Local News

Encompass Community Services in Santa Cruz announced Wednesday that its Head Start and Early Head Start programs are facing an immediate funding crisis due to sudden federal policy changes.  Unless funds are restored, the organization said, Encompass will be forced to close 15 classrooms and...

In about two years, UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College officials plan to open a student housing complex that is expected to revolutionize the way local students live and attend school, and how they pay for their living space. A group of educators, elected officials...

Every day, roughly 100,000 vehicles travel along Highway 1 through Santa Cruz County, a staggering number that is evidenced by daily rush-hour backups that can last for hours. That’s to say nothing of the often packed surface roads. That contributes to air pollution and global warming,...

A lighted stroll beneath giant old-growth redwoods is now on the list of things to do at Roaring Camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  In addition to the lengthy list of events such as their Father’s Day Barbecue, Mother’s Day Brunch, the Moonlight Dinner Train...

Four decades ago, a group of stalwart cannery workers—mostly women—staged a 18-month strike against two companies they believed were exploiting them.  In doing so, they cemented their place in history as having led the largest strike in U.S. history, a successful David-and-Goliath standoff that is...

About three years ago, the Pitch-In Initiative was created with a singular mission: to make Santa Cruz the cleanest county in California. That mission was realized Tuesday, when the County of Santa Cruz announced its designation as a Clean California Community, a recognition that “highlights...

City and county officials teamed up with community volunteers Thursday morning on a two-hour trash roundup along Westridge Drive as part of ongoing community clean-up efforts by the office of Supervisor Felipe Hernandez. Armed with trash pinchers, buckets and bags, about two dozen people, including...

KION News abruptly shut down its news department Tuesday after 56 years on the air, an employee told The Pajaronian. According to Managing Editor & Anchor Jeanette Bent, the news team had just wrapped up their morning editorial meeting in their Salinas office when corporate...

Field workers help pick up a load of strawberries that toppled from a shipping truck on Riverside Drive at Locust Street Monday. The spill backed up eastbound traffic from 1:45pm until 2:15pm.