News

The Watsonville Strawberry Festival kicked off Friday downtown for its three-day run. The annual event continues Sunday from 11am to 7pm, featuring strawberry-infused treats, live music, a carnival and more.

The City of Watsonville and the Santa Cruz County Tobacco Education Coalition is encouraging residents to participate in the Annual Coastal Cleanup Day, set for Saturday from 9 a.m.-noon at multiple Watsonville sites.

WATSONVILLE—After months of being shuttered during the countywide response to Covid-19, Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter’s (SCCAS) Watsonville location has opened once again. The reopening came a few days before the Fourth of July, a holiday known to cause lost pets and disrupted wildlife from...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Saturday unanimously appointed Adam Scow to fill the seat vacated when former member Maria Orozco was elected to the Watsonville City Council. “Now the work begins,” Scow said after the vote. “I know it’s going...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials are mulling a plan to retool the county’s public defender’s office, transitioning from its current private delivery system to a public one. The move comes as the county’s contract with Biggam, Christensen and Minslof (BCM)—which has provided indigent criminal...

Congress is still hammering out details on a $2 trillion rescue package to help the country weather the coronavirus outbreak. Financial relief in the package is aimed at helping large corporations, the airline industry, hospitals and public transportation. In addition, around $367 billion is...

On Jan. 25, President Donald Trump announced a short-term deal to end the partial government shutdown which began on Dec. 22. But recovering from the shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — will take time and effort, said Congressman Jimmy Panetta on Saturday during his visit to Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville.

Mount Madonna School announced Cecily Kelly, Mariah Cohen and Samuel Kaplan as the 2023 co-valedictorians and Zoey Ocampo-Sobkoviak as salutatorian. Mount Madonna School's 2023 high school graduation ceremony will be held at the school’s upper campus on June 15 at 10:30am. “The graduating class is comprised of academically strong and creative students,” said Head...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville voters will have yet another enormous decision before them in what will likely be a critical election and moment in the city’s history. The Watsonville City Council at its Tuesday night meeting placed a half-cent general sales tax measure on the Nov. 8 ballot...

A sense of normalcy returned to Santa Cruz County last week as the local high schools kicked off the cross country season. Watsonville High School squared off against Harbor High School on Feb. 18 in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League competition, which was the...