Local News

Twenty short films by area students not only filled the big screen at Green Valley Cinemas Sunday afternoon. The program by the Watsonville Film Festival also filled the theater.  The 14th annual WFF is unfolding across the Central Coast March 12 -21, featuring award-winning films...

Road trips around California—including Sacramento, Atascadero, the desert, San Diego or north to Half Moon Bay and Fort Bragg—have time and again proven worthy of the fuel, hotel costs and drive time for me and my wife Sarah over the past several years.  Whether an...

Three years after winter floods surged through Pajaro, damaged homes and businesses and severely damaged Pajaro Park, a group of elected officials and community members gathered to celebrate the completion of renovations that included sites throughout the community. The County of Monterey and the Pajaro...

The nation’s oldest farmworker union announced Tuesday that it has canceled all events celebrating labor organizer César Chávez after allegations surfaced that he sexually assaulted several women and girls. “As a women-led organization that exists to empower communities, the allegations about abusive behavior by César...

A former Watsonville hotel is set to be converted into a 120-bed residential treatment facility for men, significantly expanding substance use disorder treatment capacity in Santa Cruz County. Janus of Santa Cruz officially received the keys on March 9 to the former Rodeway Inn property...

The Watsonville High boys soccer teams received a well-deserved escort out of town as they headed to Sacramento for the California Interscholastic Federation State Division III championship in Sacramento on Saturday. The newly crowned Northern Regional champion Wildcatz will face Southern Regional champion Los Alamitos...

A new city ordinance restricting where oversized vehicles and trailers can park took effect on March 13. The ordinance prohibits oversized vehicles and all types of trailers—regardless of size—from parking on city streets, alleys, city-owned or maintained parking lots, and other public property. City officials...

Angry Chickz restaurant is set to open March 20 in Watsonville. From hot chicken sliders, chicken tenders to Mac and cheese, cole slaw and fries, the Nashville chain has 34 other locations in the U.S. In 2017, Angry Chickz founder, David Mkhitaryan, stumbled upon...

Two teens were arrested on March 10 after leading police on a chase on their e-bikes. Watsonville Police Sgt. Jarrod Pisturino said the department had received numerous complaints about youths speeding through and around the Vista Montaña housing project off of East Lake Avenue at...

The 75-year-old man who died when his home caught fire late Monday night in Capitola Village has been identified as Robert Edgren. Ashley Kheen of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office did not release the cause of death. Central Fire crews responded to the two-alarm fire...