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Aptos resident Laura Dover-Smith was walking on a trail in Watsonville’s sloughs on her lunch break one sunny Wednesday, an activity she tries to do daily. She says the walk affords her views of wildlife, but also gives her a peaceful respite from the bustling...

Longtime school board member, coach, mentor and businessman in the Pajaro Valley Willie Yahiro was remembered by close to 250 people Saturday at the Henry J. Mello Center. The event included prayer and homily by Rev. Dan Hoffman, scripture read by  Brooke Uchida, opening hymn...

The Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture has announced its annual awardees, including the man and woman of the year. Nita Gizdich was on her ranch Tuesday morning, and as usual she was working.  Although sweeping the driveway leading to her iconic pie shop was...

The Circus has come to town, this time at Ramsay Park on Main Street in Watsonville.  Circus Royal Spectacular—out of Las Vegas—rolled into town Tuesday, and crews quickly began driving giant tent stakes into the softball diamond  to set up their mammoth bigtop tent. Circus spokesperson...

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 California Highway Patrol closed north and southbound lanes of Highway 1 in Soquel Saturday at 7pm to make way for Granite Construction crews to demolish the 1948 Capitola Avenue bridge above the highway. The closure and carefully crafted detour between Bay/Porter and Park Avenue...

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...

Water surges through the asphalt along the 300-block of Ford Street Monday afternoon where a man reportedly ran into a fire hydrant with his Chevy Silverado pickup. Watsonville Police said the man struck the hydrant just after 5pm, triggering a water main break beneath...

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will revisit a decision from last September not to renew a contract with an organization that helps teachers deliver ethnic studies curriculum, which now used in the district’s three comprehensive high schools. That discussion will occur...

In a little more than a year, Ramsay Park in Watsonville will boast a new dog park, a new multi-use synthetic sports field, a new state-of-the-art nature center and new lights for its pathways, parking lots and athletic fields. Plans also include an all-inclusive playground,...