News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved this fiscal year’s budget, a behemoth $932 million spending plan that represents an 8% reduction in spending from the previous year. That decrease came as the county recovers from the CZU Lightning...

SANTA CRUZ—The man who allegedly fatally shot Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller in Ben Lomond last year during a violent crime spree waived his preliminary hearing Monday in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. The move means Steven Carrillo, who appeared in the courtroom...

WATSONVILLE—Throughout the pandemic, Watsonville-based organization Arte del Corazón has been staging open-air art shows to showcase local artists.  The idea for the shows came from Monica Galvan, who has teamed up with other artists and performers to plan events at Romo Park on Main Street,...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Nature Center reopened to visitors last weekend for the first time since the pandemic, holding an open house on June 26 that included a special workshop on emergency wildfire preparedness.  Various local organizations and agencies were on hand at the event, including Regeneración...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Public Health Department announced Tuesday that a resident has tested positive for the Delta variant of Covid-19. The patient is a man in his 50s who experienced mild symptoms. The sample was taken on June 10, county spokesman Jason...

Pajaro Valley Arts had an opening reception for its “Pencas del Corazón” exhibit on Sunday at its gallery in Watsonville. “Pencas del Corazón” (Heart of the Cactus) was curated by two of PVA’s Artists-in-Residence, Yesenia Molina and Irene Juarez O’Connell. The work centers around...

WATSONVILLE—Last Thursday Rev. Robin Mathews-Johnson, who has served as pastor of the Watsonville First United Methodist Church since 1999, was given a fond farewell as she moved on to her new assignment at a church in Fresno. The event, organized by her congregation and the...

APTOS—The FBI on June 22 was at the Aptos home of a man with ties to New York attorney Rudy Giuliani for a “court-authorized law enforcement activity,” the FBI confirmed Monday. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment further on the investigation into George Dickson III...

Six decorated wooden frames were installed around Watsonville Saturday in the city’s grand opening of “Outside the Frame,” an effort from the county’s four mayors, County Parks Friends and Santa Cruz County Parks. Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra led a group of three dozen people...

California renters teetering on the edge of homelessness may now be able to breathe a small sigh of relief as lawmakers move forward a last-minute deal extending eviction protections through Sept. 30. “Even though our state has reopened, hundreds of thousands of Californians are grappling...