Smoke drift triggers air quality advisory
Smoke from wildfires burning in northern California and southern Oregon drifted over the Monterey Bay Area Tuesday and has degraded air quality in parts of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties.
The Monterey Bay Air Resources District (MBARD) said concentration of smoke has reached...
Heard a loud boom Thursday? Here’s what experts say was responsible
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The loud boom that echoed over much of Santa Cruz County late Thursday evening—and the fireball streaking across the sky that accompanied it—was probably a piece of natural space debris roughly the size of a volleyball that entered the earth’s atmosphere and...
Watsonville Center for the Arts is the culmination of years of work
WATSONVILLE—A new arts and culture hub will soon open in downtown Watsonville, acting as a home base for a number of longstanding organizations, education programs and more.
Watsonville Center for the Arts, 375 Main St., is the culmination of decades of work by local groups...
Local author writes about Irish immigrant family in first book
When Santa Cruz author Jean Mahoney was a little girl, she discovered an old, battered scrapbook in her family’s home.
Second Harvest names Padilla-Chavez new CEO
WATSONVILLE—Second Harvest Food Bank has a new leader.
The organization on Thursday announced that Erica Padilla-Chavez will take the helm as CEO in July after Willy Elliot-McCrea retires, and as the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary.
In accepting the position, Padilla-Chavez will leave her post as...
LAFCO hires new executive officer
The Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Cruz County announced Joe Serrano as its next executive officer.
Measure U extension will likely go to voters in 2022
WATSONVILLE—About two dozen organizers packed into the Watsonville civic offices on Monday afternoon to turn in the signatures needed to put an extension of a landmark ballot measure before Watsonville voters next year.
Measure U, approved by voters in 2002, put restrictions on where, when...
Activities lined up for Dia de Muertos celebration
Live music, dance performances, community altars and family activities will fill the afternoon in Watsonville Plaza Friday during the annual Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration.
Hosted by Watsonville Film Festival, the sixth annual event will also feature a free showing of the...
Letters to the Editor, April 24-30
Keeping our eye on the Clock
My father, an Air Force fighter pilot, and our family, were stationed in Yokohama Japan in 1947 as part...


















