Local News

WATSONVILLE—The Friends of Watsonville Parks and Community Services on Tuesday honored seven individuals, two organizations and a school at the 19th annual Cesar Chavez Awards. The event was held virtually and featured appearances from Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra and State Assemblymember Robert Rivas, the representative...

MOSS LANDING—Two women died after their car plunged into the water of Moss Landing Harbor sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victims as Maria Vanessa Carrango, 35, and Esther Monique Espinoza, 28, both of Salinas....

APTOS—As a young man, Bapcha Murty moved from his native Chennai, India to attend UC Los Angeles and become an engineer. He went on to a career in the Silicon Valley tech industry that spanned more than two decades in several companies. But when Murty...

The RedBall Project, a global public art installation that has been to more than 30 cities since 2001, visits the Cabrillo College Watsonville Center Friday. The display is in celebration of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History’s 25th anniversary. The 15-foot blow-up...

WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz METRO has taken a big step in combating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with the launch of two new electric buses, which will operate on a new route through the city of Watsonville. On Tuesday METRO staff, along with city officials, representatives from electric...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear masks in some indoor public spaces around Santa Cruz County after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday morning moved the county into a lower tier within its community transmission tracker. Santa...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE) has launched a dashboard that summarizes Covid-19 testing results across schools countywide. The dashboard is a partnership with school districts, Inspire Diagnostics and the Santa Cruz County Department of Public Health, COE spokesman Nick Ibarra...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s newest charter school has moved into its new permanent location in the old Gottschalks building at 407 Main St., three years after opening at E.A. Hall Middle School. All of Watsonville Prep’s classes—spanning from transitional kindergarten to fourth grade—are now held in the new...

WATSONVILLE—Heavy-duty earth-moving equipment rumbled into gear at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds over the past week, reshaping a chunk of land at the Agricultural History Project to make way for the expansion of the Living History Farm. Situated near the entrance of the fairgrounds, the...

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...