News

Thousands of visitors poured into the 25th annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival over the weekend to relish the cash crop of the Pajaro Valley.

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s Mansion House was built in an era when horse-drawn carriages and motor coaches shared unpaved roads, and served as a luxurious stopover for visitors to the agricultural epicenter that was Watsonville.  The Mansion House, a centerpiece of Watsonville’s historic downtown, will turn 150 this...

Yesterday I was lucky to wander through Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services on West Beach Street to cover a group from the San Jose Sharks who were loading up 70 grocery bags for the community and dropping off a $10,000 check. I was...

SANTA CRUZ—The man accused of killing a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy and trying to kill three other law enforcement officials and a civilian during a June 6 crime spree made his first court appearance Friday, but put off entering a plea until July...

WATSONVILLE—Yoni Espinoza says he was just 6 years old when his mother told him that they were going to go on a “long, long walk.” He says he had no idea the trek would be a three-day journey through excruciatingly hot days and numbingly cold...

SANTA CRUZ—A woman who stole a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office cruiser and then struck a deputy in an attempt to escape arrest three years ago was sentenced Friday to 16 years in state prison. Jessica May Lowe, 30, has been held without bail in...

SANTA CRUZ—A woman died early Wednesday in a two-alarm fire that broke out in the former Sobering Center in Santa Cruz. Around 2:30am 9-1-1 dispatchers received numerous calls about a fire spreading through the two-story Victorian wood structure that had been boarded up since the...

CAPITOLA—Efforts to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom are picking up steam, with proponents having gathered 911,000 signatures since June 10. The all volunteer, grassroots group behind the drive—Recall Gavin 2020—has until March 17 to gather about 1.5 million signatures to qualify for a special election. Another group,...

APTOS—The family of the Aptos High School student who died last year after he was stabbed during an on-campus attack has sued Pajaro Valley Unified School District, claiming that the district failed in its duty to protect its students. The lawsuit, filed July 7 by...

WATSONVILLE—Carol Vides walked away from a food booth at the Santa Cruz County Fair on Wednesday, her arms loaded with corn dogs and other fried food for her family. The bacchanalia of battered and breaded, along with roasted and sweet, lined the main avenue...