Local News

Watsonville artist Erika Rosendale (center, on ladder) paints a new large outdoor mural at El Vaquero Winery in Corralitos on Friday. The mural depicts the historical stagecoach whip, Charley Parkhurst (1812-1879), known as One-eyed Charley, who drove a stagecoach mail delivery between Watsonville and...

When a group of third-grade students at Ohlone Elementary School planted two trees on their campus earlier this year, it was the culmination of an environmental science project that began when they found a small colony of bats living under the eaves of one...

A fourth-grade student from Watsonville Charter School of the Arts (WCSA) has ranked among the top 20 fourth-grade students in the nation in the prestigious Math Kangaroo Contest, an international mathematics competition held this past March.  Sequoia Olson’s achievement marks the first-ever national recognition for...

The Artichoke Festival has been a mainstay for summer entertainment on the Central Coast for more than six decades, a time for locals to nosh on delicacies and celebrate the crop that helped put the region on the map. “With deep gratitude and heavy hearts,...

Around 300 women in agriculture and in support of the farming community attended the 17th annual Down to Earth Women’s luncheon Thursday at Driscoll's Rancho Corralitos. The event is part of Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau’s Agri-Culture, an education non-profit with 11 endowed funds,...

Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Gabe Medina has threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against two fellow Board members over a recent attempt to censure him during a May 7 Board meeting. In an email to trustees Misty Navarro and Olivia Flores—who placed the...

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning on beaches, in neighborhoods and along riverways to participate in the second-annual Pitch In All Santa Cruz Cleanup Day. The event is organized by the Trash Talkers, a group of elected officials, community members, nonprofits and governmental organizations, formed...

It has been almost three decades since local organizers launched the Queer Youth Leadership Awards, an event created to highlight young people whose work has benefitted the LGBTQ community, as well as the people and organizations that help them. This happened in the early days...

In the late 1800s, Claus Spreckels ran a mill that processed locally grown sugar beets, a thriving industry that is generally credited with seeing Santa Cruz County through troubled economic times. But when Spreckels tried to underpay the Japanese community—cutting their wages in half—they walked,...

Editor's note: This story has been updated from a previous version. The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees rejected a move to censure Trustee Gabriel Medina during a clamorous public board meeting on May 7 that included public outcry and bickering among board...