Local News

The Big Lots retail store in Freedom Centre is now history in Watsonville.  The chain business, with hundreds of locations sprinkled across the U.S.,  announced late last year that it was closing all of its stores, which are commonly situated in popular shopping centers. However,...

Dozens of volunteers joined forces with a crew from Watsonville Wetlands Watch and the City of Watsonville on Feb. 1 for a day of tending local wetlands as part of the annual World Wetlands Day. With a slight drizzle setting the tone for the event,...

People driving through Watsonville recently may have noticed a handful of signs throughout the city, which call for the recall or firing of City Manager Tamara Vides. The signs were put up by real estate developer Raeid Farhat, who says he believes Vides is an...

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...

A piece of Watsonville’s history was torn to the ground Monday as a wrecking crew demolished the Taqueria Mi Tierra restaurant on Freedom Boulevard.  The building was once a popular A&W drive-in restaurant, Rosa’s Mexican restaurant and Mi Tierra until they closed last year.  Plans now...

A huge, boisterous crowd of people protesting recent arrests of immigrants around the country took their message to the streets Monday following a rally in Watsonville Plaza. Several thousand people marched along Main Street to the Overlook Center (Target Store) and back again before heading...

Thousands of people filled the streets in downtown Watsonville Monday afternoon, waving Mexican flags, carrying signs and chanting, all in observance of a Day Without Immigrants, one of numerous protests nationwide against the hardline immigration policies enacted by the new presidential administration. Staying home from...

During a special meeting Friday afternoon, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees appointed a new member to fill the seat left vacant when Kim De Serpa resigned to begin her role as a county supervisor. The board interviewed two candidates who applied...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday joined several other local elected officials and residents demanding answers into the causes of the Jan. 16 fire at the Vistra battery storage facility in Moss Landing. The board voted unanimously to ask the California Public...

More than 20 restaurants in Santa Cruz County will celebrate the art of pizza making during Santa Cruz Pizza Week, which kicks off Jan. 29.  Local restaurants from around the county are on board for the coordinated promotion, which features special pies, slices and prices. The...