Local News

WATSONVILLE—Two dozen bicyclists rolled into Watsonville Monday on the second stop of the annual Fire Velo bike ride. Their week-long journey started in Sausalito and ends in Los Angeles. Fire Velo is a national cycling organization that promotes physical and mental wellness in the fire...

A six-month project to improve pavement quality on five miles of Highway 1 through Watsonville, both north and southbound, is moving toward completion. “We have about three weeks of work remaining on this project,” said Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski. “That timeline is weather dependent. During...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved plans for a new athletic field at E.A. Hall Middle School, a $1.9 million project approved by the community in August. The project will be the last of the school’s funds from Measure...

WATSONVILLE—Thousands of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) customers throughout South Santa Cruz County and North Monterey County lost power Friday. According to PG&E’s website 11,609 customers lost power at 12:54 p.m. for an unknown reason. The utility said it restored power for most customers at...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Since it was launched in December of last year, the County of Santa Cruz’s Neighborhood Courts Program (NCP) has rerouted 45 misdemeanor criminal cases away from the traditional justice system and out into the community.  A restorative justice-based program of the County District...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted an ordinance that will require restaurants and stores to charge a 25-cent fee on all single-use cups starting next summer. The move is aimed at reducing the estimated 50 million to-go cups...

A fourth-grade student from Watsonville Charter School of the Arts (WCSA) has ranked among the top 20 fourth-grade students in the nation in the prestigious Math Kangaroo Contest, an international mathematics competition held this past March.  Sequoia Olson’s achievement marks the first-ever national recognition for...

SANTA CRUZ—The Wharf to Wharf race winds six miles from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to Capitola Village, and since its inception in 1973 has drawn thousands of participants and spectators from around the world.  This year’s event on July 26 would have featured 16,000...

A crew from Caltrans replaces a guardrail Thursday morning on northbound Highway 1 near the South Green Valley Road exit.