Local News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo released the 2021 Santa Cruz County Crop Report on Oct. 5, which shows a 3.4 percent increase in overall crop production values over the past year. Strawberries remain the top crop in Santa Cruz County, with...

WATSONVILLE—In a 7-2 vote Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Fair Board terminated Fairgrounds Manager Dave Kegebein’s employment, a decision that generated outcry from members of the public. Board Members Jody Belgard and Loretta Estrada voted no. “This is probably the darkest and most difficult day this...

Comedian Allan S. Manalo offers his stream of jokes in Watsonville Plaza Saturday during the inaugural Filipino American History Month festival. The free event included live music, traditional Filipino food, information booths, arts and crafts and more. Organizers The Tobera Project hope to make the...

Note: reporter Todd Guild contributed to this report SALINAS—The pesticide Telone–also known as 1,3-D–is thought to be so dangerous that it is banned in 34 countries. And yet, despite having been disallowed in California from 1990-94, it is still used on crops, including on local...

WATSONVILLE—With two seats on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District up for election, the makeup of the board could see a shift as political newcomers Natalain Schwartz and Olivia Flores challenge incumbents Kim De Serpa and Jennifer Schacher, respectively. Two seats—occupied by Daniel Dodge Jr....

Faculty, staff, students and the family of Stuart Camenson, who died in a plane collision at Watsonville Municipal Airport on Aug. 18, will gather at Cabrillo College on Oct. 16 for a Celebration of Life event. Camenson was a student at Cabrillo and deeply involved...

For more than 20 years, Crystal Bay Farm owners Lori and Jeff Fiorovich have offered the Pajaro Valley community a homegrown harvest tradition. Every October, the couple transforms their farm into a family-friendly pumpkin patch, where people can come and pick out the perfect pumpkin,...

Open Farm Tours (OFT) returns Oct. 8 and 9, offering the community a chance to visit organic farms, meet local farmers and learn about how their food is grown. The event, which has been held for the past nine years, is more than doubling the...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a change to district policy that will add several holidays to the calendar, during which events will not be scheduled, whenever possible. This includes exams, sporting events, assemblies, field trips and back-to-school...