News

WATSONVILLE—Twice a month, a group of local quilt makers gathers inside the Codiga Center & Museum at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds to create quilts for the community. The Apple Piecers, as they call themselves, are a nonprofit that makes up to 200 quilts per...

WATSONVILLE—As the three dozen or so people attending a Feb. 10 virtual meeting about the future of Watsonville’s downtown gave their final comments, one speaker’s remarks invoked some smiles and produced nodding heads from the rows of attendees displayed in their windows. “We’re talking to...

SAN FRANCISCO—The Ben Lomond man who used a homemade assault rifle to kill a federal law enforcement officer outside an Oakland courthouse nearly two years ago pleaded guilty on Feb. 11 to the charges in Northern District Court in San Francisco. Steven Carrillo, who formerly...

WATSONVILLE—A Watsonville man was arrested on Feb. 11 after police say he fired a gun into a residence on the 100 block of Hill Avenue. Several people were in the home, including two children, Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said.  Nobody was injured. Daniel Zavala, 28,...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday got a first look at its financial picture since Gov. Gavin Newsom released his proposed budget in January, which provides a record $100 billion for schools and community colleges. The board also revised the...

PAJARO—The Monterey County Planning Commission on Wednesday delayed adopting a mitigated negative declaration (MND) for a 60-unit housing project in Pajaro, to give County staff time to provide notice to the people who live near the proposed site. Residents have expressed alarm about the project,...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council at its Tuesday meeting approved new district boundaries that feature only a handful of differences from the borders that were in place during the last decade. Every decade following the release of census data, jurisdictions must adjust their district lines to...

WATSONVILLE—Two minors and a 20-year-old man have been arrested for their suspected involvement in the October 2021 murder of 21-year-old Abel Ruiz. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said deputies arrested Juan Carlos Almaraz Rios and two other suspects, who are not being...

More than 50 years ago, clockmaker and shop owner Allison Rider discovered a new hobby: making chocolate candies for his friends, family and employees. Rider, a big chocolate lover, started creating treats loosely based on See's Candies flavors. He experimented with caramel and other soft-center...

SANTA CRUZ—For years, KUSP was Santa Cruz’s non-university-affliated public radio station, offering local news and extensive music and talk programming, and acting as a regional affiliate for National Public Radio.  The station went dark in 2016, but it wasn’t long before a group of citizens...