Local News

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday heard the results of a roughly year-long endeavor sparked by the calls for police reform and social equity stemming from last year’s slaying of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The Ad-Hoc Committee on Policing and Social...

SANTA CRUZ—The man who was 15 when he kidnapped, raped and murdered 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton and then dumped her body in a recycling bin was sentenced Tuesday to juvenile prison until he turns 25 in October 2024. Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, now 21, must also...

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PV Water) Board of Directors approved contracts to construct the College Lake Integrated Resources Management Project during a special meeting on Feb. 1.  The College Lake Pipeline Project will construct a six-mile, 30-inch water main to transport treated water...

The plan, approved by the council in January 2018 and in the works since then, looks to boost Watsonville’s ongoing fight to make its streets safer for pedestrians in a multitude of ways. Along with education and enforcement, the plan also hopes to improve the safety of the city’s streets by prioritizing the development of safe roadways in areas identified most “at-risk.”

Flooded agriculture fields reflect stormy skies and hoop house frames on a farm off of Riverside Drive in Watsonville. Evacuation orders for neighborhoods along the creeks and Pajaro River were downgraded to warnings this morning, but officials are asking the public to stay alert...

Santa Cruz County officials on Tuesday opened public hearings on a proposed $1.29 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, warning that federal funding cuts, rising labor costs and growing structural deficits are forcing difficult financial decisions in the years ahead. The recommended budget includes...

SEACLIFF—The tidal surge that ravaged Seacliff State Beach on Jan. 5 destroyed much of the park’s protective sea wall, all but destroyed the campground and ravaged the pier so severely that the entire structure is “actively failing” and likely beyond repair. That was the message...

15 farms and plant nurseries participate in annual event.

A major upgrade on a section of Freedom Boulevard, between Alta Vista Avenue and Green Valley Road, is in its final stage. The months-long job included fresh asphalt, multi-modal bike lanes, new curbs, sidewalks and gutters (in places), new ADA ramps, a bus pullout at...