News

One person was arrested Tuesday night after a fire inside the Target store in Capitola. Central Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Patrick Winters said that the call came at about 8:30pm for a fire on a shelf inside the store at 1825 41st Ave. Firefighters found...

WATSONVILLE—Vanessa Quiroz-Carter leads Frank Barba in the race for the vacant District 2 Watsonville City Council seat. Unofficial results released by the Santa Cruz County elections department at 8:57pm on Tuesday night showed Quiroz-Carter had a 59-vote lead on Barba.  Only 339 votes had been counted...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture handed out six awards at its 59th annual dinner on July 31, recognizing local businesses, people and organizations that helped the community during a trying 2020. Held outdoors at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, the gala brought...

Work is moving forward on a project to restore native habitat and implement a series of water quality treatment projects to redesign the path of stormwater to Middle Struve Slough.   Workers are already several weeks into the job, which is located between Hope Park and...

This story was updated May 31 at 6:00 p.m. UC Santa Cruz Police called upon law enforcement agencies from several jurisdictions from across the state early Friday morning to dismantle a pro-Palestine encampment and secure the entrance of campus, where roughly 100 students were protesting...

CALIFORNIA—As California recovers from a historic heatwave, the State Assembly last week passed three bills by Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) to help fight the climate crisis, incentivize sustainable agriculture, and advance environmental justice for all.  “California has ambitious environmental goals, and the advancement of my...

WATSONVILLE—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office is reaching out to the community for help in solving a 1995 homicide in Watsonville. Investigators say that Gloria Hassemer’s body was found along the Pajaro River Levee near the Highway 1 overcrossing on June 10, 1995. Hassemer, 41,...

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...

WATSONVILLE—Working as an Environmental Services Aide at Watsonville Community Hospital, Benjamin Lamsen cleans rooms in the Emergency Department and the Intensive Care Unit. That work has been challenging, he says, since the Covid-19 pandemic began its spread across the globe. In addition to increased...