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Watsonville
September 19, 2025

Film festival to raise funds for two local bicycle organizations

For 20 years the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music. Originating in New York, it has popped up in 100 cities across the globe, from Paris and Tokyo to Istanbul and Mexico City. And now the festival is...

PVUSD bylaw changes would penalize absences, alter public comment

pvusd trustees
WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of trustees on Wednesday took another step toward revamping its bylaws with the first reading of a series of recommended changes. The trustees will vote on approving the changes during the June 9 meeting. If approved, trustees who miss...

Cal Fire: prepare for heavy fire season

Santa Cruz mountains mudslide debris
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County’s top fire official on Tuesday warned that, because of a lackluster rainy season, the ongoing drought and low reservoirs, the upcoming fire season could be as bad or worse than last year’s. “As we look back at last year, anything...

PVUSD Trustees pass new bylaws

pvusd trustees
WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustees who miss meetings without providing notice will lose their monthly stipend under a set of new bylaws approved by the board on Wednesday. The trustees also heard a budget report that shows some positive financial news that is tempered...

This Week in Pajaro Valley’s Past, June 11

25 years ago on June 11, 1996 The Agricultural History Project’s Farm Implement Shed was completed and ready for dedication. Located just inside the fairgrounds’ main entrance, it is now used mainly for exhibits, but will eventually display large, antique farm implements. They will include...

Local author pens novel inspired by late friend

WATSONVILLE—Two months before the pandemic, a friend of author Linda Gunther died. She had known the man, Bill Mowatt, through the classes she taught on self-publishing at Cabrillo College. He was a fan of her work and expressed interest in writing his own mystery...

Community in focus: Art frames pop up throughout Watsonville, county

watsonville art
Six decorated wooden frames were installed around Watsonville Saturday in the city’s grand opening of “Outside the Frame,” an effort from the county’s four mayors, County Parks Friends and Santa Cruz County Parks. Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra led a group of three dozen people...

Watsonville’s Environmental Science Workshop hammers on

Environmental Science Workshop
WATSONVILLE—With the whir of a jigsaw in the background, the buzz of an electric kitchen mixer and the tapping of a hammer filling the air, Pajaro Valley’s young people were busy last week completing their projects at the Environmental Science Workshop on 2nd Street. The...

Advocates call for more transparency on pesticide use

pesticide transparency
CENTRAL COAST—When Melissa Dennis began teaching third grade at Ohlone Elementary School, she noticed that an unusual number of her students at the school in the rural Royal Oaks community just south of Watsonville had health issues. She says she finds it alarming how many...

Woman who drove into deputy sentenced to 16 years

Jessica May Lowe
SANTA CRUZ—A woman who stole a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office cruiser and then struck a deputy in an attempt to escape arrest three years ago was sentenced Friday to 16 years in state prison. Jessica May Lowe, 30, has been held without bail in...
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Watsonville’s Poet Laureate Bañales pens new book

Watsonville Poet Laureate, Victoria Bañales will read from her new book of poetry on Oct. 2 alongside four other local poets.  “The Sun Will Not...