Local News

WATSONVILLE—An art studio and performance center for Pajaro Valley Arts, or an Italian restaurant, boutique hotel and creative office space for the Pajaronian?  The Watsonville City Council is expected to decide the fate of the historic Porter Building during the closed session of its virtual...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Health officials from eight Bay Area counties on Monday issued a set of guidelines created to keep families safe from Covid-19 during the holidays. The recommendations cover travel and gatherings. The health officers from the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco,...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Felipe Hernandez, who has served as a member of the Watsonville City Council since 2012, including a stint as mayor, has won the race for Cabrillo College Governing Board Trustee Area 5 against incumbent Leticia Mendoza. As numbers rolled in on election night,...

WATSONVILLE—In the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees race, Trustee Area 6 incumbent Maria Orozco has garnered more than 5% of the 6,145 votes tallied as of 2pm Thursday, putting her far ahead of Adam Bolaños Scow and likely clinching the seat.  “I’m...

WATSONVILLE—Jimmy Dutra opened a large, early lead on Tony Gomez in the race for the District 6 seat on the Watsonville City Council, a position that will come with the mayorship in the incoming year, and never looked back. Dutra had 64% of 2,484 votes...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Joe Biden has reportedly won the presidency and ousted President Donald Trump after winning the 20 electoral votes in Pennsylvania, putting him over the 270 he needed, results showed Saturday morning. Results are still being counted in Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, all of...

Christopher David Ow, a member of the prominent Santa Cruz real estate family, died recently in a Southern California motorcycle crash, according to family sources. He was 54. Ow was a property manager with Ow Family Properties and was the on-site manager at King’s Village...

Yesterday I was lucky to wander through Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services on West Beach Street to cover a group from the San Jose Sharks who were loading up 70 grocery bags for the community and dropping off a $10,000 check. I was...

SANTA CRUZ—A Santa Cruz man died Thursday evening when he was struck by a car as he attempted to walk across heavily-traveled Mission Street. Santa Cruz Police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke said officers initially responded to a call regarding a vehicle-pedestrian collision at the intersection of...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council at its Tuesday meeting is expected to loan Eden Housing $1 million to help the nonprofit developer build a 53-unit affordable apartment complex on Freedom Boulevard. The loan would come from the City’s Successor Agency Housing Fund, which has a balance...