Crime, Fire & Courts

This story has been updated from a previous version. A woman escaped injury when her SUV smashed into a utility pole early Sunday morning on the 100 block of Airport Boulevard. The woman was traveling eastbound on Airport Boulevard at 7:55am approaching Freedom Boulevard when,...

Santa Cruz Police are investigating a report of shots fired Monday evening in a parking lot near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Police said officers responded to reports of shots fired on the evening of Aug. 3. No one was struck by the gunfire,...

CLOSE CALL Firefighters douse hot spots in a brush fire that erupted on the 300 block of Amesti Road Friday. An official from CalFire said the 3:20pm brush fire climbed to two acres before firefighters from Pajaro Valley Fire District, Watsonville and Central Fire...

Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested a Pajaro man for the murder of Watsonville resident Jesús Alfonso Duarte Figueroa, whose body was found buried along the Pajaro River levee in April. Bernardino Rickie Sanchez, 61, was booked into Monterey County Jail in lieu of...

MEDICAL EMERGENCY Watsonville firefighters deal with a solo-vehicle rollover on Thursday, where an SUV barrel-rolled down a hillside on Main Street. Watsonville City spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said a man driving a Mazda SUV appears to have had a medical  emergency while driving past the...

Tow operator Kevin Chavez works on righting a VW sedan after it rolled off of Buena Vista Drive early Thursday morning. The California Highway Patrol said a male driver lost control of the VW Jetta around 6:30am while traveling westbound on the 600 block...

An 86-year-old Fresno man was convicted on Aug. 26 for a double-murder committed more than three decades ago in Prunedale. According  to Monterey County Sheriff spokesman Andres Rosas, Ira Ulyesses Bastian murdered George Smith, 67, and Eva Thompson, 79 in a Prunedale restaurant on Nov....

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...

A Watsonville man was arrested Tuesday after he was found in a hotel with a 15-year-old girl who had been reported missing out of Fresno. Darwin Linares, 24, was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He was...

A fire late Wednesday morning in Watsonville destroyed two vehicles in the area of Brennan Street and Freedom Boulevard. Firefighters reported no injuries. The blaze erupted at about 10:15am in a 2024 Tesla and a Ford F150 van that were parked next to each other. Witnesses...