Laird secures funding for healthcare
Last month, Sen. John Laird has secured over $3 million in state funding for advancing healthcare access in Watsonville and the Central Coast region.
Watsonville Community Hospital received $327,000 to upgrade and replace its operating room equipment. The hospital has been making upgrades to imaging,...
Contreras tapped to lead San Luis Coastal Unified
Two and a half years after taking the helm of Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Superintendent Heather Contreras will be leaving for a new post.
The San Luis Coastal Unified School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved Contreras as its next superintendent Tuesday night. She...
Body found on Larkin Valley Road
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has identified the Aromas man found dead on Larkin Valley Road on Oct. 3 as Christopher Fagon, 39.
At approximately 6:59pm, deputies responded to reports of an unresponsive male on Larkin Valley Road near Windsong Way in the unincorporated...
County brings voter services to local libraries through Ballots & Books
Santa Cruz County residents will be able to register to vote, obtain replacement ballots and get other election services at eight local libraries this month.
The Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections Office is holding its Ballots & Books events throughout October in preparation for the Nov....
Missing 14-year-old found safe in Mexico; father arrested
A 14-year-old girl who disappeared with her father while authorities investigated the death of her newborn daughter has been found safe in Mexico, and her father has been arrested, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced Sunday.
The victim was rescued by Mexican law enforcement, according...
PVUSD trustees to consider teacher contract
Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustees on Wednesday will consider final approval of a three-year contract with the district’s teachers union that includes ongoing salary increases while the district continues to grapple with substantial deficit spending.
The Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers has already ratified...
Ending a career of helping farms with nature
After a quarter-century with the Pajaro Valley-based Wild Farm Alliance, Executive Director Jo Ann Baumgartner has recently retired.
She has been with the organization for more than 25 years where she started out working on a conventional research farm in the 1980s.
After owning an organic...
Officials reflect on budget, successes in first state-of-the-county address
Standing at the new Felton pump track a few weeks ago, Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Chair Monica Martinez watched children race around a facility that she said had taken years of planning, public meetings and collaboration to build.
The children, she said, knew...
Election 2026: Prop. 44 draws local opposition
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce and Health Improvement Partnership of Santa Cruz County join Santa Cruz Community Health in opposing Proposition 44.
If passed, Prop. 44 would impose penalties on nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Centers that spend...
Watsonville’s second skatepark ramping up
Near the terminus of the new bike path along South Green Valley Road—at the entrance to Pinto Lake County Park—lies a construction site that, by the end of the year, will be Watsonville’s second skatepark.
It will also be the only one of its kind...
Community leaders host rally for Measure E
Dozens of community members and local leaders gathered at a rally Friday at Watsonville Community Hospital in support of Measure E, the temporary half-cent...
