News

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WATSONVILLE—Eight people at the Salvation Army Shelter in Watsonville tested positive for Covid-19 last week, forcing the site to temporarily close for cleaning Friday.  Santa Cruz County health officials were notified that a resident of the Salvation Army Shelter on Union Street tested positive for...

WATSONVILLE—In January, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan for County staff to apply for a piece of state housing funds through a program known as Project Homekey. That project, administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD),...

A new exhibit will soon open at Studio Judy G in downtown Watsonville, featuring artwork by gallery owner Judy Gittelsohn, her mother, and two of her friends from the late 1970s punk rock scene in San Francisco. “Three Punk Painters and My Mom” is, in...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—More than one million people have so far received a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  These “frontline” workers in tier 1a of the state’s protocol include health care workers, first responders and other people who interact directly with patients.  In...

A recent survey of potential voters signals strong support of a property tax that would allow for the purchase of Watsonville Community Hospital’s building and surrounding property, along with upgrades to its facilities. The questions now for Pajaro Valley Health Care District (PVHCD) are how...

WATSONVILLE—To say Watsonville City Councilman Francisco “Paco” Estrada had mixed feelings about the emergence of the four Covid-19 ‘clusters’ in Watsonville would be an understatement. The spike in cases was traced back to four separate family gatherings during Mother’s Day weekend, including one in which...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Since it was launched in December of last year, the County of Santa Cruz’s Neighborhood Courts Program (NCP) has rerouted 45 misdemeanor criminal cases away from the traditional justice system and out into the community.  A restorative justice-based program of the County District...

TARMO HANNULA: We are now in the final hours of 2019. If you’ve ever had the tremendous delight of seeing the Broadway musical “Rent," you'll remember how the characters deal with the idea of what a year is in their song, “Seasons of Love”:  “Five...

Members of Watsonville Wetlands Watch (WWW) joined forces with Watsonville Public Works, Studio Judy G and others Wednesday to plant new trees in downtown Watsonville.  The effort is part of the ongoing Watsonville Community Forest Project by the city to plant thousands of new trees...