PHOTO: Share Your Holiday
Morgan Maitoza of Cal Giant helps stack up donated gifts under the tree at the 32nd annual Share Your Holiday put on by TV channel KSBW at the Cal Giant facility in Watsonville.
End of an era: Yamashita Market closing its doors this summer
WATSONVILLE—After more than seven decades in business, Yamashita Market—Santa Cruz County’s only store dedicated to Asian cooking supplies—is set to close its doors for good, likely sometime in July.
The store’s owner Goro Yamashita says that business was steadily declining even before Covid-19 forced businesses...
Watsonville appoints new city attorney
WATSONVILLE—The city of Watsonville will see a major shift in leadership in 2022.
The election of a new city councilmember is ongoing, and four more seats will be open next year. Current City Manager Matt Huffaker will soon be moving to the city of Santa...
Jimmy Dutra liable in sexual abuse case
A jury on Tuesday found that Watsonville City Councilman Jimmy Dutra committed sexual battery and lewd and lascivious acts on a minor in his Los Angeles apartment 19 years ago.
The jury also found that Dutra is liable for damages from the emotional and mental...
Drive-throughs a deal-breaker in proposed business park
WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously voted against granting a special use permit for a proposed business park at Main Street and Auto Center Drive.
Boos Development Group, Inc. was seeking the permit so that it could construct two drive-throughs alongside roughly 20,000 square...
Food scrap composting program diverting tons from landfill
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Since it began in January, Santa Cruz County’s composting program has diverted nearly 50,000 tons of food scraps from the Buena Vista Landfill, vastly reducing the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere and reshaping the way residents view their trash.
That...
Photo: Holiday tree delivered to Watsonville City Plaza
A crew from Auto Care Towing of Watsonville hoists a 30-foot Aptos Blue pine tree into the Watsonville City Plaza Wednesday morning with an 80-ton rotator rig. The live tree came from Gilroy Gardens and, after holiday celebrations, will be planted in a local...
Sexual assault allegations surface against César Chávez
The nation’s oldest farmworker union announced Tuesday that it has canceled all events celebrating labor organizer César Chávez after allegations surfaced that he sexually...
