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Watsonville
January 19, 2026

Nature, wildlife and humanity in oil

Marie Massey has been drawing and painting since she could hold a pencil—as young as 4 years old in her grandmother’s garden. Since then she has been drawn to nature, wildlife and humanity in her artwork and has been painting professionally for 19 years.  Her...

Widespread opium fields cut down

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced recently that they located and eradicated seven opium poppy growing operations in Monterey County.

Large Watsonville housing development seeks extension

Hillcrest estates watsonville
WATSONVILLE—The developer behind a 150-unit housing project off Ohlone Parkway is asking the Watsonville City Council for a one-year extension on the project’s approval. First approved by the council in 2018 as Sunshine Vista, Hillcrest Estates was set to transform an 11-acre junkyard at 511...

UC system admits record number of Latinx students

UC Santa Cruz
WATSONVILLE—Watsonville High School graduate Kayla Cabrera will be attending virtual classes at UC Berkeley when the fall semester begins on Oct. 1, where she will double major in legal and ethnic studies for a pre-law track. Inspired by social justice issues she encountered while growing...

Police: Murder suspect on bail was selling, growing pot illegally

Watsonville police officers were at a residence on Lawrence Avenue Friday morning, taking out numerous marijuana plants from the backyard and going in and out of the house.

Photo story: Open at last

Barricades were recently taken down where Atkinson Lane meets Freedom Boulevard during construction of the new Tabasas Gardens homes (shown here). The lane had been closed to allow for construction for more than a year.

Santa Cruz REI opens doors Friday

REI Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ—With a short welcoming greeting to a small crowd gathered outside Santa Cruz’s new REI store Wednesday evening, manager John Davis opened the doors for the first time, allowing employees’ friends and family a peek before the store opens Friday. An abbreviation of Recreational...

A year of student artwork

Thanks to the help of volunteers at the Pajaro Valley Arts and staff from the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, the four-story Civic Plaza Building in Watsonville has been dressed up with an exhibit of original student artwork for the next year. The effort has...

Kids who were forced into therapy program return home

maya sebastian laing
In October, a Santa Cruz teen and her younger brother were violently taken from a relative’s house, driven to Los Angeles and forced into a family therapy program with their mother. They were then taken to Washington to live with her. Seven months later,...

Salvation Army, County officials look to help homeless in time of COVID-19

Watsonville salvation army COVID-19
WATSONVILLE—The Salvation Army in Watsonville is continuing most of its services for homeless people, even as the COVID-19 pandemic forces many businesses and services to temporarily shut their doors.  “We’re planning to help where we can,” said Lt. Raymundo Jimenez, who oversees the location, along...
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Thousands march for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Thousands of people amassed in the streets of downtown Santa Cruz on Monday morning for the annual People’s March for the Dream, an event...