About Town

Today is May 5 and an important day in Mexican history: Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 during the Second Franco-Mexican War. Also known as Battle of Puebla...

A crew from Vacant Property Security installs one of several traffic blocks in the parking lot of the former Kmart on Freedom Boulevard. On Oct. 12, the Watsonville City Council started the process of declaring the abandoned property a public nuisance due to illegal...

Observations from around the Pajaro Valley.

Weather forecasters are warning of strong winds coming later this week. With the wave of wildland fires that have plagued California for weeks, firefighters are keeping a wary eye on the change in weather, which will also usher in bumped up temperatures as well....

Oct. 25, 2019 Tarmo Hannula: Twelve wildland fires are burning around the state, forcing widespread evacuations, destroying scores of homes and buildings, closing freeways and roads and sending herds of firefighter strike teams to out-of-county responses. In Sonoma County, 21,900 acres have burned in the...

Nov. 20, 2019 Tarmo Hannula: Someone called 9-1-1 Wednesday morning after they spotted a man prowling around their carport on Harper Street in Live Oak. An SC Sheriff deputy arrived within minutes and located a suspect at 3:40 a.m. When the deputy confronted the man...

Parts of Watsonville changed into a plywood canyon early Thursday after a bizarre poster started circulating on social media threatening "barbaric" protests in the Overlook Shopping Center. Though Watsonville Police took the threat seriously, no violence erupted over the night. However, scores of businesses...

The 1917 Watsonville Woman's Club, in Tudor Revival style, has just undergone a new exterior paint job, thanks to the efforts of Masters Painting. Mike Masters said he was pleased with the outcome but added that due to the age of the structure, there...

A Santa Cruz man died after a shark attacked him at Sand Dollar Beach, which is part of Manresa State Beach. Ben Kelly, 26, was pronounced dead on the shore in front of Cañon del Sol, a gated community of 97 townhome units on...

Residents in Santa Cruz County now enter the third week of the shelter-in-place order from health officials launched on March 16 in response to the COVID-19 spread. Now those officials are shifting the initial two-week plan to remain in place until at least May...