Local News

The 39th annual Open Studios Art Tour is on deck to invite the public into the studios of local artists Oct. 5-20. The tour spans across the county over three weekends during the North County, South County and final All County tours. The 2024 tour includes...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Beginning July 1, anyone purchasing a beverage in the unincorporated parts of Santa Cruz County—and who didn’t bring their own reusable cup—will notice a 25-cent fee tacked onto the price. That is due to the county’s new disposable cup fee, which was created...

Watsonville Community Hospital and the Pajaro Valley Health Care District (PVHCD) announced Friday that the building–and the property that surrounds it–once again belongs to the community. The $40 million purchase of the 27-acre site from Alabama-based Medical Properties Trust was possible thanks to Measure N—the...

SANTA CRUZ—The man who investigators say stabbed his girlfriend to death at her apartment on Clifford Avenue in July pleaded not guilty Tuesday during a brief hearing. Alberto Scalant, 33, returns to court for his preliminary hearing on Nov. 17. He is being held in...

Thousands of people lined Main Street in downtown Watsonville to take in the Spirit of Watsonville Fourth of July parade Tuesday.  Under warm and sunny skies, 69 entries in the parade filed along the closed-off street offering live music, cheerleaders, dazzling hydraulic lifted cars, classic...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—For years, the annual “Nutcracker, Clara's Dream” was a winter holiday staple put on by the Santa Cruz Ballet Theater. With their own take of Tchaivovsky’s ballet, that was typically staged at the Santa Cruz Civic, Cabrillo College’s Crocker Theater and the...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan to ease graduation requirements for high school students whose academic record has been damaged by the distance-learning requirements of Covid-19 restrictions. Under the plan, students at risk of failing a...

Santa Cruz County officials are considering a plan to borrow money to help pay for costs of the CZU fires, the Covid pandemic, the storms and floods from early 2023 and other federal disasters that have beset the county. County staff will return to the...

When the Pajaro River Levee broke during heavy winter rains in March, floodwaters rushed into the town of Pajaro, displacing hundreds of residents and businesses. It also inundated Pajaro Middle School, forcing the school to close while work crews and district officials assessed the damage...