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WATSONVILLE—Thursday marked the end of an era—and the beginning of a new one—as Watsonville Community Hospital officially became a public entity, to be controlled by a local board of elected representatives. The purchase followed a months-long fundraising campaign—the largest in Santa Cruz County history—that netted...

A Watsonville Police K-9 was stabbed Tuesday afternoon in a confrontation police had with an attempted murder suspect.  Sgt. Jarrod Pisturino said the incident began when police got behind a white Honda Accord around 4pm on Rodriguez Street in downtown Watsonville. When the solo occupant...

After a career in law enforcement that spanned nearly three decades, with assignments that included the downtown walking beat, Watsonville Police Officer Kraig Kliewer hung up his hat Wednesday, with a send-off from his colleagues. Kliewer says he wanted to be a police officer for...

Caltrans is scheduled to close both directions of Highway 1 for a 24-hour block on March 23/24 to make way for the demolition of the 1948 Capitola Ave. overcrossing.  Kevin Drabinski, spokesperson for Caltrans, said the work is the second phase of the three-phase project...

Work continues on Murphy Road in Aromas where crews are resurfacing the heavily traveled corridor between Riverside and San Juan roads. The $1.4 million project is slated for completion by the end of November.

Longtime Watsonville resident Virginia Varni recently celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by family and friends.  She was born on Jan. 11, 1923 in Breckenridge, Texas to Charles and Grace Leonard. The family moved to Southern California and Varni gave the first-ever radio broadcast from first...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville man who was shot and killed Sunday afternoon in downtown was working to turn his life around, his mother said. On Wednesday, at a large makeshift altar at the site of where her son died, Roxanne Ortiz said Adrian Ayala, 19, was one...

WATSONVILLE—A newly formed community group with the vision of reducing the use of pesticides in the Pajaro Valley is taking on international berry giant Driscoll’s. The Campaign for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture (CORA) recently sent a letter to Driscoll’s CEO Miles Reiter calling for the...

WATSONVILLE—This year’s Santa Cruz County Fair began with a bang, attracting thousands of people to the five-day bacchanalia of food, agriculture and art, and was on track to match last year’s blockbuster attendance. That changed on Sunday, when a rare late-summer rainstorm doused the region,...

A Hollister man died Sunday evening in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 129. California Highway Patrol officer Israel Murillo said emergency crews were dispatched to a report of the crash just past 7:30pm on Highway 129 east of Murphy Road in Watsonville. A 54-year-old Hollister...