Local News

SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a man on Laurel Road off of Highway 17 as a homicide. Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said deputies on Sunday night were alerted to reports of a man with a gun...

SANTA CRUZ—A federal judge on Jan. 20 granted a preliminary injunction stopping the city of Santa Cruz from closing a homeless camp in San Lorenzo Park that has swelled to nearly 200 residents since people started moving there in July. The order, signed by Magistrate...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville police on Thursday released photos of two men suspected of using stolen credit card information to steal money at an ATM. Investigators believe the suspects were using manufactured cards with information lifted by card skimmers, devices often installed on gas pumps to steal credit...

SANTA CRUZ—An Aptos man was arrested Friday morning following a dramatic chase around Santa Cruz and over Highway 17. James Johnston, 37, of Aptos, was taken into custody near Scotts Valley on a host of charges. Around 7am Santa Cruz Police received multiple calls of a...

Drip Coffee Shop, a new cafè with a walk-up window, has opened at Cabrillo College in Aptos in the Student Activities building on Soquel Drive. Cabrillo spokesperson Kristen Fabos said the café offers walk-up to go order and indoor seating. They carry a range...

In the decade between 2013-23, volunteers and nonprofits picked up 439,358 cigarette butts from Santa Cruz County’s beaches and natural areas, accounting for a quarter of all litter found here. That’s according to Save Our Shores (SOS), a Santa Cruz-based nonprofit that works to support...

The new Santa Cruz Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter is moving skyward as it goes through the framing and siding phase on Chanticleer Avenue.

WATSONVILLE—Highway 1 is expected to reopen tonight, according to Caltrans. Caltrans spokesperson Kevin Drabinski said the southbound lanes of the highway, between Salinas Road and Highway 129 (Riverside Drive), are scheduled to open in the evening, while the northbound lanes should be reopened by Thursday...

Imperial County Sheriff’s deputies have located a teen who ran away from a Watsonville group home in mid-July.

Note: reporter Todd Guild contributed to this report SALINAS—The pesticide Telone–also known as 1,3-D–is thought to be so dangerous that it is banned in 34 countries. And yet, despite having been disallowed in California from 1990-94, it is still used on crops, including on local...