News

Martha’s Kitchen, a 40-year-old organization based in San Jose, has now expanded its free food distribution program to the Pajaro Valley. The nonprofit began in 1981 when Louise Benson, dubbed “The Mother Teresa of San Jose,” began making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to give...

Santa Cruz County has withdrawn from an agreement with Pajaro Valley Regional Flood Management Agency (PRFMA) after the two disagreed on how to spend roughly $1 million in funds meant to address flood risk in South County. PRFMA is made up of the counties of...

There was a lot of trash talk Sunday in Santa Cruz. Not gossip. Literal trash. In the ocean and deep into the food chain. Close to 400 people gathered at the Rio Theatre on Nov. 9 to hear some of the latest research on the health...

Editor’s note: This story was updated from a previous entry. WATSONVILLE—A man driving on southbound Highway 1 early Monday afternoon was arrested after an altercation that ended when his passenger was shot in the face, California Highway Patrol Officer Sam Courtney said. Michael Stuckey, 48,...

Arpana Parti, DDS, has recently opened a new dentist office, Healthy Smiles, in Watsonville at 1970 Main St. in Watsonville Square near Nob Hill Foods.

WATSONVILLE—After years of waiting, advocating, fighting and fretting, people who live near the Pajaro River – and in the community around it – can breathe a sigh of relief. That’s after a feasibility report released Thursday by the Army Corps of Engineers, and a separate...

The Circus has come to town, this time at Ramsay Park on Main Street in Watsonville.  Circus Royal Spectacular—out of Las Vegas—rolled into town Tuesday, and crews quickly began driving giant tent stakes into the softball diamond  to set up their mammoth bigtop tent. Circus spokesperson...

WATSONVILLE —  For more than 30 years Nicholas Diaz spent long workdays buried in the back of televisions and other broken appliances. He was living his dream of being a neighborhood repairman. That dream came to a horrific close Sept. 1 when he died in a car...

Guests line up for the annual Crab Feed dinner at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. After operating as a drive-thru due to the pandemic, Saturday marked the first in-person sit-down dinner, combined with a silent and live auction, in two years. Auctioneer and former...

SCOTTS VALLEY—Santa Cruz County’s chief law enforcement official, and its District Attorney, had a message for anyone thinking about burglarizing homes in evacuated communities: if you are caught, you will be arrested and prosecuted. Law enforcement officials have increased their numbers by almost tenfold since...