Local News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville High School’s cafeteria is showing its age after decades of use and few upgrades.  That’s set to change soon. This week, the district is reviewing bids for a project that will include demolishing and rebuilding the kitchen, installing new flooring and a vaulted ceiling and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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—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...