Lawsuit targets Harm Reduction Coalition
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A group of Santa Cruz residents filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior Court to stop the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County (HRC) from continuing its syringe services program.
Launched in 2018, the nonprofit HRC—and “harm reduction” programs in general—operate...
PVUSD officially delays return to class
WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Unified School District students will wait at least two extra months to return to their classrooms, the district’s trustees unanimously voted Wednesday.
The district was planning to begin a hybrid version of in-person learning starting in January, but a recent surge of Covid-19,...
Covid-19 testing expands in Pajaro Valley, Central Coast
CENTRAL COAST—The Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas (CSVS) is now hosting a pop-up Covid-19 testing site every Saturday at Las Lomas Market, bringing a much-needed resource to the small rural community in the northern reaches of Monterey County.
The pop-up site is one...
Online, local sales buoy Watsonville’s finances during pandemic
WATSONVILLE—Thanks in part to a massive surge in online sales, the City of Watsonville is adding roughly $1.7 million to its 2020-21 fiscal year budget.
The allocation, unanimously approved by the City Council at Tuesday’s virtual meeting, means some departments will bring back positions originally...
Local 7-Eleven to offer free pizzas on Christmas Eve
A drive-thru pizza giveaway will be held at 7-Eleven, 1461 Main St., Watsonville, on Christmas Eve at 11am.
At least 500 full sized, uncooked pepperoni pizzas will be ordered for the drive-thru, plus another 60 for employees and about 140 for customers at other 7-Elevens.
The...
County officials weighing whether to preemptively adhere to new order
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials on Tuesday are expected to discuss whether the county will join five other Bay Area counties in preemptively adhering to the regional stay-at-home order recently issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Although the item is not agendized for tomorrow’s Santa...
Santa Cruz County not yet joining other Bay Area counties in closures
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials on Friday said they will not yet join five other Bay Area counties in preemptively adhering to the regional stay-at-home order announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday.
Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara counties will adopt...
Sheriff: all Santa Cruz County Jail inmates are Covid-free
SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that all inmates at Santa Cruz County Jail have tested negative for Covid-19.
The announcement follows news that several correctional officers who work at the jail tested positive for the novel coronavirus, an outbreak that has...
Newsom: new stay-at-home order likely to hit Central Coast
SACRAMENTO—New stay-at-home orders issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday will be based on intensive care unit capacity in five regions in California.
Newsom said that much of the state will likely be under the stay-at-home orders within the next few days if ICU capacity...
With increasing need, food banks worry about ‘food insecurity’
WATSONVILLE—One year ago, a report by UC Santa Cruz’s Blum Center on Poverty, Social Enterprise and Participatory Governance and Second Harvest Food Bank painted a grim picture of hunger in Santa Cruz County.
According to the report, some 83,000 residents were living in households earning...
Watsonville City Council unanimously rejects propane facility
WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council unanimously denied a special use permit for a proposed propane storage facility after a more than two-hour hearing in which...
