Local News

LA SELVA BEACH—Firefighters on Saturday night were battling a blaze at the Monterey Bay Academy campus on the outskirts of Watsonville. https://twitter.com/CALFIRECZU/status/1284721308358422530 The fire started around 10:30pm, according to Cal Fire, and was confined to an old movie theater on the private school's campus on 700...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday arrested a man after finding more than three pounds of heroin and several illegal firearms in his possession. Joseph Watts, 65, was charged with drug possession, and for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He...

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville has resumed parking enforcement on its city streets and private parking lots, after temporarily suspending those efforts during the early stages of the stay-at-home order.  Anyone who parks in city-owned lots will need to purchase a permit by Aug. 17, which...

WATSONVILLE—El Distrito Escolar Unificado del Valle de Pájaro (PVUSD, por sus siglas en inglés) comenzará el año con aprendizaje a distancia para todos los estudiantes cuando las clases comienzan el 17 de Agosto, una medida destinada a mantener a los estudiantes y al personal...

Work is moving ahead on a new Arco AM/PM business on Lee Road beside the massive Hampton Inn & Suites project. In its framing and siding stage, beside the behemoth 112-room, four-story Hampton Inn & Suites, the business will feature a drive-thru car wash...

APTOS—Siding construction is underway on The Hideout restaurant that was largely destroyed by fire in May 2019. Workers from Costa Bella Builders are behind the rebuild of the popular eatery nestled beneath a canopy of redwoods at 9051 Soquel Drive between Rio del Mar and...

APTOS—A group of business owners from the new Aptos Village complex gathered for a meeting in early March to discuss possible events and projects they wanted to do together. Their aim was to bring the community into the blooming hub.  But days later those plans...

WATSONVILLE—Like other nonprofits in Santa Cruz County, Watsonville Wetlands Watch has had to adapt to a new normal amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. When shelter-in-place restrictions went into effect in mid-March, the organization immediately started working on putting all of its programs and field trips...

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WATSONVILLE—Watsonville will have yet another tool that it could use to try to fix its housing shortage if the City Council follows the Planning Commission’s recommendations to approve wholesale changes to rules for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as “granny flats” or “granny...