Local News

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville will use a little more than half a million dollars of federal funding to bolster the community’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. The City will dish $200,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County to support its county-wide efforts during...

Watsonville firefighters and police secure a school bus that tore our utility lines in front of MacQuiddy Elementary School in Watsonville Thursday. About eight young students were aboard the bus when the incident occurred around 2:30pm. Police shut down surrounding streets while firefighters freed...

Watsonville Fire Capt. Matt Ryan (right) pays thanks to fellow firefighters from multiple agencies, various police, family and friends Tuesday morning at a farewell breakfast on his final shift as a firefighter. Born in 1962 at the old Watsonville Community Hospital, Ryan said he...

WATSONVILLE—In a decision that will likely head to the Watsonville City Council for another heated debate, the Planning Commission on Tuesday voted 4-3 to deny an appeal from a cannabis company that cried foul after missing out on one of the city’s three dispensary...

A Watsonville man arrested Thursday is suspected of more than 10 armed robberies that occurred in the downtown area, Watsonville Police Det. Rudy Lopez announced.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Emergency Operations Center is requesting that all tourists and visitors occupying local overnight accommodations such as hotels, motels and vacation rentals leave immediately to free up shelter capacity. Local shelters are near capacity. The Emergency Operations Center is working...

Watsonville City Councilman Jimmy Dutra and Cabrillo College Governing Board Trustee Felipe Hernandez are vying for the 4th District seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors in the Nov. 8 election. In last week's Pajaronian, we took a look at the candidates’ 500-word...

CENTRAL COAST—Rain and hail gave the Central Coast a dash of badly needed precipitation over the past week—with a hint more rain set for this weekend—but officials are still warning of a critically dry year if rain clouds don’t rally before the start of...

In alignment with the state, 11 Bay Area counties, including Monterey and Santa Cruz, and the City of Berkeley will lift universal mask requirements for most indoor public settings on Feb. 16. Unvaccinated individuals over the age of 2 will continue to be required to...

Just across the Pajaro River from Watsonville in Monterey County, hundreds of seasonal farmworkers are now living in a recently completed housing complex created for them at the end of Susan Street. Buses take them to their job sites, and return them to the gated...