Local News

Four decades ago, Watsonville’s cannery industry was bustling, packing up the vast amount of agricultural products grown in the Pajaro Valley and preserving them for shipment around the world. The lifeblood of this industry was provided by its thousands of workers—most of them women, and...

Pajaro Valley Unified School District Chief Business Officer Jenny Im has submitted her resignation letter to the district, Superintendent Heather Contreras confirmed Saturday. Im’s resignation comes after several contentious public meetings during which the board directly questioned the district’s financial management. Reached by text, Im declined...

TEAM WORK A chef and other staff at the long-standing Loma Linda Restaurant in Watsonville help Watsonville firefighters tackle a major fire that tore through the restaurant on  Nov. 17, 1956.  (Sam Vestal/Pajaronian file).

The Pajaro Valley Quilt Association held its annual show over the weekend with more than 300 quilts on display at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.  With the theme of “It’s Hip to Be Square,” the huge variety of homemade quilts, from machine to hand-sewn, from...

These cooks use fans to cool off fresh udon noodles at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple in a previous photo. Udon Noodle Night is slated for March 1 at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple. The $10 per bowl ticket is good for dine-in or take out....

Watsonville restaurant The Rustic Table marched away with a first-place award for their Boston clam chowder over the weekend at the annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook Off at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. “In every which way, we came out of this feeling accomplished,...

Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s governing board on Tuesday rejected two proposals to reduce teachers and staff, and approved three other reduction resolutions during a raucous, contentious meeting that included bickering between trustees and heckling from attendees in the packed boardroom. That heckling came to...

Two men are in custody after a high-speed car chase that reached 150 miles per hour Wednesday in Watsonville.  The incident began on Highway 1 at Freedom Boulevard when police attempted to stop a white Buick Envista for traffic code violations. The driver fled, triggering a...

Emergency officials deal with a solo-vehicle crash on southbound Hwy 1 at the Mar Monte exit on Wednesday. CHP officer Israel Murillo said only minor injuries were reported in the 11:10am incident. Traffic was backed up in the southbound lanes for over 90 minutes....