News

A crew from Watsonville Public Works & Utilities installs new self-cleaning restrooms on the Union Street side of the City Plaza Wednesday. The long-awaited restrooms were delivered Tuesday morning. They will feature two stalls and are expected to be completed and open to the...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council unanimously approved the use of roughly $2.5 million to offset increased budgetary demands in various departments and special funds, some of which city staff says are fueled by surging inflation on everyday goods. The largest budget allocation approved by the elected...

APTOS—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies and Cabrillo College administrators are investigating “offensive racist graffiti” that was found scrawled on a newly-painted restroom wall near the college’s Carl Connelly Stadium, Cabrillo President Matt Wetstein said. The graffiti has since been painted over. Neither school officials nor the...

SANTA CRUZ—The fate of Santa Cruz County’s rail line is now in the hands of the voters. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-0 to place on the June 7 ballot an initiative which, if successful, would amend Santa Cruz County’s...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council gave staff the green light to begin the process of issuing taxable bonds in hopes of paying off steep unfunded pension obligations over the next three decades. According to a 2020 California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) report, the City of...

WATSONVILLE—An 3.6-magnitude earthquake struck Corralitos around 10am Saturday, just hours after a 2.6-magnitude earthquake shook Gilroy around 11pm on Friday. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quakes' epicenters were near the San Andreas Fault line. On social media, several people said that they...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council promoted longtime Assistant City Clerk Irwin Ortiz to the municipality’s top clerical position at Tuesday night’s meeting. Ortiz has been with the City of Watsonville since 2010. He started as an intern for the city manager’s office before moving into the...

WATSONVILLE—In a bizarre ending to a Tuesday night public meeting that puzzled and agitated a majority of the Watsonville Planning Commission, the body gave no recommendation on whether a Watsonville charter school should be allowed to continue to operate in an industrial zone on...

WATSONVILLE—In 2020, Arts Council Santa Cruz County formed the Watsonville Stewardship Committee for the Arts to bring resources, build spaces and improve access to the arts for South County residents. That group of artists, teachers, political leaders and city of Watsonville staff spearheaded the creation...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County launched a pilot program on April 8 to provide free menstrual products in restrooms in select county facilities, including at the Watsonville center on Freedom Boulevard. The program aims to assist low-income residents who struggle to afford menstrual products, said...