Local News

WATSONVILLE—In a mostly empty Jan. 19 meeting conducted over Zoom, the Watsonville City Council voted unanimously to join a collective of local government agencies to streamline the process of rebuilding and reenforcing the Pajaro River levee. The union, called the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday took a close look at an upcoming update to the housing element of the county’s general plan, a move required of jurisdictions every eight years. Central to the update is the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation...

Facing the stone archway of St. Joseph’s Salesian Youth Retreat Center outside Los Angeles, the dark wooden coffin holding the body of Juan Jiménez was wheeled next to a band of masked mariachis. The group readied themselves to play, simultaneously lifting bows to violins,...

Santa Cruz Supervisor and current Board Chair Zach Friend announced Friday that he will not seek a fourth term on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors.  Friend was first elected in 2012, and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2016 and 2020. His current term ends...

A group of city workers and volunteers spent the afternoon cleaning massive amounts of trash from a wooded hillside in Watsonville one sunny day in early December, hauling away several full dumpsters. “It’s a hot mess,” said Sally-Christine Rodgers, who founded the Pitch-In Initiative about...

Amesti Elementary School fifth-grader Kevin Bonita on Thursday took home more than a free 18-pound turkey when he won the school’s annual Turkey Trot race. He also has the distinction of being the first to win the race every year he attended the school. A young...

In the days when ranches and wilderness made up much of the Central Coast, the Castro family owned some 13,000 acres, on which they farmed and raised cattle.

When he was in school, Brandon Gruber occasionally found himself in the role of the underdog, and occasionally the target of bullies.