Local News

The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday voted to close the crosswind runway at the airport, a move city officials say will open up more of the city for development of housing and commercial space. Airport Director Rayvon Williams told the council that closing the shorter...

SANTA CRUZ—Meals on Wheels of Santa Cruz County (MOW) has received a temporary reprieve, seven months after receiving an eviction notice from Live Oak School District. The organization has been operating out of the Live Oak Senior Center—which the school district owns—since 1977. While the eviction...

WATSONVILLE—A disabled man whose only means of transportation was stolen twice in the past two years–and returned to him the first time by good Samaritans–was reunited with it again last week. John Zurr’s Raleigh Tristar tricycle was stolen last week outside the Dollar Tree in...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo released the 2021 Santa Cruz County Crop Report on Oct. 5, which shows a 3.4 percent increase in overall crop production values over the past year. Strawberries remain the top crop in Santa Cruz County, with...

PRUNEDALE—Former Watsonville mayor Luis Alejo, who previously served on the California Assembly and now sits on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, was arrested Friday on drunk driving charges. According to California Highway Patrol Officer Jessica Madueño, officers on patrol in Prunedale just before midnight...

WATSONVILLE—The average trick or treater consumes roughly 3 cups of sugar on Halloween, according to data collected by CouponFollow in 2013. That’s the equivalent of 220 sugar packets, and 16 times the daily recommendation of 25 grams suggested by the American Heart Association. Dientes Community...

SACRAMENTO—A new bill authored by state Sen. John Laird and Assemblymember Robert Rivas will fund all of the state’s share of the design and construction phase of the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, which will help move forward the long-awaited work. “Today marks a...

WATSONVILLE—The city of Watsonville is planning to follow through on a plan to clean out a homeless encampment on Bridge Street early Wednesday morning. The decision to stick to the ultimatum given to the 25 or so people staying in the parking lot on Sunday—the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Hearing calls from fellow commissioners to take a “timeout” so that deep divisions between Santa Cruz County residents about the proposed 32-mile coastal rail trail can subside, a push during Thursday’s five-hour meeting to reconsider the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s...

SANTA CRUZ—The man who was 15 when he kidnapped, raped and murdered 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton and then dumped her body in a recycling bin was sentenced Tuesday to juvenile prison until he turns 25 in October 2024. Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, now 21, must also...