Local News

The surfer statue on West Cliff Drive on the west side of Santa Cruz is an ever-changing sounding board for current affairs. Most recently, residents went with a Halloween theme by decorating it with a pumpkin head. During the CZU Complex Fires, someone dressed...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville man accused of killing his wife and leaving her body in a vehicle in Santa Cruz was arrested early Tuesday morning after crossing the border into the U.S. at San Ysidro, Watsonville police said. Cesar Hernandez, 47, fled to Mexico, where he is...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Watsonville man arrested last month for allegedly killing his stepdaughter 16 years ago in Florida has died after severing the femoral artery in his leg while in jail and suffering hemorrhagic shock, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said Tuesday. Raul...

I sure welcome the cooler weather. Heavy fog rolled in Sunday afternoon in Santa Cruz and hung around through the morning, dropping temps significantly from the past several days. The sun broke through in Watsonville for part of the day but the fog won...

WATSONVILLE—The man suspected of murdering his wife in their Watsonville home last week has likely fled to Mexico, Watsonville police said Monday. Cesar Hernandez, 47, allegedly murdered 24-year-old Brenda Elizabeth Becerra and then left her body in a Ford SUV on Mission Drive in Santa...

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville recently released a survey that aims to gather the community’s opinions, questions, concerns and dreams about the city’s downtown corridor. The survey will help guide the City while it develops the Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan, which will serve as a blueprint...

Signage for the new Staff of Life Natural Foods Market has gone up at the front of its new location in East Lake Village Shopping Center in Watsonville. Clark Codiga, who manages the center and many other properties around town, said the store, with...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved a series of 11 expenditures at eight schools aimed at preparing for students to return to class in January. The projects include upgrades to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems (HVAC), and window...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville police are searching for a man who they believe is the primary suspect in his wife’s murder. Police believe that Cesar Hernandez, 47, murdered his 24-year-old wife at their Watsonville home on the 700 block of Rodriguez Street, and then drove her in the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials are mulling a plan to retool the county’s public defender’s office, transitioning from its current private delivery system to a public one. The move comes as the county’s contract with Biggam, Christensen and Minslof (BCM)—which has provided indigent criminal...