Local News

SACRAMENTO—Outdoor dining and other services can resume after Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ended the state’s regional stay-at-home order based on intensive care unit (ICU) capacity.  In its place, the state has returned to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy and the color-coded tier system...

WATSONVILLE—Covid-19 vaccines are now available by appointment only for residents 75 years and older at the county’s new mass vaccination center at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Residents who are at 95019, 95076 and 95077 zip codes must register at https://mhealthsystem.com/santacruzfairgrounds to schedule an appointment....

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Cal Fire CZU on Sunday evening issued evacuation warnings for swaths of the San Lorenzo Valley, including most of Boulder Creek and various areas of Ben Lomond and Felton that just a few months ago were scorched by the CZU August Lightning...

A mass vaccination site with the capacity to administer 1,000 injections per day will open at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville next week, but it is unlikely that it will reach its capacity anytime soon because of a continuing shortage of Covid-19...

SANTA CRUZ—Four juveniles were charged with attempted murder Friday for allegedly shooting a man as he walked in a neighborhood on Hagemann Avenue in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz Police Chief Andy Mills said the victim was walking on the 100 block of Hagemann Avenue just...

WATSONVILLE—The National 9 Motel in the heart of the city will be razed in the coming days to make way for a four-story, 80-room Hilton Home2 Suites hotel. Kamalesh Patel, the owner of the half-acre lot at 1 Western Drive, was issued a demolition permit...

Phil Maas, a former head coach for the North Monterey County High football team, had one of the best turnaround seasons for any team in Monterey County. He took a group that went from winless to undefeated in the span of a season. Maas shares...

The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League on Wednesday took a big step forward in the anticipated return of high school sports, announcing its 2021 sports seasons for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. The board of managers took it a step further with...

WATSONVILLE—The company that purchased Watsonville Community Hospital two years ago—Los Angeles-based Halsen Healthcare—has been removed from a leadership role as of Jan. 18. Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings will now run the hospital on an interim basis. The announcement came Monday via an email to...

CALIFORNIA—As California deals with a surge of Covid-19 cases, hope is in sight as the vaccine begins to be administered to healthcare workers and long-term care residents. And on Jan. 13, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that farmworkers would be included in the next tier. The announcement...