News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville will have yet another tool that it could use to try to fix its housing shortage if the City Council follows the Planning Commission’s recommendations to approve wholesale changes to rules for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as “granny flats” or “granny...

Santa Cruz County is moving to the red tier of the state’s Covid-19 reopening plan starting Wednesday, as predicted last week.  That means several indoor business operations can reopen starting Wednesday, including indoor dining, aquariums, museums, dance studios, gyms and movie theaters, all of which have...

WATSONVILLE—Those longing for the return of the Santa Cruz County Fair and the classic foods that the yearly event offers will soon be able to get a small taste of the annual bash and the delicacies that come with it. The Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds...

A blast from a fire hose showers off the side of a mobile home at the Portola Mobile Home Park on Freedom Boulevard Thursday.

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville on Tuesday will ask the City Council to allow its moratorium on evictions to expire at the end of the month, and instead defer to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide executive order and protections put in place by California’s Judicial Council. The...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Pajaro River Levee has received its first confirmed infusion of federal funding, which is expected to move forward long-awaited storm safety and flood prevention upgrades, Congressman Jimmy Panetta announced Tuesday.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fiscal Year 2020 Work Plan provides $1.8 million...

A collection of images from the Watsonville Strawberry Festival from Aug. 2-4.

RIO DEL MAR—A fire that apparently started in a pile of rubble in an alleyway behind the SeaBreeze Tavern late Sunday night has destroyed the building, bringing to a close a story that began when it was built 92 years ago in what was...