News

As a young child growing up in Watsonville, Pedro Gonzalez-Renteria dreamed of being a filmmaker.  That dream was fomented when his father got a video camera, and he and his friends and siblings would use it to make their own versions of skit comedy shows...

Larger than life eyeball models stare from a desk drawer; a paper bird clings to a swing inside an antique cage; a set of pastel crayons are tucked neatly into a vest pocket; globes, candles, early day photos, antlers—the visual explosion goes on and...

Watsonville Plaza is aglow with thousands of colorful lights as part of the City of Watsonville's annual holiday celebrations. Next on the calendar is the annual Santa Tour around the city Dec. 13-15, where Santa and his elves and others tour area schools and...

Last-minute fine-tuning is underway at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds to throw the switch for two million lights at the fourth annual Holiday Lights drive-thru, which runs Nov. 24-Dec. 24. Event coordinator Dave Kegebein said new additions this year, including tulips and poinsettias, large snails,...

The new 80-unit housing development at 78 Atkinson Lane in Watsonville by MidPen Housing is moving skyward. Situated between Atkinson Lane and Brewington Avenue, the development is the second phase of the nearby Pippin Orchards. The project, part of a multiphase development plan approved some two...

Community Foundation Santa Cruz County announced $320,000 in grants issued by the Rise Together Fund for Racial Equity. Over the course of three granting cycles, the foundation has now awarded $1.1 million to the coalition. Founded in 2020, Rise Together is a coalition of Black,...

Arts Council Santa Cruz County announced that Santa Cruz County’s nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $68 million in economic activity in 2022, according to the newly released Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6), a national economic and social impact study conducted by Americans...

Local, state and federal officials gathered in Watsonville on Tuesday to commemorate an agreement that paves the way for the decades-overdue reconstruction of the Pajaro River Levee. The legally binding agreement between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Pajaro Regional Flood Risk Management Agency...

UPDATE: Suspect turns himself in to Watsonville Police Department. ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Two people were killed and two were injured in a shooting at a Pajaro bar early Tuesday morning. According to Monterey County Undersheriff Keith Boyd, deputies responded to El Torero Bar at 540 Salinas Road just...

An ongoing investigation involving regional, federal and international authorities has led Watsonville Police Department detectives to identify two women suspected of stealing more than $100,000 from a local jewelry store. The mother-daughter duo, 53-year-old Onita Rostas and 30-year-old Steluta Lacatus, are wanted throughout the United...