Local News

The American Legion Post 121 welcomed eight new Post Officers for 2022, including its new Post Commander Felipe Hernandez. Hernandez, who was voted in by members at the previous meeting, will be filling the spot left by Rick Sanchez, who served two consecutive terms, including...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The county’s first Filipino American judge was recently appointed as a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge by Gov. Gavin Newsom. “My knees went weak when I got the call,” said Jerry Bustos Vinluan III. “I was overwhelmed. It was later in the...

WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a multistep strategy aimed at rapidly shifting Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles—a central part of his plan to reduce the pollution that is heating the planet. Biden is first restoring and slightly strengthening auto mileage...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville fire engine 4415—with lights flashing and sirens blaring—pulled up to a two-story building on Airport Boulevard Thursday afternoon, which had smoke pouring from an upper window. A group of firefighters quickly jumped out and got to work, donning breathing gear, unspooling hoses and releasing...

WATSONVILLE—Twenty-five Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in World War II incarceration camps signed a United States flag Sunday at the Watsonville-Santa Cruz JACL Kizuka Hall to make their mark on history. Part of the Japanese American Incarceration Memorial Legacy Project, the event drew people who...

APTOS—A new mural by Watsonville-based artist Francisco Alonso is slowly coming together at Cabrillo College’s main campus in Aptos. Funded by a grant from the Cabrillo Foundation and the Cabrillo College Student Senate, the mural project is part of the institution’s ongoing efforts to promote...

WATSONVILLE—A long-awaited major street and sidewalk improvement project on a block of Lincoln Street that bisects Watsonville High School is moving forward. The state-funded Lincoln Street Safety Improvement Project will shorten crosswalks, make the sidewalks ADA compliant, and add a mid-block crosswalk, additional lighting, new...

WATSONVILLE—Dr. Sepi Taghvaei clearly remembers one of her favorite patients at Dientes Community Dental Care. The woman had all her upper teeth removed while serving time in prison. Since the facility hadn’t offered dental care, her teeth had slowly decayed. Dientes set the patient up with...

WATSONVILLE—Pete Galvan, who devoted the breadth of his career in education to Watsonville High School, will retire this month. When Galvan steps off campus for the last time on Aug. 17, it will be the end of a tenure that began nearly four decades ago. More...

The Watsonville Strawberry Festival will return Sunday to downtown, bringing with it a full day of strawberry delicacies, live entertainment, artisan vendors and more. Like most events in 2020, South County’s premier festival was canceled in response to the pandemic. And for a while, the...