About Town

Tarmo Hannula: Watsonville Police officer Javier Ayala introduced his K9, Axel, to the kindergarten class of Mara Valadez at Freedom Elementary School Monday as part of the annual Read Across America Program. Many people in the U.S., including students, parents and teachers, take part...

The main branch of the Watsonville Public Library has a display of literature to recognize of Women's History Month, which is March. • This evening, showers will taper off to fog around 11 p.m. The National Weather Service said more rain appears to be on the...

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that it is temporarily stopping jail tours, screening those being brought to the main jail and stopping contact visits at all facilities. The move is in response to the declaration of local health emergency by the...

Tarmo Hannula: Though the day started out sunny in Santa Cruz, as I cruised into Watsonville on the METRO bus 69A the city was dark, cold and gray beneath a heavy cloud layer. The streets were still slick with rainwater. The National Weather Service...

Observations from around the Pajaro Valley.

I rode my bike through the Santa Cruz Harbor today and saw a man and a woman heading out into the waters on stand-up paddleboards after renting them at the long-standing Kayak Connection, which is located in the harbor. Stand-up paddleboards are really popular...

All 280 California State Parks have been closed to all day use visitors and all vehicles are being turned away during the COVID-19 outbreak. • The first case of COVID-19 was announced in Santa Cruz County on March 6 and now — three weeks later —...

Tarmo Hannula Last week fellow reporter, Johanna Miller and I drove out along San Andreas Road to get a few photos and a feel of the current agricultural scene. The strawberry fields were abuzz with harvesters. From what I could see everyone was wearing a...

An upbeat ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance headquarters at the corner of East Lake and Brewington avenues unfolded under sunny skies Thursday in Watsonville. The new facility is an expansion of PVPSA, a local nonprofit that aims...

No one came to our door Saturday night for Halloween. Typically we get dozens of kids in costumes, families roaming the streets, strangers greeting strangers at the doorstep. Not this year. Downtown Santa Cruz, however, came out in force with, what police said was...