News

APTOS—The last time the Aptos High boys soccer team beat Watsonville High the Nintendo Game Boy was a hot item, “Home Alone” was the top movie and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” was No.1 rap song in the nation. That was 30 years ago, but...

WATSONVILLE—A group of neighbors is again fighting the construction of a hotel in the heart of downtown, this time claiming the City of Watsonville has for years worked with a company that is currently suspended by two state agencies. AARAV Hospitality, LLC was penalized and...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—One week after firefighters contained the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, which scorched 86,509 acres and destroyed 1,565 structures in the Santa Cruz Mountains, county officials had a dire prediction for the coming winter months. Heavy rainfall unable to soak into the fire-damaged soil...

By Jane Sellen SALINAS—On May 27 dozens gathered at the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s office in Salinas, calling on the state and county governments to web-post advance warning of agricultural pesticide use. The event was one of several by farmworking communities across California who joined together...

WATSONVILLE—For 10 years, Youth N.O.W. has tutored and empowered hundreds of students throughout the Pajaro Valley, providing an essential outlet for those struggling to pick up various subjects in class or finding a safe space to study after the bell rings. Now, after a sudden...

WATSONVILLE—The art of Juan R. Fuentes, a Watsonville High graduate, is the feature of the latest Pajaro Valley Arts exhibit, “Resilience: Works of Strength and Dignity 2023.” The body of over 50 works in woodcut, linocut, linocut/screenprint and screenprint—plus more than two dozen posters—spans Fuentes’...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday tabled a motion to make changes to the county’s animal welfare rules after organizations that run animal-based events expressed concern about the rules’ effects. The new rules would, among other things, have prohibited using live...

Oct. 25, 2019 Tarmo Hannula: Twelve wildland fires are burning around the state, forcing widespread evacuations, destroying scores of homes and buildings, closing freeways and roads and sending herds of firefighter strike teams to out-of-county responses. In Sonoma County, 21,900 acres have burned in the...

WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Unified School District is closing its schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 year, Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez announced Wednesday.  “Being a healthy community is key to thriving in it,” Rodriguez said. “Having students in the classroom is ideal and we miss seeing their...

WATSONVILLE—Following an enormously successful fundraiser for the Fairgrounds Foundation—the first-ever Holiday Lights drive-thru tour during November and December—more events are now being lined up with a similar footprint. Next in line: The first-ever Drive-Thru Crab Feed, slated for March 6. “Holiday Lights was a resounding success,”...