76.9 F
Watsonville
October 14, 2026

Open Farm Tours returns Oct. 8-9

Open Farm Tours
Open Farm Tours (OFT) returns Oct. 8 and 9, offering the community a chance to visit organic farms, meet local farmers and learn about how their food is grown. The event, which has been held for the past nine years, is more than doubling the...

PVUSD Trustees pass religious holiday policy

PVUSD
WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a change to district policy that will add several holidays to the calendar, during which events will not be scheduled, whenever possible. This includes exams, sporting events, assemblies, field trips and back-to-school...

Sheriff’s warn of phone scam

MONTEREY COUNTY—The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department is warning the public of a repeat telephone scam. Scammers are making phone calls and identifying themselves as members of the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. They are using actual names and ranks of deputies, sergeants and commanders and soliciting...

Peace & Unity March commemorates those lost to violence

Nearly three decades ago, 9-year-old Jessica Cortez and her brother Jorge, 16, were gunned down by gang members as they walked to a nearby panaderia on Salinas Road for a treat. Nobody has ever been arrested, and while police do not know why the gang...

Inaugural Filipino American History Month festival to be held Saturday

WATSONVILLE—October is Filipino American History Month, commemorating the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States in 1587. The month was first introduced in 1992 by the Filipino American National Historical Society, and was officially recognized by Congress in 2009. Since then, communities...

Pregnant woman ID’d in fatal crash

WATSONVILLE—A 33-year-old pregnant woman died Thursday night as she walked across South Green Valley Road and was struck by a car. She has been identified as Marlyn Uribe of Watsonville by the Santa Cruz County Coroner’s Office. Watsonville Police said that, according to witnesses, Uribe was...

Calabasas students plant garden at Whisky Hill Farms

An eager group of fifth graders filed through fresh beds of dirt at Whisky Hill Farm (WHF) in Watsonville Sept. 13, ready to plant their very own seedlings.  Laura Arnow’s fifth grade class from Calabasas Elementary School were there to finally transplant crops they had...

Photo: Intersection upgrades

New lane striping is shown at the new business center on the corner of Main Street at Auto Center Drive where the heavily traveled intersection is being reconfigured. Kevin Drabinski, public information officer for Caltrans, said new traffic lights, signage, ADA sidewalk ramps and...

New law requires food waste reduction

By TARA FATEMI WALKER SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) and its network of more than 70 partner agencies, including nonprofits such as food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, work hard to combat food insecurity.  But because of new requirements mandated by Senate Bill 1383,...

School arts funding bill among seven propositions on Nov. 8 ballot

In 2008, as the economic recession was ravaging communities nationwide, school districts were forced to take a close look at their budgets, and in many cases make massive cuts to preserve the meat of their programs. The first casualties of this across-the-board slashing were often...
9,956FansLike
5,734FollowersFollow
2,895FollowersFollow
Alvaro Melendrez

Melendrez pleads not guilty in Larkin Valley Road death

A Watsonville man pleaded not guilty in Santa Cruz Superior Court Wednesday to the slaying of 39-year-old Christopher Fagon. Alvaro Melendrez, 42, remains in County...