Local News

WATSONVILLE—After a half-century in business, Jim Barsi has sold his eponymous liquor store, and will retire in December. That’s when new owners will take over, and rename it Watsonville Fiesta Liquor. But that’s a story for the future. The story of Barsi’s Liquor Store began in...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Parks and Community Services (PCS) Department recently received a large grant to help rebuild the Muzzio Park playground that was burned down in early June. GameTime, a national commercial playground manufacturer, will provide $15,000-37,000 on top of the $25,000 the City received in...

Female-dominated cast puts fresh twist on classic story WATSONVILLE—Watsonville High School drama instructor David Scott believes that author S.E. Hinton would appreciate his stage adaptation of her 1967 novel, “The Outsiders.” Under the suggestion of her publisher, Susan Eloise Hinton had used her first and middle...

Nov. 6, 2019 Tarmo Hannula: Nine people were shot and killed, some burned beyond recognition, in a remote mountainous region of northern Mexico Monday by what officials are saying are a band of drug cartel members. Three mothers and six children died in the attack...

SALINAS — The two men that escaped from the Monterey County Adult Detention Facility early Saturday have been captured. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said 21-year-old Santos Samuel Fonseca and 20-year-old Jonathan Salazar, who were both awaiting trial on unrelated murder charges and other felony...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a proposal to sell a property in Live Oak, and a plan to develop it into an affordable housing project that will include a dental and a medical clinic. MidPen Housing, which is purchasing...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday arrested a Soquel man suspected of more than a dozen counts of sexual assault of a child. Luis Ortiz, 59, was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail. According to Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley...

WATSONVILLE—Since 2014 there have been eight unsolved gang-related homicides in Watsonville, according to Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido. Many of those victims’ mothers—and those of countless other gang-related homicide victims from the Pajaro Valley—are still holding out hope that one day that will change. Sunday’s...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office will retry the case of a man who was shot as he allegedly broke into an Aptos residence to burglarize it. The trial of Damien Welch ended in mistrial on Nov. 1 when a single juror did...

SALINAS—Two inmates escaped from the Monterey County Adult Detention Facility early Saturday. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said 21-year-old Santos Samuel Fonseca and 20-year-old Jonathan Salazar were both awaiting trial on unrelated murder charges along with numerous other felony charges. The MCSO said Sunday it was...