Local News

The California Highway Patrol closed north and southbound lanes of Highway 1 in Soquel Saturday at 7pm to make way for Granite Construction crews to demolish the 1948 Capitola Avenue bridge above the highway. The closure and carefully crafted detour between Bay/Porter and Park Avenue...

Elkhorn Slough, the vast natural area south of Watsonville that serves as a transition zone between land and sea and is home to myriad species of birds—as well as water and land animals—got a boost last week with a $6 million award. The money from...

Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board (PVHCD) Chair and former Watsonville Community Hospital CEO John Friel, who took the lead of the fledgling agency at its outset in 2022, died March 21 after battling an undisclosed illness.  Friel resigned from his position on March 19,...

Update at 7:18pm: The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputy who was shot while trying to arrest a man suspected in Saturday afternoon's double-carjacking in Felton has died, a law enforcement source confirmed. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaronian this year has jumped on the growing digital giving movement Santa Cruz Gives, the first crowdsourcing website for multiple Santa Cruz County nonprofits. The campaign, which launched for its fifth holiday season Wednesday, raises funds for 37 selected nonprofits via SantaCruzGives.org, where donors...

Two people were injured Tuesday morning after a man slammed into a school bus holding dozens of students. The collision on the 900 block of Green Valley Road north of Casserly Road at 7:30am caused the bus to burst into flames. The driver, a 28-year-old male...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville High School community is reeling from the loss of four staff members that occurred over the past nine months. History and economics teacher Abel Mejia died on Sept. 16, and his brother Ruben Mejia, a biology teacher, died on Sept. 5.  Their deaths came after...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday fired Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez after a closed-session meeting that delayed the beginning of the public session by more than two hours. The decision came after a 4-3 vote, with trustees Jennifer Holm, Maria Orozco...

Measure M, which will raise millions of dollars for construction, rebuilding and maintenance projects at each of Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s 35 schools has passed, and officials are starting to make plans for the money. As of Friday, the measure garnered 57.5% of the...

A fire at Bamboo Giant on Freedom Boulevard early Tuesday afternoon damaged a structure, spread into the neighboring field and closed the road in both directions. According to CalFire spokesman Tony Akin, the blaze broke out just past noon. Firefighters were met with towering flames...