Strong storm douses Watsonville | About Town
Tarmo Hannula: Heavy rain, laced with hail and strong gusts, whipped through the Pajaro Valley before noon Thursday. A friend called me to say he was in the middle of a heavy snow shower on Highway 17 near the summit. Thunderstorm activity could come...
At-home Covid-19 tests change pandemic response
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—At least 4,000 Santa Cruz County residents have been infected with Covid-19 during the current winter surge sparked by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
That figure posted to the County Health Services Agency’s online dashboard, however, is likely vastly...
Camp Krem in need of help for rebuild
When the Santa Cruz Mountains caught fire in August after a lightning storm passed through the Central Coast and greater Bay Area, almost every community was forced to evacuate the area. Many of those evacuees were left wondering whether their homes and businesses—their life’s...
County Sets Steep Fines for Illegal Dumping
The Department of Community Development and Infrastructure will implement stiff penalties for illegal dumping violations on July 11.
Remembering the fallen: community celebrates Memorial Day
For Michelle Martinez Kamalani and her mother, Judy Martinez of Watsonville, Memorial Day meant setting time aside to visit Valley Catholic Cemetery.
With an electric weed-whacker, a whisk broom, hand clippers and two bunches of fresh flowers, the pair wandered through the rows of flower-festooned...
Woman injured in rest stop crash
A Watsonville woman who reportedly blacked out at the wheel of her SUV tore through the Vista Point exit late Friday morning before side-swiping two vehicles and careening down an embankment.
Out on the water | About Town
I rode my bike through the Santa Cruz Harbor today and saw a man and a woman heading out into the waters on stand-up paddleboards after renting them at the long-standing Kayak Connection, which is located in the harbor. Stand-up paddleboards are really popular...
PHOTO: A special memory during Arbor Week
In celebration of Arbor Week, students from New School, the Web of Life Field School and the Environmental Science Workshop team up with workers from the City of Watsonville to plant 13 trees at Seaview Ranch Thursday.
Woman who killed two in crash sentenced to six years
Almost exactly two years after a UC Santa Cruz student caused a collision that killed two people, she was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison in Monterey County Superior Court.
Update: Dead body found buried along Pajaro River identified
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a body that was found along the Pajaro River levee west of the Main Street Bridge that connects the community of Pajaro to Watsonville.
On Monday the Sheriff's Office identified the man as 36-year-old Jesus Alfonso Duarte Figueroa...
Casa de la Cultura hosts annual giveaway
Dozens of families lined up along Salinas Road in Pajaro Monday morning, children’s faces peering from backseat windows, as they waited their turn for...






















