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For more than 20 years, Crystal Bay Farm owners Lori and Jeff Fiorovich have offered the Pajaro Valley community a homegrown harvest tradition. Every October, the couple transforms their farm into a family-friendly pumpkin patch, where people can come and pick out the perfect pumpkin,...

Open Farm Tours (OFT) returns Oct. 8 and 9, offering the community a chance to visit organic farms, meet local farmers and learn about how their food is grown. The event, which has been held for the past nine years, is more than doubling the...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a change to district policy that will add several holidays to the calendar, during which events will not be scheduled, whenever possible. This includes exams, sporting events, assemblies, field trips and back-to-school...

Nearly three decades ago, 9-year-old Jessica Cortez and her brother Jorge, 16, were gunned down by gang members as they walked to a nearby panaderia on Salinas Road for a treat. Nobody has ever been arrested, and while police do not know why the gang...

WATSONVILLE—A 33-year-old pregnant woman died Thursday night as she walked across South Green Valley Road and was struck by a car. She has been identified as Marlyn Uribe of Watsonville by the Santa Cruz County Coroner’s Office. Watsonville Police said that, according to witnesses, Uribe was...

By TARA FATEMI WALKER SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) and its network of more than 70 partner agencies, including nonprofits such as food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, work hard to combat food insecurity.  But because of new requirements mandated by Senate Bill 1383,...

In 2008, as the economic recession was ravaging communities nationwide, school districts were forced to take a close look at their budgets, and in many cases make massive cuts to preserve the meat of their programs. The first casualties of this across-the-board slashing were often...

WATSONVILLE—This year’s Santa Cruz County Fair began with a bang, attracting thousands of people to the five-day bacchanalia of food, agriculture and art, and was on track to match last year’s blockbuster attendance. That changed on Sunday, when a rare late-summer rainstorm doused the region,...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously accepted more than $10.6 million in unanticipated revenue, which will be used to build a low-income housing development in Mid-County. The project at 2838 Park Ave. near Cabrillo College will offer 17 units for...

SANTA CRUZ—Dientes Community Dental care has launched Santa Cruz County’s first dental residency program, in partnership with and sponsored by NYU Langone Hospitals, the world’s largest postdoctoral dental program to train dentists in the public health setting. In this inaugural year, Dientes is hosting two...