News

WATSONVILLE—Facing declining revenues, Watsonville Community Hospital has laid off about 10 employees, a little more than 1 percent of its workforce, Halsen Healthcare CEO Dan Brothman confirmed Wednesday. Brothman said the move was in response to a decline in elective surgeries, and to emergency room...

Two weeks ago, a group of Aptos High School students and staff picketed in front of the school to publicize their concerns about losing the school’s seven-period schedule. The loss of the extra class at Aptos High was seen as a necessity after the Pajaro...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County will hire a company to handle the permitting process for residents rebuilding homes damaged or destroyed in the CZU August Lightning Complex fires.  The County Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the plan to hire Pleasanton-based engineering firm 4Leaf, Inc....

Close to 70 people gathered Sunday at Romo Park in Watsonville for the 30th annual Peace and Unity March and Rally to remember friends and family who died from street violence.  It stands as the oldest yearly peace march and rally in the state. It...

WATSONVILLE—Mas Hashimoto, a devout defender of civil rights whose name became synonymous with his hometown after decades of service in education, community volunteerism and historic preservation, and whose unrelenting willingness to speak, write and teach about the plight of Japanese Americans during World War...

The 12th annual Breastfeeding Health Fair and Walk will return Aug. 10 from 3-6 p.m. at the Watsonville Plaza.

A Watsonville man was arrested Thursday after he was found to be in possession of illegal guns, ammunition and high-capacity magazines.

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will hold a special study session on March 28 to discuss the district’s ethnic studies curriculum, the board voted Wednesday. The discussion is not an action item, and there will not yet be a vote to...

SANTA CRUZ—The family of the 8-year-old girl who was murdered in 2015 is facing a new tragedy after someone stole the urn containing her ashes. Madyson “Maddy” Middleton’s family says that her father Michel Middleton was keeping the urn in the glovebox of his unlocked...

For years, Santa Cruz County lacked a youth crisis center, meaning that young people experiencing a mental health crisis were taken to overloaded emergency rooms, the county’s adult psychiatric facility or were shifted to out-of-county facilities, away from their families. That problem will end in...