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Watsonville
October 16, 2025

Still no plea in Aptos murder

The Aptos woman accused of stabbing her husband to death inside their home on Aug. 24 made her second court appearance Friday, and delayed entering a plea while she hires an attorney.

Watsonville native takes reins as mayor of Northern California’s largest city

SAN JOSE—Watsonville native Matt Mahan has been sworn in as mayor of Northern California’s largest city. The Harvard-educated 40-year-old businessman turned politician grew up on the outskirts of Watsonville in the 1980s and ’90s, just off Amesti Road near Pinto Lake. His mother taught at...

Photo: National 9 Motel in downtown razed

National 9 motel watsonville
A crew from Randazzo Enterprises use an excavator to demolish the National 9 Motel in downtown Watsonville Wednesday to make way for a four-story, 80-room Hilton Home2 Suites hotel. Approved as a La Quinta Inn by the Watsonville City Council in 2016 and revised...

Stolen plane reportedly plunged into sea

Watsonville Police announced Thursday that the man who allegedly stole a small airplane out of Watsonville Municipal Airport (WMA) on June 26 appears to have flown the Cessna 172 SP Skyhawk into the sea.

President Biden flies into Watsonville to tour county storm damage

watsonville municipal airport joe biden
WATSONVILLE—President Joe Biden touched down at Watsonville Municipal Airport on Thursday, a visit that followed his emergency declaration on Jan. 9, which allows businesses and residents that suffered damage and loss in the recent spate of storms to receive federal aid. After touring Capitola Village...

Novel exploring Watsonville’s Croatian history wins award

WATSONVILLE—“The Apple King,” a novel inspired by Watsonville’s Croatian community and its historic role in the region’s apple industry, recently won the Connecticut Author Project Award and will be featured in an issue of the national Library Journal publication. Author Barbara Anne King was born...

PVUSD facing $5 million in cuts next year

Editor's note: this story has been corrected from an earlier version. The district is not considering reducing class sizes. ••• In the coming year, Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s seven-member Board of Trustees—five of them newly elected—must cut $5 million from the budget, with more reductions...

Free library built in Pinto Lake County Park

WATSONVILLE—A trip to Pinto Lake County Park can include a picnic, time at the playground and a stroll along the lake. Now, it can also include picking up – or dropping off – a book at a Little Free Library, which was installed on Sept....

Try This | Oct. 25

A weekly column that celebrates local businesses — especially eateries, watering holes, coffee shops and the like. TONY NUÑEZ Food La Fondita: enchiladas Having our offices in downtown Watsonville has been a delight for me come lunchtime. So many great restaurants. So little time—and money. I’ve started to...

Lost & found

A woman who lost her wallet in 1962 was reunited with it 58 years later this week when construction workers found the red leather folding wallet during a refurbishing project of a movie theater. It was discovered in a framing and sheetrock cavity inside...
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Letters to the editor Oct. 17–23

Organophosphates Endanger Our Children’s Future 25 years ago, when Dr. Brenda Eskenazi and her UC Berkeley team at the School of Public Health began taking...