Local News

Tarmo Hannula: On Sunday there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Laundry Day Laundromat, 35 East Lake Ave. in Watsonville. The ceremony is from noon to 2 p.m. • Are you ready for a new cell tower embedded in a towering fake tree on...

WATSONVILLE—After their planned graduation on June 4 was canceled due to concerns of a violent protest, 11 graduates of New School Community Day School’s class of 2020 received their diplomas Monday in a drive-thru ceremony. In addition to the students, Pajaro Valley Unified School District...

LIVE OAK—Meals on Wheels (MOW) is looking for a new home after being served an eviction notice by Live Oak School District, which has been leasing its location to the organization for more than four decades. The district has told the organization that the aging...

Aptos native Nikki Hiltz guaranteed their spot at the upcoming Summer Games following a record-setting performance at last weekend’s U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials.   The 29-year old middle-distance runner won the women’s 1500-meters finals in 3 minutes, 55.33 seconds, setting both a personal-best and...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A man who police say stabbed his girlfriend to death at an apartment on Clifford Avenue in July was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail Thursday after being extradited from Arizona. Alberto Scalant, 33, is being held without bail. He has been charged...

The company behind a controversial battery energy storage project near Watsonville has changed, but plans to seek state approval for the facility—and the opposition surrounding it—remain. Chicago-based Invenergy has acquired the proposed Seahawk Energy Storage Project at 90 Minto Road from New Leaf Energy and...

Nationwide, less than 15 percent of police officers are women, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and in Watsonville, that number is even lower.

The City of Watsonville is looking to make its first update to its retail cannabis business ordinance in four years. On Oct. 10, the City Council considered 16 tweaks to the ordinance. Proposed changes include allowing a new establishment, opening more of the city to new...

WATSONVILLE—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Coroner has identified the three victims in a midair collision between two airplanes on Aug. 18 above Watsonville Municipal Airport.  Carl Kruppa, 75, and Nannette Plett-Kruppa, 67, both of Winton, Calif. were aboard the Cessna 340 twin-engine plane, while Stuart...

A Watsonville man died and five other people were injured Saturday night in a multi-vehicle crash just north of Hollister, according to the California Highway Patrol.  About 7pm, a 27-year-old man from Tres Pinos, driving a Mazda 3 sedan, attempted a U-turn from the northbound...