News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Felipe Hernandez, who has served as a member of the Watsonville City Council since 2012, including a stint as mayor, has won the race for Cabrillo College Governing Board Trustee Area 5 against incumbent Leticia Mendoza. As numbers rolled in on election night,...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday sold the Resetar Parking Lot in downtown to the Ow family for $542,850. The 40-space lot at 535 Main St., also known as Parking Lot No. 4, is used daily by multiple businesses in downtown, including county-wide nonprofit Community...

Late in 2022, when officials from Pajaro Valley Unified School District took a look at its high school seniors, they noticed a disturbing trend: many were not meeting their graduation requirements and were at risk of not receiving their diplomas. And so Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez...

A new mural is in town. The mammoth colorful piece, depicting all local youths and adults standing in front of a Cessna 172, hangs above a sign, “Kids Fly Free,” a program offered to young people ages 8-17, by the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Observations from around the Pajaro Valley.

Owner Chip Kirchner, who in late March purchased the property from Swenson Builders for $5 million, said roof repairs alone cost roughly $110,000. He said he plans to invest about $350,000 in the property in the first year alone.

Sierra and Derrick Rodriguez visit Santa and Mrs. Claus Saturday in East Lake Village Shopping Center during the annual Shop Small/Buy Local event. Live Music from the Pajaro Valley High Band, hay rides on a tractor provided by the Agricultural History Project, store specials,...

Glen Fitch of Watsonville hands out free poems Thursday along with his dog, Abercrombie, in front of the main branch of the Watsonville Public Library.

One person is dead and two are in hospitals — one of them charged with murder — after a double shooting in a residence high in the hills above Aptos.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Daniel J. Story was a second-grader living in the Midwest when the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck California on Oct. 17, 1989. He recalls it flashing on the news, and his teacher being worried about people she knew in the area. But Story admits...