Aptos High students helping preserve monarch butterfly population
Editor’s note: Evie Kinkead is a junior at Aptos High School.
For years, monarch butterflies in California have been endangered.
This is influenced by harmful pesticides infiltrating milkweed, a critical plant in the butterfly's life cycle. This, in concert with rapid urbanization, has led to the...
City awards three public art grants
WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Parks and Recreation Commission at its Monday night meeting unanimously approved three $1,000 Public Art Grants for a pair of ballet folklorico performances, and for a local artist hoping to add to the city’s Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)...
Lt. Governor visits Capitola
CAPITOLA—After California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis bought several slices from Pizza My Heart in Capitola’s storm-ravaged Esplanade on Wednesday for herself and the retinue of City, County and State officials accompanying her, she turned, slice in hand and quipped, “The only thing that would...
Watsonville, Monterey County organizations to hold virtual Pride
Every August for the past five years, Watsonville organization Pajaro Valley Pride (PVP) has held an event to show support for and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in South Santa Cruz County.
But due to Covid-19, the annual march and celebration were canceled, sending organizers back...
A new way to view crime: Neighborhood Justice Program helps victims, offenders mediate
Since its inception in 2020, the Santa Cruz County Neighborhood Justice Program has held 351 conferences between people who commit low-level crimes and their victims.
Of these, 319 have completed the requirements to which they agreed, with the others still in the process.
And in doing...
Suspect in deputy killing pleads not guilty
ALAMEDA—The man who allegedly shot and killed a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy before engaging in an explosive-laden crime spree in the Santa Cruz Mountains town of Ben Lomond on June 6 pleaded not guilty Thursday to a host of charges in Alameda County...
Officials launch affordable housing project
WATSONVILLE—A large crowd of nonprofit, city and county officials gathered Wednesday to break ground on a development on Freedom Boulevard that will house 53 low-income families.
“I’m pleased we’re able to offer affordable housing here to fulfill Watsonville’s downtown specific plan, to provide a range...
‘Reunification’ therapy sparks call for change among teens
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A Pacific Collegiate School student and her friends are fighting for changes in the law after their friend and her brother were violently removed from their grandmother’s Santa Cruz home in October and taken to an undisclosed site to undergo court-ordered family...
Rain, cold move in
Cold rain showers managed to slip in the door before October wrapped up, with temperatures dropping and a dowsing shower early Thursday morning.
Meteorologist Dial Hoang of the National Weather Service of Monterey said the colder, wet system moved into the region from the Pacific...
Budget Season in Watsonville
In the coming weeks, the City of Watsonville will begin preparing our fiscal year 2026/27 budget.
When people hear “budget season,” it can sound technical,...
