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July 11, 2025

About Town, week of Nov. 18

Nov. 20, 2019 Tarmo Hannula: Someone called 9-1-1 Wednesday morning after they spotted a man prowling around their carport on Harper Street in Live Oak. An SC Sheriff deputy arrived within minutes and located a suspect at 3:40 a.m. When the deputy confronted the man...

Sheriff’s Office unveils ‘less-lethal’ devices

APTOS—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies have a new tool to help them arrest uncooperative suspects without serious injury. Dozens of sheriff’s office personnel on Wednesday were training on the use of the Bola Wrap, a handheld device that fires an 8-foot cord with barbed hooks...

Supervisors pass single-use cup fee

disposable cups santa cruz county supervisors
SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted an ordinance that will require restaurants and stores to charge a 25-cent fee on all single-use cups starting next summer. The move is aimed at reducing the estimated 50 million to-go cups...

Monterey County joins local jurisdictions in banning no-fault evictions

SALINAS—The County of Monterey on Tuesday joined several neighboring jurisdictions in approving a prohibition on no-fault evictions through the end of the year. It was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors and went into effect immediately. The prohibition comes on the heels of multiple reports...

Porter Building again up for sale

Porter Building watsonville
WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville is once again looking to fill the historic Porter Building in downtown. City officials on Nov. 12 released a request for proposals (RFP) for the sale or long-term lease of the two-story, 15,000-square-foot building at the corner of Main and Maple...

Power shutoff canceled in Santa Cruz County

Pacific, Gas and Electric (PG&E) Company’s Public Safety Power Shutoff scheduled for Wednesday night in Santa Cruz County has been called off, the county announced on its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon. County of Santa Cruz spokesman Jason Hoppin said early Tuesday that roughly 18,000 Santa...

Smashing pumpkins: WHS students showcase engineering prowess​ with trebuchets

WATSONVILLE—Roughly two dozen Watsonville High School students launched pumpkins into the sky with their class-made trebuchets, a large wooden catapult from a bygone era, at the school’s campus Friday morning. Two Advanced Placement (A.P.) physics classes of juniors and seniors lined up 11 trebuchets at...

New program puts Watsonville’s homeless to work

WATSONVILLE—A group of human services leaders officially launched a program created to put homeless people to work, pay them a small stipend and, more importantly, give them a sense of purpose  Under the WatsonvilleWorks! program, which began on Sept. 9, homeless people help clean areas...

Santa Cruz police evict homeless campers

SANTA CRUZ—Dozens of homeless people were roused by police officers in their tents early Friday morning at Phoenix Camp, the unsanctioned encampment behind the Gateway Plaza at River Street and Highway 1 in Santa Cruz. The message was clear: the residents were trespassing on city-owned...

Eco-flooring store set to open in Watsonville

WATSONVILLE—A new flooring store is in the works for downtown Watsonville. Samaya’s Flooring and Design Center is slated for a post-Thanksgiving soft opening in the former Van’s Shoes on East Lake Avenue, said owner Nima Chiring. The store will be a sister business of Samaya's...
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Grit N Grace Academy becomes first all-girls wrestling gym in downtown...

Once upon a time in the early 2000s, Becky Clark was forced to enter a space dedicated to mostly oversized teenage boys tossing and...