Man in critical condition after another shooting near levee
WATSONVILLE—A 46-year-old man is in critical condition after being shot early Saturday morning near the Pajaro River levee on Walker Street, an area that has seen two other shootings in recent months.
Watsonville Police Department officers were dispatched to the end of Walker Street near...
PVUSD’s budget improves, charter school granted more classrooms
WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s budget has improved somewhat since the summer, when grim projections showed the district possibly unable to meet expenses for the next three years.
The district’s Board of Trustees heard the news in a budget update on Wednesday.
That situation, known as...
County health director urges prioritization of older adults in vaccine distribution
WATSONVILLE—Less than four days before the County of Santa Cruz was set to inoculate 1,000 people in a mass Covid-19 vaccination clinic at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, county health officials canceled every appointment on the docket.
They did so because about two-thirds of those...
Volunteers needed to help landscape new pump track
WATSONVILLE—Work continues on the new Ramsay Park Pumptrack, including the addition of a layer of asphalt to the lumpy bicycle course.
Being built by Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC), crews are currently installing new split rail fencing. When completed the park will provide an...
Lawsuit against city, airport advances
WATSONVILLE—A lawsuit against the city of Watsonville and the municipal airport will move forward after a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss it.
The plaintiff in the case is United Flight Services (UFS), which sued the city in...
PVUSD classroom closures extended to April, superintendent says
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Teachers throughout Santa Cruz County are getting their Covid-19 vaccines, a daunting task that is moving the needle a tiny bit closer for a plan to return students to the classroom.
But with unpredictable vaccine supplies, thousands of educators and school employees still...
Sweeping federal drug bust includes arrest in Watsonville
WATSONVILLE—A sweeping drug and weapons bust centered on the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, and headed up by the FBI resulted in the arrest of scores of suspects over the past few weeks, including an arrest in Watsonville Wednesday.
At a press conference Thursday the FBI was...
Photo: National 9 Motel in downtown razed
A crew from Randazzo Enterprises use an excavator to demolish the National 9 Motel in downtown Watsonville Wednesday to make way for a four-story, 80-room Hilton Home2 Suites hotel.
Approved as a La Quinta Inn by the Watsonville City Council in 2016 and revised...
City Council votes to move George Washington statue from Plaza to library
WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting voted to move the George Washington statue from the City Plaza to the Watsonville Public Library.
The motion, put forth by councilwoman Rebecca Garcia, passed 5-2 with council members Ari Parker and Lowell Hurst dissenting. Parker and...
Pedestrian killed in Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ—A woman was killed Wednesday afternoon when she was struck by a semi near the intersection of River and Water streets, the Santa Cruz Police Department announced.
Witnesses said the woman was walking a dog around 3:15pm when she was struck. The driver stopped...
Photo story: Fill the Fire Truck effort aids in toy drive
Watsonville’s interim Fire Chief, Corey Schaefer, shows a sampling of the new toys that locals donated first-ever Fill the Fire Truck Toy Drive Dec...
