Local News

Special events Empower Watsonville Conference (Oct. 19) Empower Watsonville is a conference organized by high school students, for high school students. The conference is sponsored by Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance (PVPSA). Based on an open workshop format, the event will start with a formal...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday will make a decision on the Downtown Complete Streets Plan, a project that proposes sweeping changes to the corridor’s structure. According to the report from city staff, the plan presented at Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. meeting will include:  Pedestrian improvements •...

“Try This” is a weekly column that celebrates local businesses — especially eateries, watering holes, coffee shops and the like. TODD GUILD Food Pizza My Heart There are few foods as easy as pizza to feed a busy family, particularly on a school night. That’s why we found...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — This weekend will mark the third and final phase of the annual Open Studios Art Tour, a free self-guided tour of area art studios.  While the public was invited to view artists’ work in North Santa Cruz County Oct. 5 and...

WATSONVILLE—Kaiden Gowen is just 8 years old, but he already has a three-year racing career under his belt, and a handful of local and state championship wins to show for it. He competes in quarter midget racing, which uses vehicles that are one-quarter the size...

WATSONVILLE—Edwin Rodriguez and Adrian Maldonado were hanging out with friends in their neighborhood on Arista Court one Wednesday afternoon when they saw a large column of smoke rising into the air nearby. The boys assumed at first it was a campfire, which wouldn’t be unusual....

Watsonville Police are looking for a couple that scammed a woman out of thousands of dollars after claiming to have a winning lottery ticket they couldn’t cash in. Surveillance footage shows the man and woman approaching the victim in a shopping center parking lot on...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz Police arrested a woman early Thursday morning after she allegedly set fires in several garbage cans between Ocean and Church streets. Nataliya Zubrilina, 34, has been charged with arson. She was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail and was being held Friday...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency Board of Directors on Wednesday voted unanimously to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) and approve the College Lake Integrated Resources Management Project. “This project was ranked by the Basin Management Plan (BMP) Committee as one of the...

WATSONVILLE—Alternative lenders outnumber mainstream lenders by more than 3-1 in Watsonville. That’s according to a joint report from Santa Cruz Community Ventures (SCCV) and UC Santa Cruz’s Blum Center presented to the public in Watsonville’s Civic Plaza on Tuesday. The report, called “Mamas con Mas,” identified...