News

WATSONVILLE — A sculpture depicting two intertwining great blue herons now sits atop a new columbarium at Pajaro Valley Public Cemetery. The 12-foot tall sculpture, entitled “Eternal,” was created by local artist and teacher Sean M. Monaghan and three assistants. Monaghan said he was approached last...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville City Manager Matt Huffaker announced last week that he appointed Alicia Martinez as the new director of the Watsonville Public Library. She succeeds longtime director Carol Heitzig, who retired in July 2020. Martinez worked her way up the ranks at the library. She started...

Hundreds of aspiring engineers from around the globe traveled to The Volunteer State in late June with robots designed to accomplish complex tasks underwater in tow, but Team Scalyr bested them all to return to the top of the mountain two years after its first victory.

Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the Oct. 1 kidnapping and murder of tech executive and Pleasure Point resident Tushar Atre.  On Tuesday night Kurtis Charters, 22, Joshua Camps, 23, and Stephen Lindsay, 22, were booked into Santa Cruz County Jail charged with murder, kidnapping...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville pilots, and the city’s municipal airport, are asking for help after several aircraft were struck by laser light. The phenomenon, known as laser strikes, occurs when someone on the ground points a laser light at a pilot. It is a federal offense, with five years...

Firefighters from multiple agencies were busy with a Wednesday evening blaze off of Melody Lane in the outskirts of Watsonville. https://www.facebook.com/pajaronian/videos/2423488927972071/?__xts__=68.ARCqCv3ijRLsmVTzW2QsNxWROAnyRMAmbhOb7fWZhXImJFRNQtgejTw4epGRlLSp3lfRX9bjTe0q0RMu9HlWImg__c6Jk0J1XFHESJYYLYbZ8F4AJequGJ9f3bTZxg6Bvnv0iWthJmP_78y4uxr4fJjLV8rjkj6JuTn0BJzA4cvdzd6XXj3GTLeRpwXz_nUEl2VcpA4Eqaho9PQTzur810M1BG54J4IKBtwN9TKDX0vgmHKwqd1VevXd5BZZaOfsQ8w_XClA72FWpaVBOMriU-LOGN0wRB6VmKbX6MGT0bASfdKKlE4jb8SP-a8SOG32s_ikNnOKhA55TSoFw1OyXuuG2q-pRd-OXTE&__tn__=-R Firefighters doused the flame just before 7 p.m., putting an end to the large column of black smoke that could be seen for miles. The...

The City of Watsonville recently announced the names of 12 selected citizens who will serve on the new Policing and Social Equity Ad-Hoc Committee, which will dive into the department’s relationship with the community. The City received 26 applications. Council Ad Hoc representatives, Mayor...

WASHINGTON—Cathay Pacific Airways, convinced that digital proof of coronavirus vaccination will bring about the return of safe international travel, asked its pilots and crew to try out a new mobile app that showed their vaccination status on a recent flight from Hong Kong to...

WATSONVILLE—Young people in South County suffering from mental health crises now have the option of a response that does not have to involve hospitalization. The South County Mobile Emergency Response Team for Youth (MERTY) was created to provide community and field-based crisis intervention services to...

A little more than two years after closing several Orchard Supply Hardware stores, including the Watsonville location, owner Lowe’s Companies, Inc., announced it will close the remaining 99 stores.