Local News

After years of holding performances in their school’s wrestling room and in various spaces around campus, students at Pajaro Valley High School now have a new theater—albeit a temporary one—as they await future construction of a performing arts center. District officials—along with elected leaders from...

NOTE: Reporters Todd Guild, Johanna Miller, Tarmo Hannula and Erik Chalhoub contributed to this article. For more than two years, people have clamored for the return to “normal” after the uncertainties of a pandemic. In 2022, we got a taste of normalcy, but it was far...

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...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Record numbers of voters nationwide cast their ballots this year, all either hungering for change or hoping for status quo in what is possibly one of the most polarizing political climates in U.S. history. Locally, those numbers likely were a catalyst in driving...

WATSONVILLE—Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 1 signed a bill into law that gives full funding to the long-awaited Pajaro River Levee Project, giving 100-year protection to the people who live in the South County communities that are prone to destructive flooding. Senate Bill 489, authored...

Editor's note: This story was updated from a previous version. WATSONVILLE—A fire at an apartment complex on Clifford Avenue late Christmas Eve displaced 20 people and severely damaged four adjoining units, Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Kirt Vojvoda said. According to Vojvoda, the blaze began at about...

For the past year, volunteers at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds have been working to build up the annual holiday lights show. Now in its fifth year, the show—now called Sparky’s Holiday Lights—draws people from around the county to drive through the lighted fairgrounds. It is...

The Knights of Columbus Council 11804 is known for its annual Tootsie Roll Drive, a six-week effort at five local Catholic churches.

LIVE OAK—For 25 years the Santa Cruz Community Farmers Markets have been thriving around the county in five outdoor locations: Downtown Santa Cruz, Felton, Live Oak (Eastside), Scotts Valley and the Westside. The Live Oak market, in the East Cliff Village shopping center, unfolds every...

WATSONVILLE—After 18 years at the helm of the Lutheran Community Church of Watsonville, and 40 years total as an ordained minister, Rev. Susan Birkelo will soon retire. Born in Minnesota, Birkelo’s family moved to San Diego when she was still in kindergarten. After school, she...