News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro River levee restoration is one of four projects nationwide receiving funding from the federal government, with $67 million from President Joe Biden’s administration coming to help with the long-awaited renovation. Biden made the announcement on Tuesday. The funding is part of the Infrastructure...

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...

WATSONVILLE—Federal, state and local officials gathered at Atri Park in Watsonville Monday at a public ceremony to sign a design agreement for the Pajaro River Flood Management Project.  The long-awaited $400 million effort is designed to reduce flood risk for the “disadvantaged” communities of Pajaro...

Special events Portrait Painting (Dec. 28) Paint along with Toaa Dallo at Palace Art, 1501 41st Ave., and create your own version of this fabulous portrait of the celebrated French painter Berthe Morisot, by the great Impressionist Edouard Manet. This is a must-attend event for anyone who...

Tarmo Hannula: When my friend Noel, a family attorney, dropped me off in downtown Watsonville early Wednesday I walked into the Second Street Café for a coffee. For years I’ve carried my own reusable thermos to save on throw-away cups. In line I got...

SAN JOSE—A former executive at an international Watsonville berry giant was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in federal prison for embezzlement, United States Attorney David Anderson announced. Marc Marier, 42, was sentenced to 29 months in prison and ordered to pay more than...

Sunk into dirt after left on edge of farm

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Measure D–which was hailed by many as a way to get Santa Cruz County residents out of their vehicles, off the roads and onto a bike-pedestrian path that replaced the rail line–was dealt a crushing blow Tuesday when it went down in...

The 14th annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival took place last week in Watsonville, opening a window to the plethora of waterways, sloughs and riparian channels around the Central Coast for locals and visitors to get a taste of the wealth of bird life and the habitat that supports them.