Crime, Fire & Courts

A Scotts Valley man died Sunday morning after his minivan plunged into the ocean from the Santa Cruz Wharf. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as William Westerman, 65.  Santa Cruz Police said Westerman was driving a white Toyota Sienna minivan with his...

The public is invited to National Night Out, a series of gatherings held in communities throughout Santa Cruz County on Aug. 5 from 3-7pm. National Night Out Against Crime is a chance for people to meet the police officers, firefighters and first-responders who help them...

Watsonville Police arrested a man on Jan. 28 for making a bomb threat to a local hospital.  WPD spokeswoman Erika Vazquez said WPD arrested 32-year-old Cody Burns on the 400 block of Hill Avenue after he reportedly “made a bomb threat targeting a local hospital.”  Officers...

The City of Watsonville on Thursday announced that Police Chief Jorge Zamora is retiring, with his last day set for Aug. 30. The retirement will end a law enforcement career of more than three decades. Zamora began as a police cadet when he was 15, and...

Kimberly LaBore, who has spent more than two decades behind bars for her part in a 1998 robbery and killing—and who was sentenced to 62 years to life for the crime—has been granted parole. Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017 commuted that sentence to a 20-year...

Santa Cruz County on Monday named Sandra Mendez as its next chief probation officer, selecting a veteran corrections administrator with more than 20 years of experience in community-based justice programs. Mendez will take over leadership of the county’s Probation Department on Feb. 2, county officials...

Construction work has begun on Main Street, between 5th Street and E. Lake Avenue, which will mean occasional closures, Watsonville officials said. Work will take place from 9am to 3pm, Sept. 2 through Oct. 3. Both northbound and southbound lanes of Main Street will have...

Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies on Sunday arrested a Pacific Grove man with a WWII-era machine gun described as a “weapon of mass destruction.” Brian Richard Knabb, 42, also had a loaded .45 caliber pistol and a loaded 1911 A-1 pistol, sheriff’s deputies said. In addition, he...