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Watsonville
December 23, 2025

United Way receives major grant for youth programs

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Two youth programs of United Way of Santa Cruz County (UWSCC) will get a boost of funding in the new year after receiving a grant from Elevate Youth California, a statewide program aiming at addressing substance use disorder. Youth Action Network (YAN) is...

Photo: Lighted Boat Parade returns

Boats in the Santa Cruz Harbor are illuminated Sunday night after the annual Lighted Boat Parade was held the night prior. The event, put on by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club, returned after two years of being canceled due to Covid-19. The rainy evening...

Food scrap composting program diverting tons from landfill

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Since it began in January, Santa Cruz County’s composting program has diverted nearly 50,000 tons of food scraps from the Buena Vista Landfill, vastly reducing the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere and reshaping the way residents view their trash. That...

Reward offered for dogs’ killer

WATSONVILLE—People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect who poisoned two dogs in a residential backyard in Watsonville. PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said the dogs—named Bruno and Luna—died “in agony”...

Solar project underway at Cabrillo

APTOS—Cabrillo College is in the midst of transforming four of its parking lots with new solar carports, part of what college officials say is a sustainability project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Work is underway in parking lots A-D, which are just off Soquel...

Photo: A scent of pine

Mamh Corrigan sets up a display of trees at his family lot, Corrigan Christmas Trees, in the East Lake Village Shopping Center in Watsonville. He said his family is now in their 31st season of selling trees. They carry a range of trees, from...

A life, preserved: In memory of famed local taxidermist Richard Gurnee

Watsonville native Richard Gurnee, who revolutionized the field of scientific taxidermy by pioneering a freeze-drying technique still employed worldwide, died in October after a brief illness. He was 87. Gurnee graduated from Watsonville High School in 1954, and then studied zoology at Humboldt State University. But...

Cabrillo engineering class conducts survey for former department chair

WATSONVILLE—In 1961, two years after Cabrillo College in Aptos was established, Rich Hart was hired by the school to start its brand new Engineering department.  Hart would go on to be chair of the department as well as its sole instructor for 34 years, teaching...

Power outage affects thousands

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Thousands of people in Mid- and North county were without power Wednesday night, and PG&E crews turned the lights back on for more than 5,000 people in Santa Cruz by 6:30pm. More than 11,000 were still in the dark in Soquel, Capitola, parts...

Photo: No injuries reported in solo crash

No injuries were reported in this solo-vehicle crash early Tuesday morning. Watsonville Police Sgt. Mike Ridgway said a motorist accidentally stepped on the gas instead of the brake pedal in her Honda sedan around 6:30am. Her car plowed through a fence as shown here...
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Watsonville names new Police Chief

The city of Watsonville has selected Brian Shab as its next police chief, city officials announced Tuesday. Shab, who has more than 27 years of...