Local News

A weekly column that celebrates local businesses — especially eateries, watering holes, coffee shops and the like.

Officers from Watsonville Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit and the Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force arrested the 16-year-old on the 800 block of Vista Montana Drive on Wednesday.

In the next 90 days the National 9 Motel at 1 Western Drive will be demolished to make way for a four-story, 80-room Hilton Home2 Suites, according to Kamalesh Patel, of Hospitality AARAV, LLC.

The report, which was conducted by Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics, also showed a drastic increase over a five-year period in the number of young adults who still live with their parents or in-laws. According to the report, the percentage of people age 25 to 29 in that situation jumped from 17 percent in 2012 to 46 percent in 2017.

The Santa Cruz County Fair begins Wednesday, and volunteers at the Historic Rodgers House are gearing up for visitors to come tour a piece of Watsonville history.

Paloma Mexican Food, called El Chapulin by its loyal patrons, is a new-ish taco truck that sets up in the empty lot next to Lulu’s Fiesta Liquor & Deli.

The Watsonville Planning Commission on Tuesday strongly recommended that the City Council reject proposed guidelines for gated communities, saying such construction would go against everything the city stands for.

A Santa Cruz Police officer, a man and a woman were injured in an apartment fire Wednesday on the 300 block of Jesse Street in Santa Cruz.

A Watsonville man died Tuesday night when he hit a utility pole after losing control of his vehicle.

Peter Francis Dunne of Santa Cruz was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on felony charges of assault with intent to rape, sexual assault with force, and oral copulation, Sgt. Dee Baldwin of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said.