Local News

A Watsonville woman nearly lost thousands of dollars Wednesday by falling victim to a version of the so-called “grandparent scam.” According to the Federal Communications Commission, scammers posing as a loved one in a crisis call a relative to ask for money, telling their targets...

PRUNEDALE—A 35-year-old Watsonville man was injured in a butane honey oil lab explosion in Prunedale Monday. Francisco Ponce was in the area when Monterey County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the 16000 block of Meridian Road around 3pm to investigate a report of an explosion. Ponce...

Members of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County hike around Watsonville Slough Farm at the Bee Barn Bash on Saturday.

California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas on Tuesday introduced legislation intended to speed up the $400 million rebuild of the Pajaro River Levee.  Assembly Bill 876 would expedite the work by exempting certain aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The bill would also weigh...

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...

In 2017, Watsonville Wetlands Watch (WWW) and the City of Watsonville received a joint grant from the California Department of Fire and Forestry and the California Climate Investment Program. This boost of funding helped form WWW’s Forest and Climate Resiliency program, kickstarting a citywide...

Pajaro Valley Unified School District students and other young people raised the Progress Flag Friday during a ceremony at the district’s headquarters in Watsonville.  The event—attended by roughly 60 people, including PVUSD Board President Jennifer Holm and Vice-President Jennifer Schacher—was one of several flag-raising...

WATSONVILLE—After Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday moved most counties in California into the “Widespread” or purple tier of Covid-19 restrictions—saying he was pulling an “emergency brake” on efforts to reopen the state—school districts across the state followed suit. Pajaro Valley Unified School District was planning...

The Aptos Chamber of Commerce presented its annual awards on Friday night.

Following several tunes on bagpipes, scores of firefighters, garbed in their cumbersome turnouts, boots and helmets, climbed up and down a lengthy wood staircase at Seacliff State Beach — a symbolic gesture of the emergency crews that rushed into the World Trade Towers and raced up the stairs to rescue victims.