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With the UC Santa Cruz campus entrance blocked by Palestine solidarity encampment demonstrators beginning Tuesday and continuing Wednesday, the striking academic and student workers with UAW Local 4811 have moved their picketing to the west entrance of campus, which remained open to motorists Wednesday.
Firefighters clean up debris on Empire Grade following a Tuesday night single-vehicle rollover crash near the west entrance to UC Santa Cruz.
Empire Grade, which begins at Western Drive in Santa Cruz, got its name from the Empire Mining Co. that used the route. According to Robert W. Piwarzyk in his article "The Roads of Bonny Doon" on the Santa Cruz Public Libraries website, Empire Mining operated during the 1850s and the road was constructed in 1872 "up Ben Lomond Mountain on the ridgeline between the Coast Road and the San Lorenzo valley. Unlike the present road which ends at Eagle Rock and the Lockheed facility at the summit, about 21 miles from Santa Cruz, the original road went 35 miles north and served the Big ...
Though short lived, Tuesday's bright blue skies served as a preview for what's to come in the Bay Area for the remainder of the week after Wednesday's forecast of moderate rain across the region.
The heavy rain has ended but Monday morning commuters around the Bay Area are encountering the aftermath: flooded roads, downed trees and a few mudslides.