Local News

The Santa Cruz County Commission on the Environment (CoE) is convening a series of public technical workshops to examine the role and risks of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in modernizing the energy grid. The workshops, scheduled for June 25, July 30 and Aug. 27,...

Two women were hurt early Thursday morning in a head-on crash on Highway 129 (Riverside Road) east of Watsonville.

This story has been updated with more photos from the Watsonville event. Thousands of people gathered at the Governmental Center in Santa Cruz and in City Plaza in Watsonville Saturday for No Kings Day. The first-of-its-kind event was held in 2,000 cities nationwide to protest President...

Few would question the assertion that the 128-year-old Redman-Hirahara House is showing its age. Languishing in a parcel on the outskirts of Watsonville and visible from Highway 1, it has withstood wet winters, driving rain, scorching summers and, no doubt, inhabitation by multiple species of...

The Watsonville City Council and the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously denounced the use of military force against protestors and immigrant communities. Both boards adopted their own resolutions, which were added late to the agendas. The resolutions came as President Donald Trump...

Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles Thursday. Padilla, a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, released the following statement after he was taken out of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press...

JAPANESE CULTURE A group performs a traditional dance from Okinawa Saturday at the annual Japanese Cultural Fair at Mission Plaza Park in Santa Cruz Saturday.  Since its founding in 1986, the fair has opened a window for the community to deepen their awareness and understanding...

If cuts to food assistance programs proposed under President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” are approved by the U.S. Senate, it would cripple the food distribution system that local organizations have spent decades building, and upon which thousands Santa Cruz County residents rely. That was...

Five hundred and twenty-two graduates of Watsonville High School filed across the stage at Geiser Field on the afternoon of June 6, putting to end the school year of 2024-25. Prior to the ceremony — his second such year as principal — Joe Gergorio said,...