Local News

Sam Ruiz (left) and Jose Ruelas team up with Emanuel Garcia (not shown) of Rinaldi Tile & Marble to install a mosaic tile sheet to the exterior wall of the parking structure at Rodriguez and Second streets Monday. Watsonville Brillante, a multiphase mosaic outdoor project...

WATSONVILLE—A group is planning to file a complaint to the California Attorney General’s Office against the city of Watsonville and the County of Santa Cruz for advancing a housing project that they say will create an environmental hazard for its future residents and a...

WATSONVILLE—The city of Watsonville will likely ask its residents to approve a half-cent sales tax increase in the November election that would raise the city’s sales tax to 9.75%—the most the municipality is allowed to tax its residents. The Watsonville City Council did not place...

WATSONVILLE—Ballots have now been mailed out to roughly 3,000 people who own property in the Pajaro River floodplain, and the fate of a $400 million levee restoration project is in their hands. They must decide whether they support a property tax assessment that will pay...

WATSONVILLE—During the summer, Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials plan to meet at the bargaining table with the district’s teachers union in hopes of hammering out an agreement that would create a 7-period day at Pajaro Valley High School. A majority of teachers at the...

WATSONVILLE—Thanks to a partnership between the Watsonville Senior Center and the Watsonville Nature Center, 22 older adults got a close-up view of Struve Slough, and its birds and plants Monday during the Senior Nature Walk, a program that launched in November. Led up by Nancy...

APTOS—Around 120 people from various Santa Cruz County law enforcement and first responder sectors ran through The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in the sixth annual Never Forget Memorial Relay on Sunday. Numerous employees from local fire and police agencies and the probation, sheriff’s...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday voted unanimously to name Aptos High School’s lower athletic field after Bobby Salazar, who spent four decades as school custodian and who was so involved in the community he was known as the...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Police Department has several military-grade weapons that it says it only uses in extraordinary circumstances. That armory includes nearly two dozen high-powered rifles, a few shotguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and dozens of less-lethal and “crowd control” weapons such as flashbangs, rubber grenades...

WATSONVILLE—Since 2018, Watsonville-based nonprofit Digital NEST has hosted NEST Flight, a career development conference aiming to inspire young professionals and propel their careers. The event features speakers, workshops, panel discussions, networking opportunities and more for people ages 17-24. During the conference, attendees have the opportunity...