Community

On Saturday morning, 48-year-old Gerardo Gutierrez was one of about a dozen men sitting in the day room at Salvation Army’s Watsonville location, quietly watching an old Vicente Fernández film playing silently on a television mounted to the ceiling. The men—most of them homeless—had stayed...

An 18-year-old Watsonville man was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of attempted murder.  Watsonville Police spokeswoman MIchelle Pulido said detectives served multiple search warrants linked to this case and arrested the suspect, Antwan Magaña. On Feb. 10, WPD Officers responded to reports of a shooting on...

Watsonville city officials on Monday began clearing a sprawling unsanctioned homeless encampment along the Pajaro River that runs from Sakata Lane to Loughead Avenue. The work, which includes mowing tall grasses and removing some trees, is expected to last through Aug. 2, Watsonville City spokeswoman...

Thousands of people across Santa Cruz County—and millions more throughout the U.S.—took a pause late Monday morning to look to the skies for a phenomenon that will not happen again for two decades. Californians saw only 30% of the sun being blotted out by the...

The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday voted to end public comment via Zoom at its meetings, a decision spurred by two racist 'zoom bomb' calls made anonymously on Oct. 24. The city of Capitola also experienced so-called “Zoom-bombs” around the same time. In the calls, both...

After a contentious meeting on Tuesday, a divided Watsonville City Council approved in concept several amendments to its retail cannabis ordinances, a move intended to ease the regulatory burden for a burgeoning industry already beleaguered by local, state and federal regulations. City officials say the...

Riverside Drive was closed to traffic and two homes were evacuated Wednesday afternoon between Union  Street and Marchant Street after construction crews ruptured a natural gas line. Watsonville Fire officials said the pipeline break was reported at 2:29pm in a section of the road that...

In the decade between 2013-23, volunteers and nonprofits picked up 439,358 cigarette butts from Santa Cruz County’s beaches and natural areas, accounting for a quarter of all litter found here. That’s according to Save Our Shores (SOS), a Santa Cruz-based nonprofit that works to support...

Paola Fregoso (left) and Lorelai Oliveira are joined by their dog, Luna, Monday in a promotion of their fireworks for sale at the Watsonville High Junior Wildcatz stand. Their temporary fireworks stand, at 716 East Lake Ave., is one of close to two dozen...

Photo by Tarmo Hannula of The Pajaronian - An early-morning fire tore through a home at 41 San Juan Road in Pajaro Wednesday. North Monterey County Fire Division Chief Jess Cortez said no-one was injured in the blaze at the corner of Gonda Street....