa |Cameron MacDonald |Will Houston |Vicki Larson
