Local News

WATSONVILLE—Near the tail end of a largely uneventful first read-through of the proposed budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year on June 14, Watsonville City Council members gave themselves a nominal pay increase that sparked a discussion about how their compensation limits who runs for...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday will decide whether to grant a special use permit, a zoning change and a general plan amendment that would allow Ceiba College Preparatory Academy to remain at its Locust Street location permanently. If the Council votes no, it could...

In late July, the New York Times published an article which revealed an alarming statistic: About 16% of museums and galleries in the U.S. are at risk to close permanently because of Covid-19. Immediately after, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) began...

WATSONVILLE—The half-cent sales tax that significantly boosted Watsonville’s public safety budget for seven years will return to voters next year. When it will appear on the ballot, however, is still up for debate. Watsonville’s City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an updated version of the public...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Community Redistricting Advisory Committee at its penultimate meeting on Tuesday advanced two proposed redistricting plans to its final meeting later this month. Both would keep the current seven districts mostly intact, a key goal of the committee because of a possible undercount in...

The crowd attending Watsonville City Council’s meeting got a surprise Tuesday evening as Speaker of the California Assembly Robert Rivas and his entourage entered the council chambers just in time for him to swear in Kristal Salcido and Maria Orozco as Watsonville’s new mayor...

WATSONVILLE—A little more than one year ago, Watsonville/Aptos/Santa Cruz Adult School opened the county’s only beauty and cosmetology school. The program is one of the school’s many offerings that include English classes, citizenship and certified nursing assistant certificates. As part of the cosmetology program, students offer...

Construction will begin in June on a 34-unit community of small temporary dwellings based at Westview Presbyterian Church in Watsonville, after the Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved agreements to build and manage the facility. The housing navigation center, which has been named “Recurso...

Editor’s note: This is the second entry of a two-part series about Watsonville High graduate Joanne Buob Martin, class of 1962. For the first part view the Nov. 22 edition of the Pajaronian. WATSONVILLE—Joanne Buob Martin went on to receive a PhD from UC Berkeley...