Local News

Crowds were thick over the weekend at Fruition Brewing & Kitchen during their six-year anniversary in the East Lake Village Shopping Center. Fruition has claimed a list of awards and accolades, including the Silver Medal for their ‘Slip’ Pilsner and a Bronze Medal for...

More than 400 area students were given a running start for the upcoming school year when they were presented with free backpacks loaded with school supplies Saturday in an upbeat gathering in Watsonville Plaza.  Thanks to the Salvation Army in Watsonville, Freedom Rotary Club, Scouting...

About 150 people gathered in Santa Cruz July 17, for a third meeting held over the past few months to send the message that proposed Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Watsonville, Aptos and Santa Cruz are not welcome. “These folks are pursuing these systems...

An early-morning fire that broke out at a mobile home in the Portola Heights Mobile Home Park on Freedom Boulevard Tuesday is being investigated as an attempted murder. Duane Hawkins, 65, arrived at the home and started the fire following an argument, Watsonville Police spokeswoman...

On Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, the California Department of Cannabis Control, the FBI and the DEA amassed at a business on the 1400 block of San Juan Road in Monterey County to serve a search warrant...

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved contracts with Watsonville Police Department and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office to place uniformed law enforcement officials at the district’s three comprehensive high schools as school resource officers (SROs). These SROs will...

As the usual weekday rush-hour traffic began to build up on Highway 1 in Mid-County Wednesday afternoon, it appeared that commuters were facing yet another interminable slog on their way to their destinations. But one thing was different. The first pedestrians and bicyclists began to use...

Santa Cruz County officials on Friday cut the ribbon on the first new park to open in South County’s unincorporated region in decades. The 38.5-acre Valle del Pájaro (Valley of the Birds) County Park, under the mantle of Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural...

Four high school students from Croatia arrived July 2 in Watsonville from the Student Ambassador Exchange Program of the Slavic American Cultural Organization (SACO).  They are part of Watsonville’s Sister City program they share with Cavtat, Croatia.  Using Watsonville as their home base, their visit includes...