Local News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville police are investigating a suspected hit-and-run crash on East Beach Street in front of Watsonville High School early Sunday morning. WPD Cpl. Collin Travers said a 2019 Honda Accord was traveling eastbound on East Beach Street at 5:45am. For unknown reasons the driver of...

APTOS -- Emergency officials responded to a solo-vehicle crash on Highway 1 at Freedom Boulevard on Saturday.

SANTA CRUZ—As a crane hoisted four sections of a large mosaic-covered water dragon into place Sunday atop a colorful concrete gateway at an entryway to San Lorenzo Park, new life was pumped into a forgotten chapter of Santa Cruz history. Renamed the Chinatown Bridge by...

Tarmo Hannula contributed to this story. Over the decades, California lawmakers, district attorneys, county agricultural commissioners and others tasked with protecting residents have neglected to do so for farmworkers and their families, who are disproportionately affected by dangerous agricultural chemicals. This amounts to years of civil...

WATSONVILLE—For nearly four decades, El Frijolito restaurant has been serving traditional Mexican fare in its sit-down dining room at 11 Alexander St. Now in its 38th year, the place is perhaps best known for its walk-up window on the 400 block of Union Street, which...

SANTA CRUZ—The family of the 8-year-old girl who was murdered in 2015 is facing a new tragedy after someone stole the urn containing her ashes. Madyson “Maddy” Middleton’s family says that her father Michel Middleton was keeping the urn in the glovebox of his unlocked...

Watsonville firefighters tear into a wall at the rear of a home on the 600 block of Lincoln Street Tuesday where a fire broke out. Division Chief Corey Schaefer said the fire erupted just past noon inside the wood walls of an older single-story...

Johanna Miller His Dark Materials (HBO/BBC) I was both excited and nervous when I heard that BBC and HBO would be releasing a miniseries adaptation of my favorite book series, “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman. As a longtime fan, I was hoping it would at...

Nancy Lockwood, former solid waste division manager for the City of Watsonville, who helped create the 6.5-mile slough-wetland trail system and shape the bulk of the city’s progressive environmental direction, died Saturday in her Watsonville home. She was 62.

The Never Forget Memorial Relay was held Sunday in Aptos Village Park. The eighth annual  event featured 33  teams of four from police and fire departments, California State Parks, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, the county Probation Department and others whose teams...