Local News

President Donald Trump has taken millions of dollars already allocated to blue states—and reallocated the funding to red states—impacting a wide array of ongoing critical infrastructure projects, including the Pajaro River Flood Management Project. In a press conference Thursday,  U.S. Democratic Senators Alex Padilla and...

The Tiny Village project in the parking lot of the Westview Presbyterian Church is set to break ground at the end of May or in early June, and is expected to provide shelter for 34 homeless people. Community Action Board (CAB), which will manage the...

If the Trump administration moves forward with plans to make sweeping cuts to health and human services as it hammers out its current budget, it will have far-reaching and profound impacts nationwide. This includes to Santa Cruz County, where one-third of the people who receive...

A nearly packed Mello Center saw the first graduation of the season in Pajaro Valley Unified School District Thursday evening with 173 graduates of Watsonville/Aptos/Santa Cruz Adult Education crossing the stage to collect their diplomas, degrees and certificates. In fields including high school diplomas, GEDs,...

Circus Alegria, a Las Vegas-based circus entertainment group that has been around since 1912, kicked off their 2025 performance Thursday evening in Watsonville. With their massive big top tent dominating the entrance to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, the shows will run Thursday through...

A man gathers information at the table for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Saturday during the Santa Cruz County History Fair at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple. Over 30 tables, from Boulder Creek and Scotts Valley, to Davenport, Capitola, Santa Cruz and Watsonville, filled...

Araceli Gonzalez was at a crossroads in life looking for a new start when she went to a concert and saw a group of women dressed in vintage clothing from the 1940s and ’50s. “I said, ‘I want to try that style,’” she said. “And...

Watsonville artist Erika Rosendale (center, on ladder) paints a new large outdoor mural at El Vaquero Winery in Corralitos on Friday. The mural depicts the historical stagecoach whip, Charley Parkhurst (1812-1879), known as One-eyed Charley, who drove a stagecoach mail delivery between Watsonville and...

When a group of third-grade students at Ohlone Elementary School planted two trees on their campus earlier this year, it was the culmination of an environmental science project that began when they found a small colony of bats living under the eaves of one...