Local News

TONY NUÑEZ: Community members again gathered at the George Washington bust in the Watsonville City Plaza on Friday. Some were calling for the statue to come down and others were saying it should stay up. People on both sides of the argument will get their...

WATSONVILLE—Two men were arrested in Watsonville in an eight-hour block Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing minors. The two cases are unrelated. Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said Fermin Vega, 70, was taken into custody by WPD detectives after three victims “courageously came forward”...

The Watsonville City Beautification Committee chose the home of Debra Carreiro, 504 Cedar Drive, as the House and Garden of the Month for July.

WATSONVILLE—Construction is moving forward on a proposed dialysis clinic that would complement the nearby Watsonville Community Hospital. Being built by AGI General Contracting, the 11,424-square-foot outpatient ambulatory clinic is going up on a 1.15-acre lot at 58 Hanger Way and 5 Neilson St. directly adjacent...

APTOS—In her more than two decades of working with nonprofit organizations, C.J. Runyon spent eight years with Walu International, which among other things helps provide hand-washing stations to rural communities in Papua New Guinea and Nicaragua, where poor sanitation leads to a myriad of...

By Abigail Acosta, Special to the Pajaronian WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville is hoping recent additions to its Cannabis Equity Program will spark a time of opportunity for the city’s minority cannabis business owners. First approved by the City Council in 2019, the equity program was put...

Editor’s note:  This is the second entry of a weekly four-part series about the Pajaro Valley’s Japanese community. The series will culminate on Aug. 14, coinciding with this year’s celebration of the Obon Festival, a cultural and religious Japanese event honoring one’s ancestors. Read...

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WATSONVILLE—Watsonville High School’s new principal is Maria Clara Fernandez, who graduated from that school in 2001, Pajaro Valley Unified School District announced Tuesday. Fernandez worked with Pajaro Valley students from 2000-11 in the After School program, in Migrant Education and as an elementary teacher. She...

WATSONVILLE—In the days leading up to the first countywide economic shutdown, Lona Martinez thought the possibility of a mass closure was a rumor sparked by those looking to scare the public. “I thought it was a bunch of hype,” she said. “And then it happened...it...