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SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Evacuation “will be necessary” for the people living along Corralitos and Salsipuedes creeks as Santa Cruz County braces for a second major storm in less than a week, officials said Tuesday. “We are letting people living in those areas know that, in all...

Lynn Drummond (from left), Jaedyn Kett and Leisa Kett wear fancy hats to the 15th annual Down to Earth Women Luncheon Thursday at Driscoll’s Rancho Corralitos. The two-hour event, under pleasant sunny skies, is for women who are involved in, or support local agriculture...

WATSONVILLE—About four dozen people were on hand to celebrate the groundbreaking of an 80-unit affordable housing complex off Atkinson Lane on Nov. 18. In his opening remarks, MidPen Housing President and CEO Matt Franklin said that creating affordable housing communities like Pippin Orchards II is...

About 150 people plunged into the Pacific Saturday at Cowell’s Beach for the third annual Liberation Paddle Out celebration of Juneteenth. With the aid of around two dozen experienced surfers and other supporters, the crowd fitted themselves with wetsuits, took in a brief surf lesson...

WATSONVILLE—A little more than one year ago, Watsonville/Aptos/Santa Cruz Adult School opened the county’s only beauty and cosmetology school. The program is one of the school’s many offerings that include English classes, citizenship and certified nursing assistant certificates. As part of the cosmetology program, students offer...

In the past, visitors at Seacliff State Beach could gaze upon the S.S. Palo Alto, the famed Concrete Ship at the end of the equally famous wharf.  Relentless waves and occasional storms over time have destroyed the wharf, and the ship remains a local landmark...

For decades, voters on election day went to their respective polling places—roughly 160 in Santa Cruz County—where they would be handed a ballot for the candidates and races specific to their districts. It was a time-honored tradition, and—for one day—a community gathering spot, with many...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A little more than a week ago, a series of weather calamities began that assailed the Central Coast, bringing torrential rain that flooded several neighborhoods and destroyed multiple homes. In addition, a coastal swell decimated the wharf at Seacliff State Beach and rendered...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Watsonville and Santa Cruz County officials on Thursday lifted the evacuation orders and flood warnings issued during the dual atmospheric river storms that came on Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, allowing residents to return home and breathe a sigh of relief that...

Tarmo Hannula contributed to this story. Over the decades, California lawmakers, district attorneys, county agricultural commissioners and others tasked with protecting residents have neglected to do so for farmworkers and their families, who are disproportionately affected by dangerous agricultural chemicals. This amounts to years of civil...