Local News

Santa Cruz County officials as of Friday morning had confirmed 34 COVID-19 cases. Neighboring Monterey County, meanwhile, had 27 confirmed cases of the highly-contagious virus as of Friday morning. That county also announced that it had tested more than 400 residents. There are a total of...

Congress passed a historic economic rescue package early Friday morning as the number of COVID-19 cases hit 100,000 in the U.S. While the Senate approved the money earlier this week, the House battled over specifics until passing it. President Trump then signed it later...

SANTA CRUZ—A UC Santa Cruz student who lives off-campus has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation, UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive announced Friday. “The student was last on campus March 16 and is doing well,” Larive said. The university is coordinating with local public health...

Many of California’s roughly 3.8 million small business owners have scrambled to find some financial relief after Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 19 ordered all non-essential businesses to close to slow the spread of COVID-19. That meant bars, breweries and nightclubs were forced to shutter...

WATSONVILLE—A 51-year-old Watsonville man died from injuries he suffered in a March 16 crash at Trabing Road and Highway 1. The man, who has not been named, was a passenger in a 1998 Ford F-150 pickup that was being driven by Maia Cahill, 46, said...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz Police on Thursday arrested a man for attempted robbery, one week after he allegedly brandished a knife and demanded money from someone at an ATM. Jesse Tapia, 33, was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail. He was not in custody Friday afternoon,...

Regeneración-Pajaro Valley Climate Action on March 25 was awarded a $25,000 grant for finishing runner-up in the American Climate Leadership Awards. Nonprofit Executive Director Nancy Faulstich and a group of delegates were set to travel to Washington D.C. for the awards ceremony but instead attended...

WATSONVILLE—Former Watsonville Police Deputy Chief Terry Traub died at his Watsonville home on March 20. He was 55. After working at Scotts Valley Police Department for around nine years, Traub switched over to WPD in 1997 when he was hired by then-Chief Terry Medina.  Traub climbed...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved two proposals that will allow the district to fast-track the hiring of three companies to clean and sanitize school property as a way to combat COVID-19, also known as coronavirus. The trustees also...

WATSONVILLE—The man who died at Watsonville Community Hospital on March 20 after testing positive for COVID-19 was fighting diabetes, his family said in a Facebook post over the weekend. The man in his early 50s was believed to be a resident of Las Lomas, a...