Local News

WATSONVILLE—Felipe Hernandez and Ari Parker have established large leads on their respective competitors and will likely capture key political seats in South County, updated results released Wednesday by the Santa Cruz County Elections Department show. Hernandez, a former Watsonville mayor and current member of the...

WATSONVILLE—Officers from six law agencies met at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Tuesday through Thursday for training in how to respond to civil disobedience. California Highway Patrol officer Dave Reed said the Mobile Field Force Disobedience course focuses on policy protocol for law enforcement officials...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—El Sistema Santa Cruz/Pajaro Valley, a nonprofit aiming to bring music education and performance to students, has been selected as a finalist for a prestigious national award. The Lewis Prize for Music announced 10 finalists for its fourth annual Accelerator Awards last week....

WATSONVILLE—Work is underway at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in preparation for the annual Holiday Lights drive-thru light show. Born out of the 2020 Covid lockdowns as a way for the community to celebrate the season safely, the event invites families to drive though colorful...

A new program launched by the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation (CMSF), ReGen Monterey and Flipping Iron, Inc. is joining a growing effort to recycle more plastic from local farms and ranches. CMSF, an organization aiming to protect California’s coastal ecosystems and communities, conducted an assessment...

APTOS—The California Highway Patrol in the Santa Cruz Area is implementing a 12-month enforcement and education campaign to reduce the number of fatal and injury traffic crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists in the unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County.  The Santa Cruz Pedestrian and Bicycle...

APTOS—Cabrillo College’s governing board voted Monday to change the institution’s name after a two-hour discussion that included comments from dozens of community members. The trustees voted 6-1 in favor of renaming the college, with trustee Rachel Spencer dissenting.  The decision followed the Nov. 10 release of...

SANTA CRUZ—Hundreds of Academic Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, Graduate Student Researchers and Academic Student Employees went on strike Monday at UC Santa Cruz, joining thousands of their colleagues in the University of California system’s 10 institutions to demand a substantial pay increase, as well as...

Note: Reporter Erin Malsbury contributed to this report. After hearing about the arrival of an extremely rare tropical bird in Santa Cruz last week, I immediately texted an out-of-state birder friend. “I’m so jealous I want to vomit,” they replied. When avid birdwatchers see a species for...

APTOS—Second Harvest Food Bank well surpassed its goal of 4.5 million meals during its 2021 holiday drive. But when it came time to organize the 2022 effort, organizers floated the idea of lowering the goal, given the rising costs of groceries due to inflation,...