Local News

About three years ago, the Pitch-In Initiative was created with a singular mission: to make Santa Cruz the cleanest county in California. That mission was realized Tuesday, when the County of Santa Cruz announced its designation as a Clean California Community, a recognition that “highlights...

City and county officials teamed up with community volunteers Thursday morning on a two-hour trash roundup along Westridge Drive as part of ongoing community clean-up efforts by the office of Supervisor Felipe Hernandez. Armed with trash pinchers, buckets and bags, about two dozen people, including...

KION News abruptly shut down its news department Tuesday after 56 years on the air, an employee told The Pajaronian. According to Managing Editor & Anchor Jeanette Bent, the news team had just wrapped up their morning editorial meeting in their Salinas office when corporate...

Field workers help pick up a load of strawberries that toppled from a shipping truck on Riverside Drive at Locust Street Monday. The spill backed up eastbound traffic from 1:45pm until 2:15pm.

The Safe Schools Project of Santa Cruz County is hosting its annual Rainbow Conference on Saturday, Sept. 27 at Watsonville High School. The event is billed as a day of “celebration, community and learning” for LGBTQ youth of all ages and the people who support...

With a small handful of finishing touches still left to complete on a tiny home village in Westview Presbyterian Church’s parking lot in Watsonville, organizers say the project will be complete in late November. And with only occupancy permits needed after that, the 34-unit Recurso...

For 15 years, city leaders have been looking for ways to re-envision the Capitola Mall, which like many of its shopping-center brethren across the U.S., has lost a measure of the luster it had a few decades ago, the neon-colored heyday of the 80s. And...

Two programs at Cabrillo College are at risk after the federal government announced major funding shifts away from schools that serve minority students. When U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Sept. 10 announced that the Department of Education is ending discretionary funding to Hispanic-serving...

A ribbon-cutting was held Thursday to celebrate the completion of an upgrade to the heavily worn out Murphy Crossing Road east of Watsonville. With close to 1,800 vehicles a day using the .63-mile stretch between San Juan and Riverside roads, the two-lane roadway was for...

The Santa Cruz County Fair wrapped up Sunday at the close of its five-day, 2025 season. “We had an excellent fair,” said Ron Haedicke, marketing director. “ It was a great run with no issues. Attendance was down 10 percent from last year, but we...