Local News

Former Watsonville Fire Capt. Ron Rackley serves up homemade chili to Linda Hicks at the opening day barbecue lunch where huge crowds are filing through the 2024 fair. Dozens of fair food options will be offered through Sunday, with the stand kettlecorn, corn dogs,...

Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Almita Schaefer tells students at Moreland Notre Dame School about the risks and rewards of being a firefighter Wednesday on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Students and staff at the campus each year have welcomed law...

With two days left before the opening of the 2024 fair, these workers scramble to set up their popular barbecue stand at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Monday. The fair kicks off Wednesday at noon. For information, visit santacruzcountyfair.com/

A Mexican Independence Day Festival unfolded in downtown Watsonville Sunday. Put on by Fiestas Patrias, the free event features live music, food booths, arts and crafts and information tables spread out around Watsonville's downtown plaza and surrounding streets.  The holiday, also known as El Grito...

Last-minute touches are being completed to make way for the Santa Cruz County Fair. From food stands and floriculture to arts and collectibles,  the entire fairgrounds is being charged up for their five-day run. Donna Giubbini, Fine Arts and Poetry Department Head and Chair at the...

Watsonville City Councilman Jimmy Dutra was in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Tuesday, where jury selection began for his civil trial.  The trial is expected to last through Sept. 13, Judge Timothy Schmal told the mostly empty courtroom.  Dutra is accused of sexually abusing a boy...

Jennifer Holm, who has served for six years on the Trustee Area VII seat on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees—two terms as board president and one as vice president—will resign from the position effective Oct. 10. Holm says her decision stemmed...

Tim Silva has a great love affair with pizza. He knows what it takes to build a good pie, especially having worked with Pizza My Heart for the past 36 years. Silva, who is still part owner of the popular local pizza chain, recently ventured off...

California Attorney General Rob Bonta was in Santa Cruz County on Thursday to announce the arrest of 22 people who are facing a total of 32 felony charges stemming from multiple burglaries of marijuana dispensaries throughout the Bay Area. Dubbed “Operation Sticky Fingers,” the arrests...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously appointed Undersheriff Chris Clark to take the agency’s lead role, a decision that was backed by several members of the public and the leaders of numerous agencies that addressed the board. This included both Santa...