Local News

WATSONVILLE—David Schartow was a retired ironworker living in Paradise with his young daughter when the 2018 Camp Fire destroyed the entire town, including his home. Now homeless, Schartow, 64, has since bounced through several temporary shelters, including his current accommodations, the Comfort Inn in Watsonville....

WATSONVILLE—Matt Huffaker will leave his position as Watsonville City Manager for the same job in Santa Cruz, Watsonville city leaders confirmed with the Pajaronian Thursday afternoon.  The Santa Cruz City Council, in a press release, said it made a unanimous recommendation for Huffaker to take...

WATSONVILLE—If a group of local medical professionals and nonprofit leaders has its way, a newly established healthcare district will one day own and operate Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH). If those efforts are successful, it will likely come as a relief for South County residents who...

WATSONVILLE—Cabrillo College’s Watsonville Center has started up a new program that aims to welcome back and support students who left the school during the pandemic. Ganas is a two-semester program encouraging previous students, especially those in South County, to return and resume their studies. Students...

WATSONVILLE—A proposed 80-unit affordable apartment complex between Atkinson Lane and Brewington Avenue received a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission on Wednesday morning. In the works since 2013, the project is an extension of the 46-unit Pippin Orchards apartment complex...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday heard the results of a roughly year-long endeavor sparked by the calls for police reform and social equity stemming from last year’s slaying of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The Ad-Hoc Committee on Policing and Social...

APTOS—Cabrillo College’s on-campus art gallery is reopening to the public after being shuttered since March 2020. After holding a variety of virtual shows for the past 17 months, Cabrillo Gallery returns to in-person with its annual “12x12: An Open Invitational” exhibit. The exhibit invites artists...

WATSONVILLE—A new coffee shop has opened on Aviation Way, rounding out the Watsonville Hangar business complex that has been growing steadily the past couple of years. Honeylux Coffee is a specialty coffeehouse offering its own signature blend of java, as well as espresso drinks, teas,...

SANTA CRUZ—After an emotional three-hour sentencing hearing Friday that included testimony from friends and family of both suspect and victim, the woman who stabbed her husband to death in their Aptos home in 2019 learned her sentence. Amanda Owens will spend three years in prison,...

SANTA CRUZ—More than 100 County of Santa Cruz workers filled the County Supervisors chambers during the board’s bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday, where many of them demanded pay increases and other requests to highlight ongoing contract negotiations between their union and the County. The workers, members...