Local News

Community briefs, March 6, 2018

WATSONVILLE—In the past two years, Pajaro Valley Unified School District students have shown growth in state assessments in English and Math, placing just below the national average. The district’s third, fourth and fifth-graders showed double-digit growth in their English language arts tests, while fourth and...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council approved two housing developments at its Tuesday night meeting, paving the way for 103 new apartments on two of the city’s major arterial roads. Both projects nearly received unanimous approvals. Bill and Neva Hansen’s 50-unit, market-rate apartment complex on Main Street,...

SANTA CRUZ—UC Santa Cruz police are investigating a rape that occurred during a party late Friday night in a forest in the Upper Campus area. According to police, the female victim’s friends found her passed out around midnight after a large party, and brought her...

WATSONVILLE—Although the city of Watsonville has made modest gains in its state-mandated housing goals, it will need to nearly triple the number of units it has built over the past five years before 2023. That sobering reality presented to the City Council at its virtual...

WATSONVILLE—After years of playing on an ankle-twisting field pockmarked with scores of gopher holes, the students of E.A. Hall Middle School will soon have a new athletic field. The synthetic turf field—yet to be given an official name—will be ready for use when students return...

WATSONVILLE—After a series of atmospheric river storms caused flooding that displaced hundreds from their homes, Second Harvest Food Bank saw an increased need, and put out a call for assistance. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints answered that call, bringing two large...

By JAKE PIERCE, Santa Cruz Good Times News Editor SANTA CRUZ—For the second month in a row, a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office jail official has been arrested for improper sexual relations and other charges. Detectives arrested 35-year-old Correctional Officer Jenna Baldwin on Oct. 4 at...

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would reverse policies which had been separating the children of illegal immigrants with their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nearly five years after Michael Escobar allegedly gunned down a man at a Watsonville hotel — and struck and killed a 4-year-old girl sitting inside a nearby restaurant — prosecutors are preparing for his jury trial.