Local News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved an agreement that increases every teacher’s yearly salary by $4,000, retroactive to July 1, 2021. Teachers were not the only ones that benefited from the agreement, which was passed tentatively on Feb. 16. Nurses,...

Bird enthusiasts got a dramatic treat at the year’s end when an extremely rare black-headed gull dropped by Rio Del Mar State Beach.  While common in Asian countries and along the Eastern U.S. coast, the gull, largely white, with red legs, red bill and a...

APTOS—An Aptos woman was arrested on drunk driving and hit-and-run charges Friday after she allegedly plowed her car into two vehicles in the Seascape area and then fled the scene. California Highway Patrol officer Sam Courtney said Martha Lewis was driving a 2008 Volvo XC70...

A wildland fire broke out in trees and brush flanking northbound Highway 1 north of Buena Vista Drive Monday in Watsonville. The 1pm blaze sent up massive billows of gray and brown smoke that were visible around Watsonville and drew a heavy response from multiple...

Monte Vista Christian School varsity basketball coach Hasan Houston was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of domestic battery, police records show.

More than 50 people from Pacific Gas & Electric, Watsonville Works and other groups hit the streets of Watsonville Thursday morning with a single target in mind: trash. The three-hour community cleanup, headed up by Ramon Gomez, chief of staff for Supervisor Felipe Hernandez, fanned...

WATSONVILLE—Situated on the outskirts of Watsonville, just down the road from Pajaro Valley High School, sits Esperanza Community Farms. Established in 2017, the farm provides affordable organic produce to about 100 local families through a biweekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, while aiming to promote...

Roughly 17 percent of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Santa Cruz County have been hospitalized, according to data released by Santa Cruz County officials on Wednesday. There were 54 confirmed cases in the county as of late Tuesday. Nine of those county...

WATSONVILLE—A crew from Watsonville Public Works is continuing a city-wide project to enhance the safety of crosswalks. The multiphase job has already completed numerous “high visibility” crosswalks at a number of downtown intersections on Rodriguez, Union and Brennan streets. Assistant Director of Public Works Maria...

Concrete work was set in motion Tuesday as work moves forward on LEO’s Haven, a playground at Chanticleer County Park designed for children with disabilities such as blindness, mobility impairment and autism.