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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...

WATSONVILLE – A fire broke out in a wood garage behind a home at 30 Riverside Drive Tuesday. Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Kirt Vojvoda said no one was in the building when it caught fire and no injuries were reported. He said that once he...

A military-grade ordnance is shown on the beach at Pajaro Dunes in Watsonville. The device washed ashore during recent heavy seas on New Year’s Eve, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said. As a precaution, the Sheriff's bomb team responded, deemed it safe, and...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Supervisors bade farewell to two longtime members Tuesday, both of whom served as city council members in their respective districts before taking their seat on the Board. Ryan Coonerty joined the Board in 2014 after serving on the Santa...

WATSONVILLE—A new bilingual center, aiming to provide services and resources to families across Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, will open its doors Monday in Watsonville. Located at 1205 Freedom Blvd., Raíces y Cariño: A Community Collective for Families (RC Fam) will offer a...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the 2023 Housing Element, a plan that will serve as a roadmap to meet projected housing needs in the unincorporated areas of the county through 2031. Required by jurisdictions throughout California every eight years,...

WATSONVILLE—Breaking from the usual modus operandi of allowing her colleagues to ask their questions and voice their concerns first, Watsonville Mayor Ari Parker started the city council’s questioning of a $25 million reimaging of downtown Watsonville’s street landscape. The people she’s talked to, the...

Work is underway to bore a tunnel under Highway 1 in Watsonville, which is part of the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency’s College Lake Water Supply pipeline project. The weeks-long tunnel job, just south of Riverside Drive, will not interrupt Highway 1 traffic flow, said...

Skillicorn BBQ benefits Scouts The Skillicorn BBQ returns Aug. 23 at the Corralitos Padres Hall, 35 Browns Valley Road, beginning at 5pm. The event is a major fundraiser to support the Scouts BSA programs in the Greater Pajaro Valley of the Loma Prieta District. Since its...

Editor's note: This is part two of photojournalist Tarmo Hannula's recent trip to Sacramento. After exploring Grizzly Island Wildlife Area on the morning of the second day of our road trip to Sacramento recently, my wife, Sarah, and I steered toward a string of small...