News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday considered several changes to board bylaws that regulate attendance at meetings, student trustees and allowing anonymous public comment during public meetings. There was no action taken. The proposed changes will return to the board...

Santa Cruz County is moving to the looser restrictions of the Yellow Tier starting Wednesday, May 19, county health officials announced Tuesday.  Here are some of the key changes that will start Wednesday, according to the county’s press release: Bars may open indoors at 25% capacity, or...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan to give temporary space to a new charter school as it prepares to move into its own space by October. PVUSD Chief Business Officer Clint Rucker told the trustees that...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—If Sunday’s Basin Fire is any indication of what 2021’s fire season will bring, San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit Chief Ian Larkin and the mountains surrounding Santa Cruz County are in for a bumpy ride this fire season. The roughly 7-acre blaze among the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A recent reduction to employees in the Kaiser Permanente corporation—about 200 positions—will not reach Santa Cruz County, a spokesman said Tuesday. One of the largest private employers in California, the company has more than 149,000 employees and 16,000 physicians in the state. In addition,...

SANTA CRUZ—William T. Doyle, a Watsonville High School graduate who founded the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz—in addition to Long Marine Laboratory—and was professor emeritus of biology at the university, died April 21 at his home in Santa Cruz. He was...

WATSONVILLE—A 31-year-old Bakersfield man suspected of shooting a 24-year-old Watsonville man multiple times earlier this year was arrested on April 24. Watsonville Police believe Edgar Patino on Feb. 28 shot a Watsonville resident in the parking lot of the Stone Creek Apartments on 300 Bree...

When the pandemic first hit, many retail stores across the globe were forced to shut down their brick-and-mortar locations and transitioned to online shopping, using virtual platforms to display and sell items. For Sindy Hernandez, designer and owner of Queen’s Shoes & More in Watsonville,...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—In a 6-6 vote, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) on Thursday narrowly rejected a business plan for the design, construction and operation of a passenger rail line along the 32-mile stretch from Davenport to Pajaro, which could mean, at...

WATSONVILLE—A 55-year-old man was allegedly killed late Tuesday by his 38-year-old brother on the 100 block of Delaney Avenue in the outskirts of Watsonville.  Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said detectives believe Seledonio Diaz, of Watsonville, killed his brother Francisco Diaz. Detectives tracked...