Local News

SANTA CRUZ—A rare winged visitor has landed in Santa Cruz County. A small white wagtail, which typically breeds in Alaska and Asia, including Eastern Russia, has somehow gotten blown off course or is on an exploratory mission to this county, including the San Lorenzo...

Parts of Watsonville changed into a plywood canyon early Thursday after a bizarre poster started circulating on social media threatening "barbaric" protests in the Overlook Shopping Center. Though Watsonville Police took the threat seriously, no violence erupted over the night. However, scores of businesses...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that will, in a little more than two years, ban the sale of filtered cigarettes in unincorporated areas of the county. The Supervisors will hear a second reading and final adoption on...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The County of Santa Cruz and its community partners are accepting applications for the second round of CARES Rental Assistance Program funding. The County has allocated a portion of its Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to provide housing assistance...

WATSONVILLE—Since 2017, Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) has partnered with nonprofit El Sistema Santa Cruz/Pajaro Valley to bring music education and performance to local students. During the pandemic, El Sistema has continued its work both virtually and in-person, with small cohorts of students signed...

The annual Obon Festival will take place July 21 at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple. Open to the public, the event will include entertainment, a vendor’s market, childrens’ games and an array of traditional foods. The festival culminates in a dance, known as Bon-Odori, which participants practice...

Musicians, dancers and the public take part in a Mexican holiday tradition called La Rama Friday night in Watsonville Plaza. The first-ever such event in Watsonville was hosted by students in the dance class, Estrellas de Esperanza, taught by Ruby Vasquez. The purpose of...

SACRAMENTO—California Gov. Gavin Newsom named Secretary of State Alex Padilla California’s U.S. Senator to fill the term being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Padilla will thus become the first Latino U.S. Senator to represent California, Newsom’s office said. “The son of Mexican immigrants—a cook...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Brillante, an ongoing mosaic mural project in downtown Watsonville, has officially reached its halfway point. Organizer and artist Kathleen Crocetti says that volunteers recently finished the six thousandth of 12,000 square feet of mosaic. In celebration, Crocetti’s organization, Community Arts & Empowerment, will be...