News

WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz County’s Fourth of July celebration frequently features fireworks, and sales begin today at 20 locations throughout the City of Watsonville for the “safe-and-sane” variety. These are allowed to be used only in the cities of Capitola and Watsonville. The problem, law enforcement and fire...

WATSONVILLE—In a special meeting as unpredictable as it was tense, Watsonville City Council could not come to a consensus on a deal that would have made a minor alteration to a critical ballot measure for the Nov. 8 election. The elected leaders on Thursday neither...

WATSONVILLE—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has identified the second man that died in a head-on crash on Highway 129 on June 22 as Nestor Emmanuel Beltran Quiroa, 20, of Los Banos. Quiroa, one of three passengers in a 2008 Honda Ridgeline pickup, died at...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—As the statewide eviction moratorium expires on June 30, many renters with past due bills as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic are still waiting for financial help which, unless they take action, might never come. Across Santa Cruz County, some 2,666 people...

WATSONVILLE—Thirteen area youths graduated from the Watsonville Fire Department’s summer Youth Academy on June 23. As a part of the two-week program, which was mothballed for the past two years due to the pandemic, the teens learned the ins and outs of firefighting and the...

WATSONVILLE—The nonprofit hoping to purchase Watsonville Community Hospital—and return its control to the community after years of out-of-state corporate ownership—has moved closer to making that a reality with an unexpected infusion of cash. Sen. John Laird and Assemblyman Robert Rivas announced Thursday that they have...

For the past two weeks, Pajaro Valley Unified District (PVUSD) students have been hard at work designing and creating inside of the old woodshop building at E.A. Hall Middle School.  PVUSD’s summer Boys and Girls In Engineering camps, led by Cabrillo College instructor Rhoxanne Morris...

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the proposed $1.033 billion budget for 2022-23, including a $680.7 million general fund. The budget represents a $5 million spending decrease from the prior year. Most notable in this year’s spending plan is the county’s...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council at its Tuesday meeting signed off on an agreement with Pajaro Valley Arts for the sale of the historic Porter Building in downtown Watsonville. In a deal some two years in the making, PV Arts will pay the city $1.15 million...

A new exhibit will soon open at Studio Judy G in downtown Watsonville, featuring artwork by gallery owner Judy Gittelsohn, her mother, and two of her friends from the late 1970s punk rock scene in San Francisco. “Three Punk Painters and My Mom” is, in...