The Sentinel Editorial Board has two new community members: Laura Knobel and Traci Bliss.

Laura and Traci join current members Vivian Vargas and Jane Barr on the board, which meets weekly with community members and newsmakers to fashion Sentinel Editorials and commentaries.

Laura first moved to Santa Cruz in 2002 as an undergrad at UC Santa Cruz and quickly became involved in local political organizations. In 2007, she co-founded Santa Cruz Next (the legacy of which lives on in the “Nexties” Awards), aimed at the 25 to 44 year-old local demographic.

She subsequently left to live and work in New York and San Francisco, but returned to Santa Cruz and is now the Deputy Director for Leadership Santa Cruz County, whose mission, in her words “is to educate, motivate, and provide emerging leaders with the skills and confidence they need for leadership roles in Santa Cruz County, enabling them to address the issues, needs, and opportunities facing the county now and in the future.”

Laura has a five-year-old son who will start kindergarten in August.

Traci is a local historian, whose family roots in the community go back to the 1840s. She has a PhD from Stanford and has spent 20 years in public policy positions. She also once served on the Times/News Editorial Board in Twin Falls, Idaho, where she was a professor at Idaho State University. She returned to Santa Cruz in 2009 to pursue writing full time.

Traci has authored books, among other topics, on Santa Cruz’s Seabright neighborhood; Evergreen Cemetery of Santa Cruz; and Big Basin State Park. She is president of the Santa Cruz County History Forum and was Chair of Community Service for Santa Cruz Rotary 2023-24 and served as a Santa Cruz Historic Preservation Commissioner 2018-2022; and in multiple leadership roles at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. She’s also a tour guide at Evergreen Cemetery and docent and docent trainer at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

Jessica York, Jan. 11, 2025

Sentinel reporter Jessica York died Saturday. She was 43 years old.

Jess, as she preferred to be called, was a fearless chronicler of complex issues within the city and county. She joined the Sentinel in March 2014 after working for a sister newspaper in Vallejo.

An avid runner, Jess bravely battled cancer for years and despite the ravages of illness remained a vital reporter to the end of her too-brief life.

She covered city government, crime and courts, and the homeless community and she did so with an unwavering commitment to the truth.

If news was breaking, Jess knew about it. She monitored social media and the police scanner to stay on top of her beat even on her days off.

If there was a big court case, she had it on her calendar. Even when Jess was away on vacation, she would make sure important stories on her beat were covered.

Jess was just as comfortable writing up a quick police brief as she was digging into public records for an in-depth story. And she was a strong photojournalist.

She held the powerful to account with a friendly smile. She connected with people and told the stories of people down on their luck with empathy for the circumstances that brought them to living on the streets.

In a Letter to the Editor, published today, Sara Coon, whose story from homelessness into housing Jess told in several Sentinel reports, wrote this:

“Jessica York reminded us that every story matters, every person matters, and Santa Cruz is stronger when no one is left behind. Her legacy will forever guide this community toward empathy and truth.”

Her loss will be deeply felt on the Sentinel staff, not just as a co-worker, but as a friend who will be forever missed.

Sentinel photographer Shmuel Thaler, a close friend, said this: “Jess was the best of the best. She was that rare journalist who was able to maintain the required skepticism to ask essential questions without ever falling into cynicism. She was an incredibly bright light who added intelligence, wit, curiosity and optimism to the world.”