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WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) recently announced the 2022 recipient of the organization’s annual Student Scholarship.  Santiago Meza, who graduated from Harbor High School in Santa Cruz this year, is planning to study film at Santa Monica City College. WFF officials said they were impressed...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Aug. 24 approved a series of bonuses and supplemental payments aimed at retaining teachers and school employees. Every teacher, school worker and administrator employed since April 1—and who plans to stay with the district through...

WATSONVILLE—Around 70 people gathered at Jalisco Restaurant on Wednesday to kick off the campaign for the proposed half-cent sales tax measure that will go before voters in the Nov. 8 midterm election. Measure R—placed on the ballot by Watsonville City Council in June—would raise the...

WATSONVILLE—Three students from Watsonville recently took part in a weeklong summer program in Sacramento that teaches young people to be part of their local and state governments. The program—called Boys State—is sponsored by the American Legion. The event includes such activities as mock legislative sessions...

WATSONVILLE—After months of fundraising during which organizers scraped together more than $65 million, Watsonville Community Hospital will become a now publicly owned entity as of midnight on Sept. 1. The Pajaro Valley Health Care District (PVHD) signed the paperwork on Wednesday, making the sale official. State...

WATSONVILLE—The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the City of Watsonville are on the cusp of beginning a 10-year endeavor that will completely reshape the city’s major arterial road. Caltrans has committed to a $25 million renovation of its roughly seven-mile thoroughfare of Highway 152...

Daisy Fernandez has loved music since she was a child. She began singing when she was barely 3 years old, encouraged by her musically inclined family.  But despite this passion, Fernandez had not had much teaching or performance experience. “I always wanted to take classes and...

SANTA CRUZ—The man who slaughtered Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller during a violent crime spree two years ago was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  Steven Carrillo, 34, also received prison time for attempting to kill four other...

WATSONVILLE—With the purchase of Watsonville Community Hospital now a certainty, the nonprofit formed to make the acquisition got another bit of good news Tuesday when Kaiser Permanente announced it was donating $4.5 million to the cause. With a goal of $67 million to cover the...

WATSONVILLE—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Coroner has identified the three victims in a midair collision between two airplanes on Aug. 18 above Watsonville Municipal Airport.  Carl Kruppa, 75, and Nannette Plett-Kruppa, 67, both of Winton, Calif. were aboard the Cessna 340 twin-engine plane, while Stuart...