Local News

WATSONVILLE—A man who tried to burglarize a Watsonville residence Wednesday is in custody after a woman living there fought him off and held him there with the help of her teen children, Watsonville Police spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said in a press release. Salvador Leonor, 48,...

WATSONVILLE—Work is now complete on a pedestrian, bike and traffic safety project on Harkins Slough Road.  The job, which is part of a city-wide project to address transportation safety issues, runs between South Green Valley Road and Ford Street and includes a swath of Walker...

For years, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office’s sciences lab has been analyzing crime scene evidence: data from cell phones and computers, tire tread marks and fingerprints, just to name a few. But analyzing DNA evidence—a field that takes not only a science background and...

Filmmaker and Watsonville High School alumnus Gabriel Medina already has several independent Hollywood-level movies on his resume, with various roles including writer, producer and director.  He recently earned his MFA from University of Southern California’s famed Peter Stark Producing Program, and has now returned to...

Santa Cruz County is presenting a Master Plan for Aging (MPA) survey residents can take that will help county leaders craft a plan to meet the needs of its rapidly growing senior population. When it is complete, the county’s MPA—called “Age Well Santa Cruz County”—will...

Barricades were recently taken down where Atkinson Lane meets Freedom Boulevard during construction of the new Tabasas Gardens homes (shown here). The lane had been closed to allow for construction for more than a year.

A mass vaccination site with the capacity to administer 1,000 injections per day will open at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville next week, but it is unlikely that it will reach its capacity anytime soon because of a continuing shortage of Covid-19...

Tommy Moffitt of Santa Cruz was proud of himself Saturday morning, a big smile on his face as he carried six backpacks—one on his back, one on his front and two each on his outstretched arms—through Kaiser Permanente Arena to be filled with school...

Several dozen Watsonville Community Hospital nurses and staff warned Wednesday that closing the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit—an idea they said officials have floated amid deep financial strain—would put patients at risk and weaken the countywide emergency care system. Hospital CEO Steven Gray said in a...