News

The group Banda S7 treats the crowd to live Banda music Sunday in downtown Watsonville during a celebration of Mexican Independence Day.

WATSONVILLE—Oscar Soto has won the Trustee Area 3 seat on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees, beating Amanda Hernandez by 51 votes, according to results from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, neither of which have been certified. Soto said he was cautiously...

CAPITOLA—Too many housing units. Not in line with Capitola’s “unique” feel and community. A fiscal “wash.”  These critiques and concerns—and several others—came to light at the Capitola City Council’s Nov. 14 meeting concerning the planned redevelopment of the hollowed Capitola Mall. The council took no action...

Watsonville Police set up on the bridge between Watsonville and Pajaro Monday night where they investigated a body found beneath the bridge. Michelle Pulido, spokeswoman for Watsonville Police, said police found a deceased man, age 25-30, sometime after 8pm. No further information has been...

*Note: Erik Chalhoub contributed to this report Watsonville’s Veterans Day Celebration returns to downtown after last year’s in-person event was cancelled due to Covid-19. Veterans and others will begin gathering at 9:30am on Nov. 11 in the parking lot of St. Patrick’s Church, 721 Main St....

WATSONVILLE—A project seven years in the making, the 112-room Hampton Inn & Suites opened its doors Monday morning on Lee Road in Watsonville. The four-story hotel flanks a new Starbucks coffee house and a newly opened Arco gas station and AM/PM mini market, all under...

Flames tore through one of several buildings on the property of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in Felton Sunday night, but spared the famed museum building. Felton Fire officials said the fire broke out around 10pm and destroyed a small cabin situated between the museum that...

Robb Mayeda rings the Peace Bell at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple on Wednesday during a Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial ceremony.  The gathering pays respect to those that perished in the U.S. atomic bomb attacks on the two Japanese cities Aug. 6 during World War II 80 years...

Watsonville Police arrested a man Sunday afternoon after a witness saw him with a gun outside of a popular family restaurant.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A lightning storm that began at about 1am Sunday sparked 22 fires across Santa Cruz County, five of which have burned several hundred acres. No communities are currently threatened, and no warnings or evacuations have been given, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Cecile Juliette. The...