News

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville’s Public Works Department is urging residents to keep any sandbags they received during the recent series of storms through the rest of winter. “We are recommending that people keep them, just in case,” said Marco Diaz, an administrative assistant for the...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville City Councilman Francisco “Paco” Estrada during Thursday night’s special meeting announced that he will not seek reelection this fall. Estrada, the representative for the 4th District, was elected into office in 2018 and served as mayor in his first year on the city council....

Watsonville Brillante, the massive, 10-phase outdoor mosaic project in Watsonville, has just been named Best in Show in the Mosaic and Glass Arts International 2023 exhibition series in Buffalo, New York.  Lead artist Kathleen Crocetti of Watsonville learned of the prestigious announcement Wednesday. “When I first...

Plans are underway to install four larger-than-life sculptures in downtown Watsonville as part of an overall redesign of Watsonville Plaza.  While the historical gazebo/bandstand, designed by famed architect William Weeks, will still maintain its spot in the plaza center, ideas are being discussed to retrofit...

The owners of the three-year-old Lito’s Lounge, housed in the historic Five Mile House in Corralitos, have always envisioned a place where people could gather, socialize and listen to live music into the evening hours.  That vision got closer to reality recently when the business...

WATSONVILLE—Local author Jaime Cortez always had nicknames, and now one of them has become his first book. “Gordo,” a paperback collection of stories, is quickly gathering praise after its release by a national publisher in August. And while “Gordo” is Cortez’s first widely distributed work,...

Todd McFarren, who sat on the Watsonville City Council from 1989–98—including two stints as Mayor—who served as a U.S. Marine sergeant in the Vietnam War, and who as an attorney was known to fight fiercely for the “little guy” during his career spanning three...

WATSONVILLE—“Hello?” “Yes, are you there?” “Can you hear us?” “Please, unmute your mic.” Those tech-trouble-induced phrases dominated Watsonville City Council’s Friday morning emergency meeting concerning a proposed eviction moratorium for tenants affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The pleas of roughly a half-dozen property managers and landlords that scrambled to...

APTOS—The stabbing attack that killed an Aptos High School senior Tuesday occurred nearly one year after the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees ended the district’s School Resource Officer program, which placed law enforcement officers on high school campuses. The district opted instead...

WATSONVILLE—Stephen Rider had a slight 53% lead over John Kegebein for the Division B seat of the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency as of 9:50pm Tuesday. Rider works as Technology Implementation Regulatory Compliance Coordinator at his family’s company, H.A. Rider and Sons, a 72-year-old, Watsonville-based...