Local News

A California Highway Patrol Officer confers with a tow operator at the scene of a solo-vehicle crash on Highway 1 in Watsonville Wednesday.  The CHP said a male driver was traveling south on Highway 1 around noon in a Rialto recreational vehicle. As he approached...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville renters that have been under increased financial pressure during the COVID-19 outbreak received some good news Monday. The City Council by a 5-2 vote approved a temporary moratorium on evictions for tenants—both residential and commercial—affected by the fallout of the global coronavirus pandemic. The emergency...

A woman with more than two decades of experience leading nonprofit and community-based organizations has been selected to lead the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Dori Rose Inda, who formerly served as CEO of Salud Para La Gents, will take the reins at the fairgrounds, seven...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville area has the lowest number of COVID-19 cases in Santa Cruz County, according to data from the county health department. There were 29 known COVID-19 cases in South County as of Wednesday, compared to 33 in North County and 45 in Mid-County. North...

WATSONVILLE—A man was taken to an out of county trauma center Monday after he flagged down a police officer to report being stabbed in the abdomen, Watsonville Police Sgt. Brian Ridgway said. The victim, an 18-year-old man, was driving a Mazda 3 north on Harkins...

WATSONVILLE—Some California renters facing eviction at the end of March got a reprieve Thursday when Acting Governor Eleni Kounalakis signed legislation that extends statewide protections tied to a state-run rental assistance program. Assembly Bill 2179 extends eviction protections through June 30 for Californians who signed...

WATSONVILLE—Two men were shot five hours apart in reportedly unrelated incidents on the outskirts of Watsonville on June 23, and multiple suspects remain at large. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn on June 24 said deputies are searching for 47-year-old Edgar Ayala, the...

APTOS—The Aptos High School and Aptos Junior High School choir departments have been hard at work for the past few months, preparing for their upcoming “Sounds of the Season” holiday concert. Along the way, they dealt with some bumps in the road—most notably the power...

On Tuesday, 7-year-old Vincent Robles was playing in Callaghan Park in downtown Watsonville, clambering over the play structures and going up and down the slide. But what he really wanted, his mother Jessica said, was to go back to Ramsay Park, with its big slide.  “He...

Observations from across the Pajaro Valley and beyond.