Local News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Watsonville and Santa Cruz County officials on Thursday lifted the evacuation orders and flood warnings issued during the dual atmospheric river storms that came on Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, allowing residents to return home and breathe a sigh of relief that...

SAN JOSE—Watsonville native Matt Mahan has been sworn in as mayor of Northern California’s largest city. The Harvard-educated 40-year-old businessman turned politician grew up on the outskirts of Watsonville in the 1980s and ’90s, just off Amesti Road near Pinto Lake. His mother taught at...

WATSONVILLE—Caitlin Bayaca is on track to earn the highest award of the Girl Scouts organization.  The Gold Award is designed for high school-age scouts and ambassadors, who create, propose and lead a major community service project. Bayaca, a senior at Aptos High School and part of...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s first baby of the year made his appearance at 4:09am, a five-and-a-half pound boy who makes the third child for Beneslao Lucas and Irma Lopez.  Josue Lucas made a surprise appearance at 36 weeks, but was healthy and lively on Monday morning at Watsonville...

WATSONVILLE—A $6 million loan from the State of California will allow Watsonville to build a new landfill, a move that will save money and give the City a place to haul its waste for as long as three decades. The loan from the California Infrastructure...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday afternoon issued new mandatory evacuation orders, including parts of South County, as well as several neighborhoods up Soquel-San Jose Road and Main Street required to leave. In Watsonville, the orders include Freedom Boulevard north of...

WATSONVILLE—As the next major rainstorm rolls in, the City of Watsonville and local nonprofits are heading up a major effort to provide sandbags for local residents in flood-prone areas. Scores of city staff and volunteers from Community Bridges, the Community Action Board, the California Conservation...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials on Tuesday declared a local emergency in the wake of the atmospheric river winter storm on Dec. 30 and 31 that ravaged roads and infrastructure and caused widespread flooding. The Board of Supervisors will consider the declaration during their...

WATSONVILLE—Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for Watsonville neighborhoods with a high risk of flooding during this Wednesday’s storm, which is said to hit the region early tomorrow morning.  City officials urge residents who live within this map's blue-shaded area to evacuate tonight. Choosing not...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Evacuation “will be necessary” for the people living along Corralitos and Salsipuedes creeks as Santa Cruz County braces for a second major storm in less than a week, officials said Tuesday. “We are letting people living in those areas know that, in all...