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Watsonville
May 9, 2025

Community Foundation Santa Cruz County announces $320K in grants

rise together community foundation santa cruz county
Community Foundation Santa Cruz County announced $320,000 in grants issued by the Rise Together Fund for Racial Equity. Over the course of three granting cycles, the foundation has now awarded $1.1 million to the coalition. Founded in 2020, Rise Together is a coalition of Black,...

Caroline’s Thrift holds gifting ceremony

christine licker caroline's non profit thrift shop
Caroline’s Non Profit Thrift Store opened in 2010 with a single goal: raise funds to help the nonprofit organizations that work with children with special needs and their families. Founder Christine Licker says her inspiration was her daughter Caroline, who died at 16 after receiving...

Time of honor: Santa Cruz County remembers 9/11

Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Almita Schaefer tells students at Moreland Notre Dame School about the risks and rewards of being a firefighter Wednesday on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Students and staff at the campus each year have welcomed law...

A world of color: Watsonville Brillante celebration this weekend

The towering mosaic work known as Watsonville Brillante adorns the side of the six-story asking structure on Rodriguez Street in downtown Watsonville. Work is underway to complete the 10th and final phase of the five-year project to set the stage for a ribbon-cutting street party...

Film workshops available: Cine Se Puede Summer Series

Local filmmakers are invited to participate in the two free remaining workshops presented by the Watsonville Film Festival to encourage regional filmmaking.  The new “Cine Se Puede Summer Series” supports BIPOC filmmakers with pre-production and production resources for their projects. Participants will learn about how...

Grand Jury looks at Behavioral Health Division

The Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division (BHD) is underfunded and understaffed, which hinders its ability to provide services to low-income patients, young people and jail inmates with mental health needs. A lack of bilingual staff, furthermore, makes delivering mental health services to Latinos challenging. That’s...

Kim De Serpa takes early lead for Supervisor District 2 seat

With the spotlight Tuesday on Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. Presidency—and the Republican Party’s reclaiming of the Senate and likely keeping its House majority—there were also several local election results that will change the face of local politics. Preliminary results  posted Thursday by the...

PVUSD Superintendent launches student advisory council

More than three dozen students from every high school within Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s boundaries gathered in the district’s boardroom Tuesday for a first-of-its kind meeting with Superintendent Heather Contreras. The Superintendent Student Advisory Meeting, which Contreras said will occur at least six times...

Crowds demand Santa Cruz County elected leaders issue ceasefire resolutions

watsonville city council chambers israel gaza
Hundreds of people packed city and county meeting chambers throughout the day on Tuesday to ask local elected leaders to pass resolutions demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict. The action resulted in the Santa Cruz City Council creating a special meeting to discuss...

From fungus to fentanyl, new laws address variety of topics in 2024

Chanterelle mushrooms
Every year, California’s legislators send a flurry of bills to the governor in hopes he or she will sign them. And that’s before the byzantine legislative process that leaves most proposed laws on Assembly and Senate cutting floors. In 2023, the lawmakers sent off 1,046...
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Queer Youth Leadership Awards set for Saturday

It has been almost three decades since local organizers launched the Queer Youth Leadership Awards, an event created to highlight young people whose work...