Local News

A new compilation of short stories by 17 local authors, “Santa Cruz Weird,” focuses on the strange, the unexplained and the just plain goofy from the Pajaro Valley to Bonny Doon.

James Joseph “Jim” Barsi, who ran his eponymous liquor store on East Lake Avenue for a half-century before selling the business and retiring in 2019, died on Jan. 26. He was 83.  Eddie Casillas said he began working for Barsi when he was 16, and...

Thanks to technology local residents will get a taste of a moon visit in a portable planetarium that will come to Aptos Saturday.

The 2020 U.S. Election saw a record turnout, with more Americans voting than in any election in more than a century. And with the high number of voters came plenty of landmark wins—including for LGBTQ candidates in all levels of government. LGBTQ representation in Congress...

A crew from Pacific Gas and Electric work on replacing power lines where a toppling tree wiped out three power poles and power lines Monday morning at 1:40 a.m. on Paradise Road in Prunedale during heavy rains and winds.

WATSONVILLE—A long-neglected garden at Rolling Hills Middle School was brought back to life Thursday thanks to the volunteer efforts of the Watsonville company K&D Landscaping.  Armed with a host of tools and dozens of starter plants, the crew tore into the hard-packed soil as part...

The 15th annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival launched early Friday with its three-day run of lectures, field trips, pelagic journeys, bird counts and samples of local foods and wines.

The National Association of Counties (NACo) on July 21 voted unanimously to urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) to change the way it funds flood control projects for economically disadvantaged communities. Currently, the ACOE uses a 1:1 benefit-cost ratio when figuring the feasibility...

Firefighters from several agencies combat a wild land fire on the shoulder of Highway 1 just south of South Green Valley Road Monday in Watsonville.