Local News

WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday arrested a Watsonville man on numerous sex charges involving a minor. Carlos Gomez Velasco, 39, has been charged with oral copulation with a minor, contacting a minor for sexual purposes, sexual battery and contributing to the delinquency of...

Roughly 100 nurses who work at Watsonville Community Hospital gathered at the intersection of Airport Boulevard and Nielsen Street Tuesday to call attention to a recent scheduling change they say affects the way they do their job. The nurses were speaking out against a decision...

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PV Water) Board of Directors approved contracts to construct the College Lake Integrated Resources Management Project during a special meeting on Feb. 1.  The College Lake Pipeline Project will construct a six-mile, 30-inch water main to transport treated water...

SANTA CRUZ—Aptos High posted a 42-0 win against Santa Cruz High in a scrimmage at Memorial Field on April 16.  The game was scheduled as a regular season Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League game, but officials never showed up. The game did not count as...

SACRAMENTO—California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered bars and restaurants in 19 counties to close their indoor dining options for at least three weeks, as the state faces increasing cases of Covid-19 and residents plan for the busy July 4 weekend. The state saw 5,898...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved an agreement that increases every teacher’s yearly salary by $4,000, retroactive to July 1, 2021. Teachers were not the only ones that benefited from the agreement, which was passed tentatively on Feb. 16. Nurses,...

Continued decreases in case and positivity rates have Santa Cruz County on track to enter a less restrictive tier of the state’s Covid-19 reopening plan on March 31, County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said at Thursday’s weekly virtual press conference. According to data released...

Zeke Fraser has a lot on his desk, both figuratively and literally. He briefly stepped away from his paperwork-lined desk at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds late Wednesday morning for a quick chat about the upcoming fair, which opens on Wednesday. Vendors and performers were...

WATSONVILLE—A gaggle of educators and nonprofit leaders gathered on the uppermost floor of the Watsonville City Plaza Tuesday to hear Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah outline his department’s operational plan for the next five years. The two-hour session was both a chance...

More than 50 people from Pacific Gas & Electric, Watsonville Works and other groups hit the streets of Watsonville Thursday morning with a single target in mind: trash. The three-hour community cleanup, headed up by Ramon Gomez, chief of staff for Supervisor Felipe Hernandez, fanned...