News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville fire engine 4415—with lights flashing and sirens blaring—pulled up to a two-story building on Airport Boulevard Thursday afternoon, which had smoke pouring from an upper window. A group of firefighters quickly jumped out and got to work, donning breathing gear, unspooling hoses and releasing...

WATSONVILLE—Twenty-five Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in World War II incarceration camps signed a United States flag Sunday at the Watsonville-Santa Cruz JACL Kizuka Hall to make their mark on history. Part of the Japanese American Incarceration Memorial Legacy Project, the event drew people who...

APTOS—A new mural by Watsonville-based artist Francisco Alonso is slowly coming together at Cabrillo College’s main campus in Aptos. Funded by a grant from the Cabrillo Foundation and the Cabrillo College Student Senate, the mural project is part of the institution’s ongoing efforts to promote...

WATSONVILLE—A long-awaited major street and sidewalk improvement project on a block of Lincoln Street that bisects Watsonville High School is moving forward. The state-funded Lincoln Street Safety Improvement Project will shorten crosswalks, make the sidewalks ADA compliant, and add a mid-block crosswalk, additional lighting, new...

WATSONVILLE—Dr. Sepi Taghvaei clearly remembers one of her favorite patients at Dientes Community Dental Care. The woman had all her upper teeth removed while serving time in prison. Since the facility hadn’t offered dental care, her teeth had slowly decayed. Dientes set the patient up with...

WATSONVILLE—Pete Galvan, who devoted the breadth of his career in education to Watsonville High School, will retire this month. When Galvan steps off campus for the last time on Aug. 17, it will be the end of a tenure that began nearly four decades ago. More...

The Watsonville Strawberry Festival will return Sunday to downtown, bringing with it a full day of strawberry delicacies, live entertainment, artisan vendors and more. Like most events in 2020, South County’s premier festival was canceled in response to the pandemic. And for a while, the...

A Caltrans worker helps clean up after a big rig smashed into a guardrail Monday on Highway 129 in Aromas. California Highway Patrol officer Fred Smith said the rig, carrying food goods, was traveling east on Hwy 129 around 1:15pm when he veered to...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture handed out six awards at its 59th annual dinner on July 31, recognizing local businesses, people and organizations that helped the community during a trying 2020. Held outdoors at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, the gala brought...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—At the apex of last year’s crisis points—the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder and the greater countrywide calls for social justice—several Santa Cruz County leaders were brought together to try to change the system from within. The group consists of people across the gender...