Local News

This story has been updated from a previous version. A cascading wave of fiscal challenges such as the election of President Donald Trump, his One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and a cyber attack, has Watsonville Hospital’s leadership team worried that it will not have...

On Monday, 27-year-old Brenda Duarte was standing alongside a pile of her belongings in between the train tracks and the Pajaro River Levee, wondering where she was going to sleep that night after a planned levee eviction uprooted her.  Surrounding her were scores of recently...

The staff extends an invitation the new Starbucks that opened Thursday morning at 1726 Freedom Blvd. Manager Christine Deschler (second from right) said they will offer the full range of Starbucks beverages, pastries and other goods. The drive-thru/walk up business will serve motor traffic...

Art & Rebellion, a Santa Cruz-based self-described resistance group staged a peaceful theatrical protest at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company in Hollister Thursday.  Garbed in brilliant colors, goofy hats, glittery jackets, bright red noses, curly wigs, and waving umbrellas, batons and plungers, the cast of...

About 50 people from three Watsonville  senior communities met at the Pajaro Village Club House Monday evening to voice their concerns about agricultural pesticide use near their homes and in the surrounding Pajaro Valley. The meeting included Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner David Sanford and...

When classes started on Tuesday for Watsonville Prep School, 180 middle-school students had their own space, a newly renovated building at 18 West Beach Street.  The new space is adjacent to the school's original location in the old Gottshalks building at 407 Main Street, which...

In a little less than two years, a vacant lot on the 500 block of Main Street will be home to a 4-story building and a new restaurant. Construction crews are working on the foundation for the building, which when complete will be called The...

People check out a string of early-day cars and trucks Saturday in East Lake Village Shopping Center during the weekly Cars and Coffee event. The free event staged 41 vehicles with owners on hand to field questions and conversation about what goes into keeping...

More than 200 people staged a protest along Main Street in downtown Watsonville Saturday as part of a nationwide effort to speak out against President Trump and many of his policies. Headed up by Indivisible Pajaro Valley, the crowds lines both sides of Main Street...

For years, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office’s sciences lab has been analyzing crime scene evidence: data from cell phones and computers, tire tread marks and fingerprints, just to name a few. But analyzing DNA evidence—a field that takes not only a science background and...