Local News

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Parks and Recreation Commission further solidified the final look of “Watsonville Brillante” at its Monday night meeting in the City Council Chambers. The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the next two large vertical images for the 12,500-square-foot mosaic that over the next five...

Wargin Wines’ Assistant Winemaker Brenton Jones says he is ready to shake up the wine industry. “When I look at the industry as a whole… it’s pretty set in its ways,” Jones says. “It gets stuck in a box—especially when you look at what breweries...

WATSONVILLE—In the latest chapter in the drawn-out saga at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, a local group has created an online petition to remove Board President Don Dietrich. The petitioners say that Dietrich has shown a lack of leadership, and that he put the needs...

Officials are saying that two people died in early February from COVID-19 in Santa Clara. The news parallels what officials have recently said about the virus: it got a much earlier start in Wuhan, China than first believed. • Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth...

About 100,000 years ago, American mastodons roamed California, using their giant trunks and teeth to graze upon the trees growing in forests and wetlands. While they share their ancestry with today’s elephants, they were larger. The males stood as high as seven feet and weighed...

The fifth annual Tequila & Taco Music Festival, a two-day celebration of tequilas, tacos, margaritas and music, returns to San Lorenzo Park, 137 Dakota St. in Santa Cruz, Aug. 25-26.

WATSONVILLE—During a busy night with a loaded agenda, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved plans to boost internet access throughout the city, hire a nurse to coordinate the district’s Covid-19 response and use grant money to purchase an...

Robert Rivas was sworn in as the 71st Speaker of the California State Assembly during a special session Friday at the Capitol. “California is still the greatest state in the union,” Rivas, a Hollister Democrat who represents the 29th Assembly District, said. “But if we...

It was after author Trish Allison was laid off from her job in Silicon Valley and on the hunt for a new position that she stumbled upon an image online — one that would inspire her next big step in life.

WATSONVILLE—Local artist Jessica Carrasco created the Born and Raised in Watsonville Scholarship last year to support youth while spreading positivity about her hometown. And despite the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent school closures this year, Carrasco is determined to continue that mission. That is why the...