Local News

WATSONVILLE—A group of residents from Watsonville's senior neighborhoods gathered at the Pajaro Village Club House last week to hear a presentation on pesticide use, and on an upcoming pilot project to notify residents on nearby applications. Hosted by the Center for Farmworkers Families, Safe Ag...

A crew from Bogard Construction use an excavator to demolish the Aptos Branch Library Wednesday on Soquel Drive at State Park. A new library is in the works and expected to be completed by Summer 2023. The $14 million project was funded by voter-approved...

APTOS—An Aptos High School junior inspired by her father’s hard work in local agricultural fields has won this year’s 20th Congressional Art Competition, and will see her photograph hang in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Michelle Lopez-Rubio, 17, says she was working with...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on May 11 unanimously voted to continue a program at two high schools in which law enforcement officers are paired with mental health clinicians, and to bring the program to a third school. The School Resource...

WATSONVILLE—The three candidates vying for the Fourth District seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors squared off in a forum Tuesday night, touching on transportation, housing and other issues affecting the county. The forum was hosted by the Santa Cruz County Chamber of...

WATSONVILLE—As the aroma of sizzling meats, tortillas and salsa wafted across the parking lot of Watsonville Police Department May 11, a swarm of retired and current police officers and WPD staff gathered for a friendly send off to Sgt. Bryan Fuentez on his final...

WATSONVILLE—A sixth-grader from Ceiba College Preparatory Academy in Watsonville will soon be heading across the country to participate in Invention Convention Worldwide’s national competition. Maxx Davis, 12, was selected to be one of 550 students across the United States to display his invention at the...

WATSONVILLE—In spring 2018 Watsonville nonprofit Regeneración: Pajaro Valley Climate Action held a special event to announce results of a landmark community survey.  The event brought together a number of agencies and residents, and its success prompted the organization to kickstart an annual forum, aiming to...

ROYAL OAKS — A 47-year-old Salinas man died late Friday night in Royal Oaks after his vehicle struck a tree. California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Jessica Madueño said the man, who has not been named, was traveling westbound on San Miguel Canyon Road west...

A demolition crew tears out the last of the Watsonville Nature Center in Ramsay Park as part of a major upgrade to the park. The center, a small portable building located toward the back of the park, was the only free, bilingual environmental education...