Local News

WATSONVILLE—Sisters-in-law Araceli Gonzalez and Laura Espindola first had the idea to open their own business more than two years ago.  Both mothers with a passion for shopping, they wanted to open a shop full of products for young children and new (and expecting) mothers.  “We had...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) CEO Alex Clifford on Friday announced that he is leaving the agency effective Jan. 21. Clifford will be CEO of the San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD), he announced. The announcement came six months after the METRO Board of...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville police on Nov. 19 arrested a couple from Stockton after they were caught in the act of stealing the catalytic converter from a vehicle parked on the 500 block of Manzana Street. According to the Watsonville Police Department, a resident saw Jasmine Sahota and...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Community Redistricting Advisory Committee is closing in on its final recommendations to the Watsonville City Council for how the city’s district lines should be redrawn. Every decade following the release of census data, jurisdictions must adjust their district lines to account for possible...

WATSONVILLE—A 20-year-old Salinas man died in a head-on crash on the Riverside Drive Highway 1 overcrossing in Watsonville on Nov. 20. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn identified the victim as Cesar Romero. Sam Courtney of the California Highway Patrol said Romero was driving...

WATSONVILLE—A Watsonville man suffered major injuries Friday morning after his motorcycle struck a vehicle while traveling on Highway 1. In the aftermath of the crash, a woman stole a purse from one of the vehicles involved in the crash, California Highway Patrol Officer Sam...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel on Friday issued a health order requiring all people to wear a face-covering when indoors in public spaces and when visiting or hosting people from outside of their households, regardless of vaccination status.  The order goes...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Ivy League Project was launched 14 years ago with a simple idea: bringing high school students to the nation’s top universities will give them a taste of their possible options after they graduate. And the experiment has been successful. Since its inception, more...

WATSONVILLE—A group of teachers from Pajaro Valley High School is planning to file a complaint with their school, citing an ongoing teacher shortage they say causes a threat to student health and safety and makes their jobs untenable. The teachers filing the Williams complaints say...

WATSONVILLE—After three closed session meetings the Watsonville City Council has not yet decided on who will lead the municipality in the interim after outgoing city manager Matt Huffaker leaves later this year. But Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra says that a decision could be near. “I think...