Local News

Spirits were high throughout the sprawling YMCA building on Sudden Street Tuesday evening as a lively crowd prepared for their annual fundraiser kickoff.

Michael McCollum, who worked as staff photographer at the Pajaronian from1987 to 1996, died March 9 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was 67.  Born on April 27, 1957, to Garland McCollum and Katherine Fromm-McCollum in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, Mik was 2 when the family moved...

For more than three decades Ana Ortega has been making folks happy. As the owner of Ana’s Flowers, a modest flower tent adjoining the long-standing Capitola Produce, she has thrown her talent and keen eye into making dazzling flower arrangements for everyone from everyday passersby to grand-scale events.

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved the contract for a new Chief Business Officer. Gerardo Castillo will make $229,000 annually, along with a yearly $5,806 stipend for his Certified Public Accountant certification. In addition, he will get a 2.5%...

According to SCPD Sgt. Gregg Crofts, officers responded to a report of shots fired about 11:20 p.m. Everyone involved had fled, but officers located evidence and interviewed witnesses.

WATSONVILLE—Sometimes a blunt reality check can completely change the trajectory of a person’s life. A strong support system also helps. Geraldine Gonzales-Jaramillo can attest to that. Now one of Watsonville High School’s 438 graduates from the class of 2020, Gonzales-Jaramillo was in danger of slipping through...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The light rain that fell all day Thursday was “just the very, very top-tip of the iceberg” of a storm system expected to dump several inches of rain through Friday, says National Weather Service Meteorologist Brian Garcia. “We still have a lot to...

A Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge ruled Monday that prosecutors have enough evidence for a trial in the case of a man who shot his girlfriend and stabbed her husband in a rural Aptos residence during an attack in late January.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies arrested a man in Turlock Thursday on suspicion of murder in a cold case stemming back to 1995. Investigators were able to find forensic evidence linking John Laroche, 63, to the case, Ashley Keehn, a spokesperson for...

A Watsonville teen has far surpassed her goal of collecting books for young people, and on Friday gave the books away.