Local News

APTOS—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies issued misdemeanor citations at five mid-county businesses after employees allegedly sold alcohol or tobacco to minor decoys, Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Lansdowne said.  The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Alcohol and Tobacco Compliance Unit conducted the Nov. 7 decoy operation at...

Retired Capitola Police Chief Rudy Escalante has been named Janus of Santa Cruz’s new chief executive officer.

Christopher David Ow, a member of the prominent Santa Cruz real estate family, died recently in a Southern California motorcycle crash, according to family sources. He was 54. Ow was a property manager with Ow Family Properties and was the on-site manager at King’s Village...

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrest undocumented immigrants—there were more than 65,000 in custody as of Nov. 16, according to the website tracereports.org—their children are often left behind with no plan in place to care for them.  The Childcare Safety Plan Coalition (CSPC)—a...

With more people contracting Covid-19 locally and increased reports of the Delta variant, Monterey, Napa, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties in a joint statement Monday recommend that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places.  This includes places such as grocery...

Woody’s at the Airport celebrated its grand opening Monday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Watsonville Municipal Airport, marking the arrival of a restaurant that aims to pair locally sourced ingredients with a community-centered approach.  Although the restaurant has already opened its doors, owner Tim Wood...

A 4.6-magnitude earthquake centered in Boulder Creek rattled the Central Coast at 1:41am Thursday morning, with tremors felt as far north as Santa Rosa, northwest to Sacramento and Fresno and south to Salinas, according to the United States Geological Survey. No damage or injuries were...

In 2014 Elizabeth Hoover, associate professor in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, set out on a road trip across the U.S. Hoover covered 20,000 miles over four months, visiting 29 different Indigenous communities and asking everyone she met one question: How do...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District launched its virtual academy one year ago as an option for families concerned about Covid-19, and who wanted to keep their children at home even if students were allowed back into classes. When the all-online classes began on Aug....