News

The annual Mi Casa es Tu Casa exhibit opened Thursday at Pajaro Valley Arts on Sudden Street.  The show explores the connection between the living and those who have passed. Typically, altars (ofrendas) are built in homes and public spaces to honor and remember the...

The annual Open Farm Tour unfolded over the weekend in Santa Cruz County where 13 organic farms welcomed the public to showcase their growing operations, methods and products. “Last year was just freaky, weather-wise, with all the rain and cold,” said Jean Thomas at Thomas...

On Tuesday afternoon, Jana Tenant was in her backyard in the Bay Village senior community of Watsonville, a place she calls her “sanctuary.” But on this day—like many others recently—that sanctum was beset by construction noise. The rhythmic pounding from Bridge Street is from the ongoing...

After decades of floods that devastated the communities of Pajaro and Watsonville—and flooded hundreds of acres of farmland—a group of local, state and federal lawmakers gathered near the banks of Corralitos Creek Wednesday to break ground on the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project,...

A fire at Bamboo Giant on Freedom Boulevard early Tuesday afternoon damaged a structure, spread into the neighboring field and closed the road in both directions. According to CalFire spokesman Tony Akin, the blaze broke out just past noon. Firefighters were met with towering flames...

Pajaro Valley Healthcare District—the public agency tasked with running Watsonville Community Hospital—announced Wednesday that they plan to purchase the building and surrounding property, a major milestone in a years-long endeavor to return the facility to public ownership. The unanimous decision came during a closed-session discussion,...

Several thousand people showed up for the reopening ceremony of the Capitola Wharf on Wednesday, celebrating its survival after it was cleaved in two by heavy storms. The wharf, founded in 1857, now boasts new lighting, side rails, benches, permanently mounted viewing scopes,  several art...

More than three dozen students from every high school within Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s boundaries gathered in the district’s boardroom Tuesday for a first-of-its kind meeting with Superintendent Heather Contreras. The Superintendent Student Advisory Meeting, which Contreras said will occur at least six times...

The City of Capitola invites the public to a Grand Opening of the newly revitalized Capitola Wharf on Wednesday. “The event will take place at the end of Capitola Wharf, marking the completion of significant upgrades made possible through the Capitola Wharf Resiliency, Public Access...

A jury on Tuesday found that Watsonville City Councilman Jimmy Dutra committed sexual battery and lewd and lascivious acts on a minor in his Los Angeles apartment 19 years ago. The jury also found that Dutra is liable for damages from the emotional and mental...