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Watsonville
March 27, 2026

Central Coast fires begin to clear

CZU August Lightning Complex
Firefighters now have 91% containment on the Dolan Fire in the Big Sur area. It has burned 124,924 acres and destroyed 14 homes. The fire began Aug. 18. This morning our reporter Todd Guild and I drove up into the San Lorenzo Valley to Boulder...

Woman fatally struck by truck while crossing Rodriguez Street

Watsonville crash
WATSONVILLE—A 61-year-old woman was killed on Dec. 3 while crossing the street at the intersection of Rodriguez and West Beach streets in downtown Watsonville. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn identified the victim as Joan Alameda of Watsonville. Watsonville Police Department Sgt. Mike Ridgeway...

New brewery on tap for downtown Watsonville

Watsonville Public House
WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Presbyterian minister Robby Olson came to Watsonville with his wife a decade ago and has since built his life and career out of building a coterie of friends and cultivating the community he has grown to love. He also has an affinity for brewing...

A dance around the world

Alianza Charter School students recently took a trip around the world, all without leaving their multi-purpose room.

Community Bridges to host candidate forum

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Community Bridges and its nonprofit partners, Nonprofit Connection Santa Cruz County, Human Care Alliance, and Santa Cruz Community Ventures, will host a virtual forum on May 25 with local supervisor candidates from the 3rd and 4th Districts.  Candidates will open the forum by...

WPD welcomes 2 new officers

WATSONVILLE—Two new police officers will officially hit the streets this weekend in Watsonville to begin their 20-week field training phase.  Michaela Barnett and Juan Castillo wrapped up their in-house training on Jan. 3, and will now work in tandem with a field training officer for...

Watsonville cements sister city status with Portuguese city

watsonville city council ari parker vaso cordeiro azores sister city velas
WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville solidified its Sister City affiliation with Velas, a historic port town on the western coast of São Jorge Island in Portugal, at its Tuesday night City Council meeting. Watsonville Mayor Ari Parker and Vasco Cordeiro, the President of the European Committee...

Mayor for the Day teams students with Watsonville’s top official

Mayor for the day
WATSONVILLE—While trying to recap the first half of their day with Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra, high school students Jennifer Fernandez and Maurice Moreno both thought back to their stop at Watsonville Fire Department headquarters and a conversation they had with Fire Capt. Almita Schaefer.  Her...

New year, new laws: State strengthening protections for personal data

Starting in 2020, consumers will have the power to find out what personal information companies are collecting on them, and to tell them to stop doing so, and to delete it. That’s thanks to the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which the American Bar...

Land Trust to host public event for 40th anniversary

Local nonprofit organization Land Trust of Santa Cruz County will host its annual Bee Barn Bash on Saturday, and for the first time the event will be open to the public.
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Letters to the Editor, March 27-April 7

Regarding benefit caps The local teacher’s union, PVFT, has been loudly crying during negotiations with the school district, PVUSD, to not put a cap on...
A crew from Granite Construction works on Reach 6 of the Pajaro River at Watsonville Project along Corralitos Creek. (

Levee work underway