Local News

The Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) returns to present a lineup of screenings by award-winning directors and young local filmmakers, as well as live music and film talks by experts in the industry.

WATSONVILLE—A new program has launched at Envision Fitness & Nutrition in downtown Watsonville, aiming to support youth by teaching them about health, wellness, stress management and more. Envision opened in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. They began with virtual health and fitness classes,...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors announced that County Executive Officer Carlos J. Palacios will step down in December after more than 30 years in local government leadership

Twelve years ago, the first Open Farms Tours event was literally a washout. Held in early November at the Corralitos Women’s Center, the debut coincided with the heaviest rainstorm of the year. The 4-H animal zoo zone was mired in mud, music was canceled, and...

MONTEREY COUNTY—Major emergency repairs of Highway 1 on the Big Sur Coast began Monday. Colin Jones of Caltrans said heavy rains caused a massive debris flow from the Dolan Fire burn scar and washed out a 150-foot section of roadway Jan. 28. The gaping bite...

The report, which was conducted by Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics, also showed a drastic increase over a five-year period in the number of young adults who still live with their parents or in-laws. According to the report, the percentage of people age 25 to 29 in that situation jumped from 17 percent in 2012 to 46 percent in 2017.

The upcoming Santa Cruz County Fair will look different this year, as the sheep and pig livestock barns are slated for demolition in July, nearly four years after the initial board vote on the plans, and only a few months before the county fair...

The Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board of Directors on Dec. 21 approved a three-year contract with its nurses, two weeks after the nurses’ union ratified it. The approval came after six months of bargaining. Nurses say the contract helps improve patient safety by increasing...

WATSONVILLE—A prescribed burn that got out of hand near the southern border of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties has scorched at least 150 acres as of late Friday, the Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit (CZU) said. Cal Fire CZU at 8:41pm said...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Probation Department is in the final stages of securing state funding for a major upgrade to the Juvenile Hall, a project county officials say will help better secure the facility, give youth offenders recreational activities and offer job skills...