News

Live music and folkloric dance performances unfolded in Watsonville Plaza Friday evening thanks to the Watsonville Film Festival and Cabrillo College’s Hispanic Serving Institution Week. Mexican Fiesta was a two-hour free family event that featured Mariachi Juvenil Corazón Jaliscience from Hollister and Laura Rebolloso,...

Each year during the first three weekends in October, the public is invited to a free countywide self-guided art tour. Arts Council Santa Cruz County’s 37th annual Open Studios Art Tour features 322 artists who will open their studios across Santa Cruz County.  The tour...

Plans to build 624 units of affordable student housing on Cabrillo College’s Aptos campus got the green light Monday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to fund the project. The dual Senate and Assembly bills, both numbered 142, will provide $111 million for the...

The Pajaro Valley Health Care District Hospital Corporation on Thursday named the person they want to take the helm at Watsonville Community Hospital as CEO. Stephen Gray was chosen after a four-month recruitment search by the corporation. Gray is currently the chief administrative officer for Sutter...

Smoke from wildfires burning in northern California and southern Oregon drifted over the Monterey Bay Area Tuesday and has degraded air quality in parts of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties.  The Monterey Bay Air Resources District (MBARD) said concentration of smoke has reached...

Ted Crocker (left), founder of Crocker's Lockers, is joined by Supervisor Felipe Hernandez (right) and others Friday in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Crocker's Lockers self-storage facility on Airport Boulevard at Nielson Street in Watsonville. Crocker, a Watsonville High graduate, class of '62,...

After four months of being raised by a Watsonville High School student, Stinkers the pig is ready for market. The 252-pound Hampshire cross was lazing in her pen Wednesday, soon after the Santa Cruz County Fair opened and after she waddled with a third-place ribbon...

A major upgrade on a section of Freedom Boulevard, between Alta Vista Avenue and Green Valley Road, is in its final stage. The months-long job included fresh asphalt, multi-modal bike lanes, new curbs, sidewalks and gutters (in places), new ADA ramps, a bus pullout at...

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday narrowly rejected a contract for an assistant superintendent position to oversee the district’s 16 elementary schools.  The move sparked tension among board members who earlier in the evening approved a timeline and salary range...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday took a close look at an upcoming update to the housing element of the county’s general plan, a move required of jurisdictions every eight years. Central to the update is the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation...