Local News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees closed its year Wednesday by swearing in four trustees, three existing members and one of them freshly elected in November. Olivia Flores took her seat after she and Daniel Dodge Jr. were sworn in by former...

WATSONVILLE—The local nonprofit created to purchase and run Watsonville Community Hospital has won its bid to buy the hospital’s operations, a move that canceled a planned auction and advanced the matter to a sale hearing on Wednesday. According to documents filed with the Northern District...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Rotary welcomed a special guest to its regular meeting Wednesday: John Laird, state senator for California’s District 17. Laird, who was sworn in December 2020, was previously elected for the 27th District in 2002-06. He has served as California Secretary for Natural Resources, as...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Community Hospital has a new chief executive officer.  Steven Salyer, who has 14 years of leadership experience in hospitals throughout the U.S., started the position on July 6. The hospital announced the move on July 14. Salyer previously served as chief operating officer at UP...

WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Arts’ (PVA) gallery on Sudden Street came alive Wednesday as the organization’s 9th annual fundraising exhibit opened to the public. “Take Aways: Art to Go!” features a variety of work by 73 artists, most of them locals from Watsonville and surrounding areas. Everything...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—During 2021, 95 people died while homeless, a distressing increase from the 58 who died last year and 77 in 2019.  Those numbers, delivered Tuesday during the 23rd annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day ceremony, were more than an ugly milestone, said David Davis,...

Several dozen protesters descended on the Santa Cruz County Government Center on Wednesday to speak out against a decision by the Board of Supervisors a week earlier not to move forward on a key portion of the Coastal Rail Trail project. While the supervisors on...

Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final entry of a weekly series about the Pajaro Valley’s Japanese community. The series’ culmination coincides with this year’s celebration of the Obon Festival, a cultural and religious Japanese event honoring one’s ancestors. Read the first entry...

WATSONVILLE—A group of teachers from Pajaro Valley High School is planning to file a complaint with their school, citing an ongoing teacher shortage they say causes a threat to student health and safety and makes their jobs untenable. The teachers filing the Williams complaints say...

The City of Watsonville is currently accepting bids for the Senior Center Americans with Disabilities Act Upgrades and Improvements Project.