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Watsonville
June 9, 2025

AIDS/LifeCycle reaches finish line after 31 years

Just over three decades ago, a group of people set out on a 545-mile bicycle journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a weeklong trek that took them along rugged coastlines, through verdant agricultural fields and along vast stretches of highway. Then called the California...

Public input sought for Measure Q Vision Plan

The County of Santa Cruz invites community members to take part in a countywide effort to help shape the Measure Q Vision Plan, which will guide investments in clean water protection, wildfire resilience, public access and preservation of parks, beaches, and natural areas. To support...

City Council approves revenue bonds to fund Ramsay, Plaza work

On Tuesday, 7-year-old Vincent Robles was playing in Callaghan Park in downtown Watsonville, clambering over the play structures and going up and down the slide. But what he really wanted, his mother Jessica said, was to go back to Ramsay Park, with its big slide.  “He...

Juvenile Hall remodel to include gym, garden, greenhouse

A long-unused, aging outdoor courtyard makes up the eastern portion of Santa Cruz County’s Juvenile Hall, showing its age with a weedy yard and cracked blacktop. But a group of probation officials and youth advocates who gathered there Wednesday have big plans for the space. These...

ICE agents arrest Watsonville man, family seeks answers

U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents on May 27 arrested a longtime Watsonville resident as he walked behind the Target store near the intersection of Harkins Slough Road and Ohlone Parkway. The man’s nephew, who asked to be called Brandon, confirmed the arrest,...

‘Field of dreams’

When Watsonville Mayor Maria Orozco was a student at Freedom Elementary School, she remembers running around the playing field, pock-marked as it was by holes and other signs of age and wear. “I remember dreading it, because when we were done, my knees used to...

Flying the colors on Memorial Day

Continuing a local tradition of honoring Memorial Day, a section of Freedom Boulevard  and area cemeteries were lined with over 300 flags Monday, thanks to the effort of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1716 and of the American Legion Post 121.  Local cemeteries were also...

Pajaro River Levee project at risk after Trump claws back some funding

pajaro river levee alex padilla jimmy panetta
President Donald Trump has taken millions of dollars already allocated to blue states—and reallocated the funding to red states—impacting a wide array of ongoing critical infrastructure projects, including the Pajaro River Flood Management Project. In a press conference Thursday,  U.S. Democratic Senators Alex Padilla and...

Watsonville City Council hears plans for Tiny Village

The Tiny Village project in the parking lot of the Westview Presbyterian Church is set to break ground at the end of May or in early June, and is expected to provide shelter for 34 homeless people. Community Action Board (CAB), which will manage the...

Senior Council sees major cuts

Proposed budget cuts by the Republican-led administration in Washington, D.C. could be bad news for local seniors, with a plan to eliminate Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs, a program of the Seniors Council in Santa Cruz County. Clay Kempf, executive director of the Watsonville-based...
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Investing in safer streets and upholding our community values

Watsonville is making meaningful investments in our streets, sidewalks, and neighborhoods this year—improvements that reflect both our infrastructure priorities and our shared commitment to...